Tag: cheltenham gold cup

Which are the biggest outsiders to win the Cheltenham Gold Cup?

Unlike, say, the Grand National, which has been a handicap for most of its existence, the Cheltenham Gold Cup is a conditions, or weight-for-age, steeplechase. Horses aged six years and upwards carry 11st 10lb, five-year-olds carry 11st 8lb and mares receive a 7lb allowance so, as might be expected, the ‘Blue Riband’ event of the British National Hunt calendar is rarely won by an outsider.

Far and away the biggest outsider to win the Cheltenham Gold Cup since it was first run, as a steeplechase, in 1924, was Norton’s Coin, who defied odds of 100/1 when defeating Toby Tobias and Desert Orchid by three-quarters of a length and four lengths in 1990. Owned and trained by Sirrell Griffiths, a dairy farmer and permit-holder based in Nantgaredig in Carmarthenshire, South West Wales, Norton’s Coin was described, justifiably, as the ‘Shock of the Century’ on the front page of the ‘Racing Post’ the following day.

Indeed, in the entire history of the Cheltenham Gold Cup no other horse has won at odds longer than 33/1; the two 33/1 winners were Gay Donald, trained by Jim Ford, in 1955 and L’Escargot, trained by Dan Moore, in 1970. Cool Ground, trained by Toby Balding, prevailed at odds of 25/1 in 1992, as Cool Dawn, trained by Robert Alner, in 1998, but the only other winners that could be classified as ‘outsiders’ were the 20/1 winners Mr.

Mulligan in 1997 and Lord Windermere in 2014.

Has any horse won the Cheltenham Gold Cup and the Grand National in the same season?

The Cheltenham Gold Cup and the Grand National are the premier steeplechases in the British calendar and, as such, are highly sought after by jockeys, owners and trainers alike. The Cheltenham Gold Cup, part of the prestigious Cheltenham Festival ,was inaugurated, as a steeplechase, in 1924, 85 years after the first ‘official’ running of the Grand National at Aintree in 1839. However, in the time the races have co-existed – that is, the better part of a century – just one horse has won both in the same season.

That horse was, of course, was the legendary Golden Miller, owned by Dorothy Paget, trained by Basil Briscoe and ridden to both victories by Gerry Wilson, in 1934. Fresh from a bloodless, 6-length win in the Cheltenham Gold Cup – the third of his five consecutive victories in what has since become known as the ‘Blue Riband’ of steeplechasing – Golden Miller won the Grand National by 5 lengths, under 12st 2lb, 17 days later. In so doing, he set a record time, 9 minutes and 20.04 seconds, which stood until beaten by the illustrious Red Rum in 1973.

Both races continue to enthrall  racing crowds year on year, and are steeped in history. Fans of the Cheltenham Festival not only get to enjoy the Gold Cup, but also other prestigious goup one races such as the Queen Mother Champion Chase, Champion Hurdle and the  Stayers’ Hurdle. A Cheltenham win is top on the list for most trainers, jockeys and owner. Al Boum Photo won the Cheltenham Gold Cup in both 2019 and 2020. Who will win in 2021?

What were Ruby Walsh’s first and last winners at the Cheltenham Festival?

County Kildare-born Rupert ‘Ruby’ Walsh, who retired from race riding on May 1, 2019, just two weeks shy of his fortieth birthday, was one of the greatest National Hunt jockeys of all time. All told, in his 24-year riding career, Walsh rode 2,756 winners in Britain and Ireland, include a record 59 at the Cheltenham Festival, where he won the leading jockey award no fewer than 11 times.

Indeed, Walsh rode his first Cheltenham Festival winner, Alexander Banquet, trained by Willie Mullins, in the Weatherbys Champion Bumper, as an 18-year-old amatuer, in 1998. Having turned professional later that year, Walsh went on to enjoy a remarkable career during which he would win each of the main ‘championship’ races at the Cheltenham Festival at least twice. Indeed, he won the Stayers’ Hurdle five times, the Champion Hurdle four times, the Queen Mother Champion Chase three times and the Cheltenham Gold Cup twice. His last Cheltenham Festival winner came courtesy of Klassical Dream, again trained by Willie Mullins, in the Supreme Novices’ Hurdle in 2019.

Which horse won the ‘substitute’ Cheltenham Gold Cup in 2001?

In 2001, with the Cheltenham Festival blighted by foot-and-mouth disease, the Tote Gold Trophy Chase, billed only as ‘a substitute Gold Cup, of sorts’, was run at Sandown Park in late April. However, the race ‘lacked any strength in depth’, according to the Racing Post, and attracted just seven runners. First Gold, winner of the King George VI Chase at Kempton the previous December, was sent off favourite, at 8/13, with Marlborough, who was a decent handicapper, but a handicapper nonetheless, at 5/2 and 16/1 the front pair.

The complexion of the race changed significantly when First Gold blundered and unseated jockey Thierry Doumen at the tenth fence, leaving Go Ballistic, who had finished second, beaten just a length, in the Cheltenham Gold Cup ‘proper’ two seasons previously, to make the best of his way home. Belying odds of 33/1, Go Ballsitic took the lead on the railway straight and, although joined by Marlborough at the second last fence, battled on gamely in the closing stages. Nevertheless, Marlborough, who had looked held on the run-in, dug deep up the famous Sandown hill to snatch the spoils in the final stride, eventually winning by a short head.

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