home >
totesport Cheltenham Gold Cup
Race Conditions
The totesport Cheltenham Gold Cup (3:15pm) is a Class A Grade 1 chase run over three miles and about two and a half furlongs. It is open to horses aged five years old and upwards. The total prize fund is £450,000.
Click here for free bets and special offers from the leading online bookmakers.
Recent Winners
If the Cheltenham Festival is the most prestigious event in the National Hunt calendar, then the Gold Cup has to be the most prestigious race. Whilst it used to be considered little more than a trial for the Grand National, as the importance of the Festival has grown, so has the significance of this race. It is now the event that everyone wants to win.
The first Gold Cup was actually a three-mile Flat race, run in 1819 and won by Spectre. The rich history of the event since those meager beginnings would have been hard to predict when it was first run as a chase in 1924, for prize money of just £700.
Since then the race has provided us with some of the most unforgettable sporting, let alone racing, stories and achievements.
From Golden Miller’s record five consecutive wins from 1932-36, to Best Mate’s emotional hat-trick in 2002, 2003 and 2004 that was so skillfully masterminded by racing’s odd couple, Henrietta Knight and Terry Biddlecome.
From the legendry performances of Arkle, whose three victories between 1964 and 66 included a success over Mill House in one of the sports greatest ever duels and a later success at 1/10 favourite, to the great Irish mare, Dawn Run, the only horse to have won both the Champion Hurdle and Gold Cup.
From the heroics of the sport’s most loved performer, Desert Orchid, whose success in the mud and rain of 1989 was recently voted by Racing Post readers as the greatest ever race, to what was rated in a similar pole as the greatest training feat of all time, Michael Dickinson’s first five home in 1983.
The race continues to serve up thrilling stories, and the combination of speed, stamina and jumping that is required means that it is the ultimate test of the thoroughbred.
| Year | Horse | Age | Trainer | Odds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | Denman | 8 | P F Nicholls | 9/4 |
| 2007 | Kauto Star | 7 | P F Nicholls | 5/4F |
| 2006 | War Of Attrition | 7 | M Morris | 15/2 |
| 2005 | Kicking King | 7 | T Taaffe | 4/1F |
| 2004 | Best Mate | 9 | Miss H Knight | 8/11F |
| 2003 | Best Mate | 8 | Miss H Knight | 13/8F |
| 2002 | Best Mate | 7 | Miss H Knight | 7/1 |
| 2000 | Looks Like Trouble | 8 | N Chance | 9/2 |
| 1999 | See More Business | 9 | P Nicholls | 16/1 |
| 1998 | Cool Dawn | 10 | R Alner | 25/1 |
| 1997 | Mr Mulligan | 9 | N Chance | 20/1 |
| 1996 | Imperial Call | 7 | F Doumen | 9/2 |
| 1995 | Master Oats | 9 | K Bailey | 10/3F |
| 1994 | The Fellow | 9 | F Doumen | 7/1 |
Course
Although run over three and a quarter miles, the pace of the race is more like a two and a half mile contest, meaning that there is an even greater emphasis on stamina. However, horses also have to have the speed to stay in contention, and have to jump well
The two key fences are the ditch at the top of the hill, four out, and three out, which is taken downhill. There is also a longer run in on the New Course, and it is often the last half furlong that changes victory into defeat.
Key Trends
No winner older than 10 since 1969.
14 of the last 15 winners (and all of the last 9) aged between 7 and 9.
7 of the last 8 winners were rated 166+.
9 of the last 11 winners were placed at the Festival before.
19 of the last 21 winners finished in the first 4 in their previous race.
8 of the last 15 winners were second-season chasers.
No horse placed in the previous year's Gold Cup has won 12 months later since Bregawn in 1983.
Horses beaten in the Gold Cup before are 1-58 since 1994. Only See More Business bucks this trend having won in 1999 (and he was "carried out" by a horse pulling up injured in 1998, rather than being beaten on merit).
Watch the 2008 Cheltenham Gold Cup:
2008 Cheltenham Gold Cup Result:
| Place | Horse | Trainer | Age | Jockey | Odds |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Denman | P F Nicholls | 8 | Sam Thomas | 9/4 |
| 2 | Kauto Star | P F Nicholls | 8 | R Walsh | 10/11F |
| 3 | Neptune Collonges | P F Nicholls | 7 | Mick Fitzgerald | 25/1 |
| 4 | Halcon Genelardais | A King | 8 | Robert Thornton | 16/1 |
| 5 | Exotic Dancer | Jonjo O´Neill | 8 | A P McCoy | 17/2 |
| 6 | Knowhere | N A Twiston-Davies | 10 | P J Brennan | 25/1 |
| 7 | Afistfullofdollars | Noel Meade | 10 | P Carberry | 20/1 |
| PU | Contraband | Paul Murphy | 10 | T J Dreaper | 200/1 |
| PU | Azulejo | M Scudamore | 10 | Tom Scudamore | 100/1 |
| PU | Celestial Gold | D E Pipe | 10 | Timmy Murphy | 100/1 |
| PU | Fustrien Du Paon | R Chotard | 12 | A Lecordier | 250/1 |
| PU | Iron Man | P Bowen | 7 | Denis O´Regan | 100/1 |
2007 Review
This years Gold Cup lacked a bit of strength in depth and was only steadily run, which arguably worked in favour of KAUTO STAR, and as the first 11 were covered by only 20 lengths or so it would be hard to rate the bare form, particularly by Gold Cup standards. In other respects, however, it was a championship performance, and one marred only by another last-fence mistake, albeit a less dramatic one than at either Kempton or Newbury.
We knew Kauto Star was an exceptional talent, but we couldn't be certain he would appreciate this stiffer test of stamina, and the jumping had to be a worry, despite connections' protestations to the contrary. Despite the steady gallop, he settled beautifully and cruised through the race under a patient ride before creeping into contention at the top of the hill. An extraordinary number of horses were still in contention as they approached the straight with two to jump, and it got messy among the leaders, with the riderless Idle Talk still there and Turpin Green inclined to go left. But when Kauto Star was angled out and launched with his challenge, he quickly went to the front, and having gone two or three lengths clear, he was never going to be caught.
Kauto Star ultimately wasn't as spectacular as many of us hoped he might be, but he'd been kept very busy by modern standards and deserves enormous credit for winning four championship standard races in a season over such a range of distances, especially when one remembers that his principal victim in the 2m Tingle Creek Chase was Wednesday's Queen Mother Champion Chase winner Voy Por Ustedes, whom he beat impressively by seven lengths. He will be campaigned differently next season, though Paul Nicholls would love to go back to Sandown for a second Tingle Creek, and connections' sights will be set firmly on the Gold Cup. He will set a very high standard if he avoids injury, but he makes little ante-post appeal at 3-1 and under, because none of the last three Gold Cup winners has been able to defend their crown, and next year's race could theoretically include not only Kicking King and War Of Attrition, but also Kauto Star's hugely talented stablemate Denman and the impressive Arkle winner My Way De Solzen.
Exotic Dancer has been a revelation for the combination of cheekpieces, earplugs and extreme waiting tactics, and with three course wins to his name there was always a chance he would make more of a race of it this time with Kauto Star, who had beaten him eight lengths in the King George. The usual tactics were adopted,and while he made several mistakes, he was still full of running at the back of the pack four out. He got messed around a bit on the inside going to the second-last, but connections would not use that as an excuse and he was beaten fair and square again,albeit by a much narrower margin.
First of the surprise packages in the finish was Turpin Green in first-time blinkers. He had beaten Exotic Dancer at Carlisle in October, but was beaten off 147 in the Peter Marsh and a near refusal at Sandown last season was hard to forget. He has always been talented enough, though, and the headgear, along with better ground, worked a treat, because he travelled strongly to three out and kept on well enough under pressure to show much-improved form. It remains to be seen if he can repeat the form next time, but he will be well treated in the Grand National with 11st 1lb.
Monkerhostin was another who appeared to run above his limited form this season, because he was beaten around 30 lengths in the King George, yet was only ten lengths behind Kauto Star this time despite making a bad mistake in rear six out and being still detached from the pack rounding the turn. His trainer's wife, Sarah Hobbs, said the gelding had not been right this season until now, and Aintree beckons, with connections choosing between the Betfair Bowl and the National. If opting for the latter, which seems to be favoured, he would be having a first experience of the big fences. He would be 5lb worse off with Turpin Green but might just take to them.
Cane Brake came from nowhere to snatch fifth. His handicap wins in Ireland before Christmas had been under much more testing conditions off marks of only 129 and 142, so while he deserves plenty of credit for another improved run, he is another whose proximity is hardly a ringing endorsement of the form overall. He shaped as if he will be suited by further but is not in the National.
The Hennessy winner State Of Play needed to improve again to feature here, but he was still something of an unknown quantity and had plenty going for him. He went well, as expected, until after three out, despite a couple of minor errors. He was then unlucky to get messed about in the traffic congestion approaching the second.