THE FESTIVAL 2017 MEDIA GUIDE

THE FESTIVAL 2017 

MEDIA GUIDE

IN THE GUIDE 

THE PRINCESS ROYAL GRANDSTAND 4 

HORSE COMES FIRST 6 

THE FESTIVAL 8 

BETBRIGHT PRESTBURY CUP 9 THE MCCOYS 10 TIMELINE 12 

MAINENTENANCE & GROUNDSTAFF 22 FACTS & FIGURES 25 TIMICO CHELTENHAM GOLD CUP 26 

STAN JAMES CHAMPION HURDLE 32 BETWAY QUEEN MOTHERS CHAMPION CHASE 3 8 SUN BETS STAYERS’ HURDLE 44 

RYANAIR CHASE 48 

TRAINERS 50 

JOCKEYS 51 

OTHER RACES AT THE FESTIVAL 52 CHELTENHAM’S RACING PROGRAMME 59 COURSE MAPS 60 

2

WELCOME 

The build-up to this year’s Festival has, as usual, 

provided a great array of stories to enjoy over the 

past few months and it’s not long now until those 

four very special days in March commence. 

Once again we will be hosting 28 championship races across the four days, with 

around 260,000 visitors coming through the gates, making The Festival the 

fourth biggest sporting event in the UK in terms of total customers. 

This will be my fifth Festival as Regional Director and, over this time, there 

have been a significant amount of changes to the site, with the £45-million 

redevelopment of the lower end of the racecourse completed in November, 2015. 

Since then, we have had a number of racedays to test and understand the new 

layout and I am really proud of what we have to offer here at Cheltenham. 

I am delighted that Caroline McNamara has agreed for this year’s National 

Hunt Chase to be named after her late husband, J T, who sadly passed away 

last summer, having been paralysed here at The Festival in a fall in 2013. All our 

thoughts will be with the family on Tuesday and it seems fitting that it is the 

National Hunt Chase, a race that he was so closely associated with during 

his riding career. 

Over the week we accredit more than 800 media, working for a range of 

publications, TV and radio stations. There are two media facilities available to the 

media: the Press Room and the Media Centre; both offer full WIFI provision and 

desks, together with food and drink facilities. If you have been accredited, then 

please ensure you know where your pass provides access to in advance of your 

visit (details are included in the letter). 

We thank you for your continued support of The Festival and Cheltenham 

Racecourse and Sophia, Simon and myself look forward to working with you in 

the build-up and over the four days. If you do need to speak to us, our contact 

details are at the bottom of this page. 

Ian Renton 

Regional Director 

Cheltenham Media Guide 2017 

Sophia Dale 

Regional Communications Manager 

DDI +44 (0)1242 537 683 

M +44 (0) 7557 054 577 

E sophia.dale@thejockeyclub.co.uk 

Simon Claisse 

Regional Head of Racing, South West 

& Clerk of the Course, Cheltenham 

DD +44 (0)1242 537664 

M +44 (0)7785 293966 

E simon.claisse@thejockeyclub.co.uk 

Ian Renton 

Regional Director, The Jockey Club 

South West 

T +44 (0)1242 513014 

E ian.renton@thejockeyclub.co.uk 

3

THE PRINCESS ROYAL 

GRANDSTAND 

Cheltenham Racecourse officially opened its new, five and a half storey 

grandstand, The Princess Royal Stand, on the first day of The Open, Friday, 

November 13, 2015, on time and on budget. 

The Princess Royal did the honours. 

The grandstand was the final part 

of the award-winning £45-million 

redevelopment of the racecourse, 

which provides extra facilities, better 

views and improved movement for 

racegoers. 

Over a 19-month period, from 2013 

to 2015, Cheltenham Racecourse was 

redeveloped, with the new stand 

the centrepiece of the work, the 

largest project ever undertaken by 

The Jockey Club. Cheltenham’s usual 

race programme continued to be run 

throughout. 

A total of 14 different project strands 

were involved in the redevelopment, 

including a refurbished weighing 

room, a new first aid room and the 

new crescent walkway which greatly 

assists the flow of racegoers behind 

the grandstand and offers additional 

and better viewing of the parade ring 

and winner’s enclosure. 

The grandstand, which can be used by 

6,500 racegoers, provides 156 toilets, 

bars, restaurants, private boxes and 

viewing facilities for racegoers. It took 

over 500,000 man hours to construct. 

The ground floor of The Princess 

Royal Stand consists of a public 

bar, called the Vestey Bar after 

Lord Vestey who was Chairman of 

Cheltenham Racecourse for 21 years 

until 2011. A bistro provides hot food 

and a seafood offering. 

The first floor of the stand includes 

a new bar for Annual Members, who 

have access directly onto their own 

section of steppings for viewing the 

races. The remainder of the first floor 

“IT IS TESTAMENT 

TO OUR TEAM AT 

CHELTENHAM, 

TOGETHER WITH OUR 

CONTRACTORS, THAT 

WE HAVE BEEN ABLE 

TO CONTINUE WITH 

A COMPLETE RACING 

PROGRAMME WHILE 

UNDERTAKING A 

DEVELOPMENT OF THIS 

SCALE.” 

Ian Renton, Regional Director for 

Cheltenham and the South West, The 

Jockey Club 

4

A general view of the Vestey Bar at 

Cheltenham Racecourse 

“WE HAVE INTRODUCED 

A FANTASTIC CRESCENT 

WALKWAY WRAPPING 

AROUND THE PARADE 

RING THAT LEADS TO 

THE NEW GRANDSTAND. 

IT’S AN AMAZING 

PROJECT AND EVERYONE 

HAS BEEN REALLY 

EXCITED ABOUT IT.” 

Stephen Limbrick, Managing Director at 

Roberts Limbrick Architects 

is the Big Buck’s Champagne Bar, 

named after the horse who won 

an unprecedented four Stayers’ 

Hurdles and 18 consecutive races, 

also with direct access onto the 

viewing steps. 

The second floor has an excellent 

Owners & Trainers Bar, with a 

balcony overlooking the parade 

ring, horsewalk and course, plus 

the Cotswolds Club, an area 

available to those who used to 

have one of the A+R boxes which 

were removed to make way for the 

new stand. 

Moving up to the third floor of the 

grandstand, there is The Royal Box 

and 11 private boxes. 

The top floor houses the 

Cheltenham Club, whose annual 

members are allocated a table for 

the season, from which to enjoy 

a four-course, a la carte lunch, 

stunning views of Cleeve Hill, plus 

the Malvern Hills at the back of the 

stand, and even a fireplace to keep 

them extra warm between races 

during the winter months. 


The Princess Royal Stand was 

carefully designed so it can be 

used for non-racing functions as 

well and is fitted out to a high 

standard, while racing heroes, both 

human and equine incorporated in 

the Cheltenham Hall of Fame, are 

celebrated throughout. 

5

A TRACK RECORD 

TO BE PROUD OF 

Horseracing in Britain is among the world’s best 

regulated animal activities. The sport employs 

over 6,000 people to provide first class care and 

attention for the 14,000 horses in training. 

Learn more at 

THEHORSECOMESFIRST.COM 

@horsecomesfirst 

Contact Robin Mounsey: 

rmounsey@britishhorseracing.com 

6

BRITISH RACING HAS 

A DUTY OF CARE 

TO ITS HORSES 

Of a population 

estimated to be around 

1 million, racehorses 

in Britain are among 

the healthiest and 

best looked after 

2% (1 in 50) of horses 

in the country. 

Since the year 2000, 

British Racing has invested 

£32 MILLION 

in veterinary research 

and education. 

LIFE AFTER RACING 

An increasing number of racehorses go on to successful 

second careers after retiring from the track. There are 

currently over 11,500 horses registered with Retraining 

of Racehorses (British Horseracing’s official charity for 

rehoming and retraining racehorses) as active in other 

equine disciplines outside of racing, including Polo, 

Showing, Dressage and Eventing. 

A study by Liverpool University found that 62% of “traumatic injuries” 

(ranging from grazes to fractures) suffered by a sample of leisure 

and competition horses occurred when turned out in the field, 


COMPARED TO ONLY 13% DURING RIDDEN EXERCISE. 

The British Horse Society estimates over 3,000 ROAD ACCIDENTS ANNUALLY INVOLVE HORSES. 

7

The much-anticipated four days at 

Cheltenham Racecourse each March 

see the best horses from Britain and 

Ireland, plus overseas challengers, 

battle for glory in 28 races. 

The five main championship contests, 

the Timico Cheltenham Gold Cup, 

the Stan James Champion Hurdle, 

the Betway Queen Mother Champion 

Chase, the Sun Bets Stayers’ Hurdle 

and the Ryanair Chase obviously 

attract most interest but victory in any 

race at The Festival is much sought 

after and fiercely contested. 

would not have flocked to the area. 

They did and brought their sporting 

diversions, including racing. 

There had been a settlement at 

Cheltenham in Saxon times, with 

a village of 200 souls centred on 

St Mary’s Church recorded in the 

Domesday Book in 1086. It grew slowly; 

by 1226 a weekly market and annual 

fair were granted by Henry III, in 1578 a 

grammar school was founded, and by 

the 1700s had become a small-scale 

centre for malting and tannery, with a 

population of around 1,500. 

The Festival came into being gradually 

and the inaugural running is generally 

felt to have happened in 1911, with 

the National Hunt Chase the main 

attraction, but 1923 is also a key date 

as the meeting was run over three 

days, rather than two, for the first time. 

The Cheltenham Gold Cup was 

introduced in 1924, the Champion 

Hurdle in 1927 and the Champion 

Chase in 1959. The Festival stretched 

from three days to four in 2005. 

But it was all change in 1716, when 

the efficacy of the local waters was 

first realised. For the aristocratic 

fashionistas of the time, Cheltenham 

became the place to visit and the 

seal was set on the town’s reputation 

with the visit of George III during 

the summer of 1788, five years after 

the end of the American War of 

Independence. 

THE FESTIVAL 

THE FESTIVAL IS THE HIGHLIGHT OF JUMP RACING 

ANYWHERE AND ATTRACTS WORLDWIDE INTEREST. 

Champion Day, Ladies Day, St Patrick’s 

Thursday and Gold Cup Day now 

attract over 260,000 racegoers. The 

Festival as a name is a registered 

trademark and has been since 

October, 1994. 

But Cheltenham Racecourse, which 

sits in a natural amphitheatre 

overlooked by the highest point of the 

Cotswold Hills in Cleeve Hill, may not 

have existed but for an accident of 

geology. For without the limestones, 

clays and mudstones laid down in 

Gloucestershire during the Jurassic 

period more than 150 million years 

ago, there would have been no mineral 

springs in the shadow of Cleeve Hill. 

And without the springs, and their 

perceived health-giving properties, the 

18th century’s wealthy and fashionable 

By the mid-1800s the sleepy rural 

backwater had become, thanks to 

Royal patronage, an elegant Regency 

spa resort with a population of 35,000. 

The mad Hanoverian may have lost the 

American colonies, but indirectly he 

gave an unpayable debt to racing. 

During the late 18th and early 19th 

centuries, steeplechasing as an 

organised sport was in its infancy, very 

much the poor – and rather despised 

- relation of what was regarded as the 

‘real thing’, hunting. 

The first racing in the Cheltenham area 

- an informal meeting at Nottingham 

Hill near Woodmancote and above 

Gotherington in 1815, and then regular 

fixtures high on Cleeve Hill – was 

on the Flat. But it was a start, the 

first steps on a journey across three 

centuries. 

8

BETBRIGHT 

PRESTBURY CUP 

BRITAIN VERSUS IRELAND AT THE FESTIVAL 


The Festival at 

Cheltenham has always 

seen friendly rivalry 

between Britain and 

Ireland and this was 

formalised with the 

introduction of the 

Prestbury Cup at The 

Festival in 2014. 

IRISH-TRAINED SUCCESSES AT 


2016 15 i (28 races) 

2015 13 (27 races) 

2014 12 (27 races) 

2013 14 (27 races) 

2012 5 (27 races) 

2011 13 (27 races) 

2010 7 (26 races) 

2009 9 (26 races) 

2008 7 (25 races) 

2007 5 (24 races) 

2006 10 (24 races) 

2005 9 (24 races) 

2004 4 (20 races) 

2003 6 (20 races) 

2002 5 (20 races) 

2001 cancelled 

2000 3 (20 races) 

1999 5 (20 races) 

1998 4 (20 races) 

1997 3 (20 races) 

1996 7 (20 races) 

1995 4 (20 races) 

1994 3 (20 races) 

1993 6 (20 races) 

1992 2 (19 races) 

1991 2 (18 races) 

1990 2 (18 races) 

1989 0 (18 races) 

1988 1 (18 races) 

1987 1 (18 races) 

1986 4 (18 races) 

1985 2 (18 races) 

1984 4 (18 races) 

1983 5 (18 races) 

1982 6 (18 races) 

1981 3 (18 races) 

1980 4 (18 races) 

1979 5 (18 races) 

1978 6 ii (12 races) 

1977 7 (18 races) 

1976 5 (18 races) 

1975 5 iii (13 races) 

Betting group BetBright have 

sponsored the Prestbury Cup since 

2015 and continue their backing 

in 2017. 

Captains were introduced in 2016, 

when former Jump jockey Choc 

Thornton represented Britain and TV 

personality and racehorse 

owner Hector Ó hEochagáin 

represented Ireland. 

Phil Tufnell, the former cricketer, takes 

over from Thornton in 2017, while 

Hector Ó hEochagáin continues in 

his role. 

The battle for the BetBright Prestbury 

Cup includes all 28 races at The 

Festival. The first nation to 15 succeeds, 

with the trainers and jockeys from the 

winning country presented with the 

BetBright Prestbury Cup which 

is sealed with some hallowed 

Cheltenham turf. 

There was a dramatic ending to the 

competition in 2016, the first time 28 

i. New record. Prior to The Festival’s extension to four days in 2005, the previous record was 

eight wins in 1958 (when 18 races were run). 

ii. In 1978, the third day of The Festival was abandoned due to snow. The Triumph Hurdle 

and Gold Cup were subsequently run in April. 

iii. In 1975, waterlogging caused several races to be lost. 

Ian Renton, Paul Nicholls and 

Brian Farrell (Marketing Director of 

BetBright) with the Prestbury Cup 

races were run at The Festival, with the 

drama going down to the last race, the 

Johnny Henderson Grand Annual won 

by British-trained Solar Impulse from 

Ireland’s Dandridge, thus ensuring a 

14-14 dead-heat at the time. However, 

a subsequent enquiry meant that 

Britain’s Any Currency was disqualified 

from the Glenfarclas Cross Country 

Chase and Ireland’s Josies Orders 

awarded the victory, making the final 

score 15-13 in favour of Ireland. 

The number of Irish winners was a new 

record at The Festival. The previous 

highest was 14 Irish successes in 2013, 

when there were 27 races at The 

Festival and Ireland overcame Britain 

for the first time. 

There are strong entries from both 

sides of the Irish Sea ahead of The 

Festival in 2017 and another thrilling 

competition is set to occur, with both 

countries out to be named champion 

at the end of racing on Gold Cup Day, 

Friday, March 17. 

9

THE 

McCOYS 

FRIDAY 29th SEPTEMBER 

AT CHELTENHAM RACECOURSE 

TICKETS INCLUDE: 

Champagne reception | 3 course celebration dinner | £80 per person | Table of 10 - £750 

BOOK ONLINE NOW 

www.cheltenham.co.uk or call 01242 537 662 

10

THE MCCOYS 

RECOGNISING JUMP RACING BRILLIANCE IN THE SOUTH WEST REGION OF THE JOCKEY CLUB 

Exciting new awards for owners, 

trainers, jockeys, stable staff and 

horses running at Cheltenham and the 

three other Jockey Club Racecourses 

in the South West of England, Warwick, 

Wincanton and Exeter, will go to the 

champions of the region this season, 

2016/2017. 

The awards are called the "McCoys" 

after Sir A P McCoy, the recordingbreaking 

20-time champion Jump 

jockey who retired from race riding in 

April, 2015. 

Ian Renton, Regional Director of 

Jockey Club Racecourses, Cheltenham 

& the South West, explained: “The four 

courses in our region, Cheltenham, 

Exeter, Warwick and Wincanton, are 

devoted entirely to Jump Racing and, 

with so many of our leading trainers 

and jockeys based in the South West, 

we feel it is important to recognise this 

great region and we are delighted to 

be launching the inaugural McCoys. 

“We want to highlight all the fantastic 

racing that takes places at the four 

racecourses across the season and 

we have a number of categories 

to celebrate the champions and 

achievements of both equine and 

human stars. 

“Jump Racing in the South West is 

very competitive and I am sure that 

these awards will only strengthen that 

position.” 

The McCoys were launched on 

September 30, 2016 at a dinner in The 

Centaur at Cheltenham Racecourse 

attended by 270 people and hosted 

by Jill Douglas. The awards themselves 

will be announced on Friday, October 

27, 2017, the evening of the first 

raceday of the season at Cheltenham. 

Sir A P McCoy commented: “I'm 

delighted that the new Jockey Club 

South West region awards are to be 

called the McCoys. 

“I have many happy memories of 

riding at all the four courses during my 

career and will now take extra interest 

in the racing at Warwick, Cheltenham, 

Wincanton and Exeter this season! 

“I shall very much look forward to the 

awards next autumn and being on the 

judging panel.” 

The inaugural McCoys are decided 

by performances in the region from 

September 20, 2016 through to May 

25, 2017. 

THE AWARDS ARE FOR 


LEADING OWNERS 

Recognising two owners who are committed 

to running horses and winning in the South 

West region during the 2016/17 season. 

1. Leading owner with four or more 

horses in training. 

2. Leading owner with less than four 


LEADING TRAINERS 

Recognising two trainers in the South West 

region during the 2016/17 season. 

1. Leading trainer with 40 or more 


2. Leading trainer with less than 40 

horses in training 

LEADING JOCKEY 

A new era dawns for jockeys with the three 

South West titles sure to be hotly contested. 

1. Leading jockey 

2. Leading conditional jockey 

3. Leading amateur jockey 

HORSES OF THE SEASON 

Recognising outstanding equine 

achievements across the Jockey Club South 

West region. 

1. Leading novice hurdler 

2. Leading hurdler 

3. Leading novice chaser 

4. Leading chaser 

TOP HORSE OF THE SEASON 

Judged by an expert panel, this award will 

recognise the performance by an individual 

horse. Do you remember Quevega winning 

for the sixth consecutive time in 2015, the 

mare Annie Power taking the Champion 

Hurdle in 2016 and Unowhatimeanharry 

winning at both Exeter and at The Festival 

in March? 

PONY RACING 

ACHIEVEMENT OF THE 

SEASON 

Sam Twiston-Davies and Sean Bowen have 

both ridden in pony races before becoming 

recognised racing heroes – they coaxed the 

very best out of ponies on the journey to the 

professional ranks. The judges will recognise 

the achievement of the season at pony races 

across the South West region. 

STABLE PERSON OF 

THE YEAR 

A stable lad or lass is as crucial as any 

other element in winning races. This 

award seeks to recognise the behind the 

scenes passion, dedication and skills of 

the supporting cast to the equine heroes 

of our sport. Nominated by trainers based 

in Gloucestershire, Cornwall, Devon, 

Somerset, Dorset, Wiltshire, Hampshire, 

Oxfordshire, Warwickshire, Herefordshire, 

Worcestershire and South Wales. 

RIDE OF THE 

SEASON – THE MCCOY 

Judged by an expert panel, this award 

recognises horsemanship of the highest 

calibre. Who can forget A P McCoy’s ride 

aboard Wichita Lineman in 2009 and 

Victoria Pendleton partnering Pachu Du 

Polder to fifth place in the St James’s Place 

Foxhunter Chase at The Festival in 2016? 

This award will recognise individual 

horsemanship and outstanding skill in the 

South West and is not restricted to 

winning rides. 

FREQUENT RUNNER 

AWARDS 

These longstanding awards recognises 

trainers who run their horses across the 

region’s racecourses. Points are awarded for 

runs at Cheltenham, Exeter, Warwick 

and Wincanton. 

OUTSTANDING 

CONTRIBUTION AWARD 

Recognising a horse, or person who has 

made an outstanding contribution to the 

South West Jump season. 

11

CHELTENHAM 

RACECOURSE 

TIMELINE 

THE RACECOURSE THAT SITS IN A NATURAL AMPHITHEATRE OVERLOOKED BY THE 

HIGHEST POINT OF THE COTSWOLD HILLS (CLEEVE HILL) AND IS NOW SYNONYMOUS 

WITH TOP-CLASS JUMPING MAY NOT HAVE EXISTED BUT FOR AN ACCIDENT OF GEOLOGY. 

1819 

A three-day Flat meeting was held 

from August 23 to 25 high up on 

Cleeve Hill, with the future Lord- 

Lieutenant of the county, Colonel 

William FitzHardinge Berkeley, 

the driving force, and the Duke of 

Gloucester, who had contributed 

100 guineas to the prize fund, in 

attendance. A Cheltenham Gold Cup, 

a three-mile Flat race, was one of the 

races, won by Mr Bodenham’s Spectre. 

The meeting flourished, a large 

grandstand, visible from the town 

below, was constructed and the crowd 

for the 1825 meeting was estimated 

at 50,000. 

1830 

Not all in the area welcomed the 

sport and its attendant gambling, 

parties, high living and low life, 

notably clergyman Francis Close, 

who came to Cheltenham in 1824 

and was appointed rector in 1827. 

One of his sermons, entitled “The 

evil consequences of attending the 

racecourse, exposed” was preached 

to a packed congregation and 3,500 

copies were distributed round the 

town. His disciples tried to stop 

the Cleeve Hill meeting in 1829 

with a vocal and, at times, violent 

demonstration at the track, but they 

failed in their efforts. The following 

year they succeeded, by dint of 

burning down the grandstand the 

night before. 

1831 

The racing moved to “three fields” 

at Prestbury Park, then the estate of 

Lord Ellenborough, later Governor 

General of India and First Lord of the 

Admiralty. The first winner on the land 

north of Cheltenham between the 

villages of Prestbury and Southam 

that is part of the present racecourse 

was Confederacy, winner of the 

Gloucestershire Stakes. The feature 

summer meeting transferred back in 

1835 to Cleeve Hill, where the turf was 

of better quality, but interest in Flat 

racing in that part of the world was 

waning – partly due to an economic 

depression - and the last of it was 

in 1855. 

1834 

The first officially regulated 

steeplechase in Gloucestershire took 

place with the commencement of the 

Grand Annual Chase. In name at least, 

it is the oldest contest at Cheltenham 

and also the oldest still in the Jumping 

calendar, predating the Grand National 

at Aintree by five years. The inaugural 

Grand Annual was held over a three- 

12


mile course near Andoversford to the 

south east of Cheltenham; Fugleman, 

ridden by his owner Mr d’Oyley, beat 

eight rivals. The Grand Annual Chase 

is now the final contest at The Festival, 

which is staged each March. The 

Cheltenham area was home to some of 

steeplechasing’s most famous names, 

men - like Tom Olliver and his protégé 

George Stevens - whose exploits 

helped lay the new sport’s foundations 

locally and nationally. Olliver won 

three Grand Nationals as a rider, 

Stevens – who never fell in 15 rides at 

Aintree but was killed in a freak riding 

accident near his home on Cleeve Hill 

- five, a record which still holds today. 

Another of Olliver’s pupils was the 

amateur rider and racing poet Adam 

Lindsay Gordon, who was at school 

in the town with another three-time 

Grand National-winning rider, Tommy 

Pickernell. William Holman, who 

trained on Cleeve Hill, was the first to 

saddle three winners of the Aintree 

showpiece. William Archer, landlord 

of the King’s Arms in Prestbury, also 

trained a National winner. Olliver was 

best man at his wedding; one of his 

sons was, of course, the tragic 13-time 

Flat champion jockey Fred Archer. 

In its early years the Grand Annual 

Chase did not have a permanent 

home, being run at various venues in 

the Cheltenham area, including several 

close to the Prestbury Park estate. 

The contest had some distinguished 

winners, human and equine; in 

1837 Captain Martin Becher, later 

immortalised at Aintree, won on Vivian; 

the first Grand National winner Lottery 

won in 1839 and 1840; in 1845 Holman 

on Zeno dead-heated with Olliver on 

Greyling; in 1847 Holman won again on 

Stanmore, beating Archer on Daddy 

Long Legs a head. Steeplechasing in 

those days was pretty much a freefor-all 

across country over natural 

obstacles at hunting, rather than 

racing, pace, with the route marked 

by flags. For instance, that 1847 Grand 

Annual Chase, mapped out by Colonel 

Berkeley on the lower slopes of 

Cleeve Hill from Knoll Hill House near 

Prestbury village to the Hewletts, to 

the east of Cheltenham, had directions 

that included “through a lane to 

Noverton House, to the right over a 

stone wall into Mr Turner’s orchard, 

over a brook with gorse plants on 

the taking-off side, and through Mr 

Gyngell’s meadows”. The race was 

the inspiration for Lindsay Gordon’s 

evocative poem “How We Beat The 

Favourite”. 

1860 

The National Hunt Chase was founded. 

A level-weights race for amateur riders 

on novice horses, it was the brainchild 

of another of the Cheltenham racing 

set, Dr Fothergill ‘Fogo’ Rowlands, a 

trainer and fine amateur rider and it 

proved more important in chasing’s, 

and ultimately Cheltenham’s, early 

years than the Grand Annual. By the 

middle of the century, into the reign 

of Queen Victoria, Jump racing – even 

the Grand National - had begun to 

decline in popularity. In public eyes it 

was seen as much more ill-organised 

and corrupt than Flat racing and 

many of those who might have 

competed still preferred hunting and 

the lure of dashing deeds in cavalry 

regiments in the Crimea and India. The 

creation of the National Hunt Chase 

and soon afterwards the National 

Hunt Committee, Jump racing’s first 

regulatory body, were key in turning 

the sport’s fortunes and reputation 

around. The National Hunt Chase - 

originally funded by local hunts – was 

another race with a nomadic early 

existence but it soon stood second 

only to the Grand National in value and 

prestige and whichever venue staged 

it became, Aintree apart, the top 

fixture of the season. 

1881 

Prestbury Park was acquired by 

William Alexander Baring Bingham. 

During the late 1870s and, into the 

1880s, Jump racing in the vicinity of 

Cheltenham was again a regular in the 

form books, with two-day meetings 

under the heading Cheltenham Hunt 

or Cheltenham Grand Annual. But 

none had taken place at Prestbury 

Park; Lord Ellenborough, an active 

politician, had sold most of his estate 

in 1853 and the new owner refused 

to have racing on his land. Baring 

Bingham vowed to restore the sport 

to Prestbury Park and, in time, began 

to bring some order to proceedings 

and some stability to the concept 

of Cheltenham races. He built a 

grandstand and railed off the course, 

providing a left-handed running 

direction over undulating terrain which 

proved a template for the modern-day 

Cheltenham Racecourse. 

1898 

First of all there was a low-key 

one-day card at Prestbury Park that 

included an eight-runner Grand Annual 

Chase (won by Xebee) and a three 

and a quarter-mile farmers’ race with 

separate results for Heavyweights and 

Lightweights. 

1902 

Racing began in earnest at Prestbury 

Park, with two-day meetings in April 

and November. The April meeting, 

which opened with the Prestbury 

Park Maiden Hurdle won by Prince 

Talleyrand and included the Grand 

Annual Chase won by Nahillah, 

attracted 80 runners. The course was 

then run by a private company chaired 

by the master of the Cotswold Hunt, 

Herbert Lord. 

1904 

The capture for the first time of the 

National Hunt Chase (won by Timothy 

Titus) acknowledged Prestbury Park’s 

growing significance in the Jumping 

calendar. The venue was the four-mile 

race’s 27th different home; it stayed at 

Cheltenham in 1905 before going back 

to Warwick for five years. 

1908 

The Cheltenham Steeplechase 

Company was formed, putting the 

course on a professional commercial 

footing for the first time. The operation 

was taken over by racecourse 

management company Pratt & Co, 

who would have it on their books for 

the next 70 years. One of its directors, 

Frederick Cathcart, became the 

first chairman of the newly-formed 

company and under his guidance, 

racing at Cheltenham blossomed 

and prospered. A major building 

programme was instigated; a new 

members’ stand was opened and 

celebrated at a meeting in May, with 

further expansion of facilities during 

each of the next six years. 

1911 

The National Hunt Chase returned to 

Cheltenham for good as the highlight 

of a two-day fixture on March 8 and 

9 that is regarded as the inaugural 

Festival. The meeting was described 

in the formbook as “National Hunt 

and Cheltenham” and the first winner 

at it was Young Buck, ridden by 

Jack Anthony to take the Southam 

Chase. An additional course, with a 

section behind the grandstand that 

included the start, had been laid out 

for the big race, in which 33/1 shot 

Sir Halbert beat 37 rivals. The 12 races 

also included two selling chases and a 

selling hurdle, a NH Flat race, a hunter 

chase and a four-year-old chase. In July 

that year there was a prestigious polo 

tournament, attended by the Cheltenham 

great and good, on the infield. 

13

1912 

A railway station opened above the 

northern end of the course. It was part of 

the Great Western Railways’ Cheltenham 

to Stratford line. The station was only 

open on racedays and the service 

continued up to March, 1976. See 2003 

for details about the re-opening of 

the station. 

1914-19 

Jump racing was affected far more 

than Flat racing during the First World 

War (1914-1918), with very few meetings 

in Britain. In 1915 the two-day March 

fixture took place at Cheltenham, and 

another in April, but then there was 

no more racing at the track until May, 

1919. During the war, the spanking new 

grandstands and other buildings were 

turned over to the Red Cross for use as 

a troop hospital, with the first patients 

in the long-defunct ladies’ drawing 

room. The evidence of their occupation 

still remains at the course, in the form 

of brickwork, with small indentations 

created as soldiers chalked up their 

billiard cues, preserved in the Tommy 

Atkins bar in the main grandstand. A 

plaque reads: “This building was used 

as a hospital for sick and wounded 

soldiers during the Great War. It was 

manned by Gloucestershire voluntary 

aid detachments Nos 14 and 18 and 

was open from October 28, 1914 to 

February 28, 1919, during which 3,169 

cases were treated.” 

1920 

The Festival’s first Irish success was Be 

Careful, winner of the Foxhunter Chase 

under Mr P Roberts. The 11-yearold 

finished a gallant fifth in the Irish Grand 

National next time out, carrying 16lb 

overweight. 

1923 

The Festival took place over three 

days for the first time. By then 

Cheltenham had an identity as a centre 

of Jumping and the March meeting 

drew large enthusiastic crowds, and 

the efforts of Cathcart and his team 

were pivotal as Jump racing regrouped 

after the war. The three-day meeting 

included six selling races but – the 

National Hunt and Grand Annual 

Chases apart - race titles that were to 

become more familiar had started to 

appear: Foxhunter, County Hurdle and 

Gloucestershire Hurdle. 

1924 

The first running of the Cheltenham 

Gold Cup, with nine runners, was won 

by Red Splash, a five-year-old owned 

by Major Everard Wyndham, trained 

by Fred Withington and ridden by 

Dick Rees. The Grand National still 

dominated the Jumping calendar as 

a spectacle, a betting medium and a 

target. But as a handicap, the winner 

was not necessarily the season’s best 

horse and Cathcart and his colleagues 

decided to instigate a prize over three 

and a quarter miles to attract the best 

staying chasers at level weights. The 

first Gold Cup, run over three and a 

quarter miles on Wednesday, March 12, 

was worth £685 to the winner, ranking 

below both the National Hunt Chase 

(£1,285) and National Hunt Handicap 

Chase (£833). That same year, skull caps 

were made compulsory in Jump racing. 

1926 

The first top-class performer to win 

at The Festival was Grakle, who took 

the 1926 juvenile chase and later won 

the 1931 Grand National, was placed 

in three Gold Cups and at the age of 

12 started 10/11 favourite for Golden 

Miller’s first in 1932. 

1927 

The first running of the Champion 

Hurdle, won by Blaris and worth £365. 

Hitherto the best hurdlers had to prove 

themselves in the Imperial Cup at 

Sandown, again a handicap. 

1929-1936 

Easter Hero (the first dual winner, 

1929-30) and Golden Miller (the only 

five-time winner, 1932-36), owned 

by Dorothy Paget, dominated the 

Cheltenham Gold Cup roll of honour. 

The race took time to become 

established but those two horses 

were public icons, and did a 

considerable amount to consolidate 

Cheltenham’s position. 

1931 

The Festival did not take place because 

of frost, with just the National Hunt 

Chase run in April. 

1937 

The second day of The Festival was 

abandoned because of snow and the 

third day was lost due to flooding. 

1938 

Danny Morgan partnered the 

Cheltenham Gold Cup winner Morse 

Code and in 1959 the Irishman sent out 

the winner of the same race, Roddy 

Owen. He thus became the first of five 

winning jockeys in the Cheltenham Gold 

Cup to subsequently also train a Gold 

Cup victor. 

1939 

Four mares have been successful in 

the Champion Hurdle, the first of them 

African Sister followed by Dawn Run 

(1984), Flakey Dove (1994) and Annie 

Power (2016) 

1942-44 

There was no Jump racing in Britain 

for the 1942-43 and 1943-44 seasons 

and the Cheltenham buildings were 

used to house and train British and 

American troops waiting for action. 

But the status of The Festival was 

such that it was one of the meetings 

allowed during the other war years, 

even though part of the course was 

under plough. Not every Jump venue 

survived the war; 79 were licenced in 

1939 and by 1946 only 39 remained. 

The last meetings before the shutdown 

were on 21 March 1942, at Wetherby 

and The Festival on one day with eight 

races. When Jump racing resumed 

towards the end of the war, it was 

Cheltenham that kicked things off, 

on January 6, 1945, after meetings 

scheduled for Wetherby and Windsor 

on Boxing Day, 1944 were frozen off. 

There was no Festival meeting that 

year but the Gold Cup and Champion 

Hurdle took place at a one-day fixture. 

1946 

The Gold Cup became the richest race 

at The Festival for the first time; Prince 

Regent won £1,130 against Prattler’s 

£1,036 for the National Hunt Chase. 

1947 

The three days of The Festival could 

not take place in March because of 

frost and snow, but the key races 

were run instead at the April meeting 

which had an extra day added. The 

Festival was given its own section 

in the racing’s respected annual, the 

Bloodstock Breeders’ Review, for the 

first time; hitherto the Grand National 

had been the only Jump race thought 

worthy of a report, although some 

of those had contained Cheltenham 

references. Cheltenham’s was a short 

entry and the summary of the Gold 

Cup came after those for the National 

Hunt Chase and Foxhunter Chase at 

the meeting. 

1949 

The first two days of The Festival were 

run in March but the third day proved 

impossible to stage as the course was 

frozen. The Gold Cup was transferred 

to the April meeting. 

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15

1950 

Cottage Rake, trained by Vincent 

O’Brien in Co Tipperary, Ireland, won 

the Cheltenham Gold Cup for the third 

time in succession. His exploits were 

the starting point of the Anglo-Irish 

rivalry that is now a good-natured 

feature of The Festival and marked by 

the BetBright Prestbury Cup. In those 

immediate post-war years, there was a 

definite political edge to it. 

1951 

The Festival’s first day was run in 

appalling conditions and the stewards 

called off the rest of the meeting 

because of snow and flooding. The 

major remaining races were again 

transferred to the April meeting. 

Manicou was the first runner in Royal 

colours at The Festival. Watched by 

his owner The Queen Mother and 

her daughter Princess Elizabeth, he 

finished last of six in the Gold Cup. 

The beneficial effect on Jump racing 

of the Queen Mother’s interest cannot 

be overstated and on her name was 

added to the Two-Mile Champion 

Chase title to commemorate her 80th 

birthday (1980) 

1954 

The first live television coverage of 

The Festival took place on the BBC, 

with Peter O’Sullevan commentating. 

Viewing figures over the three days 

peaked at nearly 1.4 million, with 2.8 

million watching the evening highlights. 

Public interest in Jump racing was 

on a roll during the fifties, as it was 

with other equestrian sports like show 

jumping. Lester Piggott rode his only 

Jump winner at The Festival, taking 

the Birdlip Selling Hurdle on Mull 

Sack, trained by his father Keith. The 

19-year-old, who won 20 Jump races, 

was following a family tradition; his 

father, uncle Victor, grandfather Ernie 

and great-uncle Charlie – who trained 

on Cleeve Hill – all were successful 

at Cheltenham. Three months later, 

Piggott rode the first of his nine Derby 

winners, on Never Say Die, and went on to 

become an 11-time Flat champion jockey. 

1955 

The last year a seller was run at The 

Festival. The opening contest of the 

meeting was the Birdlip Selling Hurdle, 

whose winner Ahaburn was bought in for 

950 guineas. One day of The Festival was 

abandoned because of snow. 

1957 

The commercial era began at 

Cheltenham with the first running 

of the Hennessy Gold Cup at the 

November meeting. The race, which 

transferred to Newbury after three 

years, was worth £5,272 to the winner 

Mandarin, making it to that time the 

most valuable purse ever offered at 

Cheltenham. The winning horse of 

the previous season’s Gold Cup had 

received £3,996; the 1958 renewal 

offered £5,778. 

1958 

Work started on the construction 

of a second track in view of the 

grandstands to complement and take 

pressure off the existing main course. 

Part of it was used for the Gold Cup for 

the first time. 

1959 

The National Hunt Two-Mile Champion 

Chase was run for the first time and 

won by Quita Que, a 10-year-old who 

was trained in Ireland by Dan Moore 

and ridden by Bunny Cox. 

1960 

The Mackeson Gold Cup replaced the 

Hennessy at the November meeting. 

Its winner’s purse of £4,385 (taken by 

Fortria) made it the third most valuable 

prize of the season at Cheltenham, 

after the Gold Cup (£6,043) and 

Champion Hurdle (£5,211). The 

inaugural race was over two miles, 

increased to two and a half miles in 

1967 and half a furlong further in 1991. 

The race retained its initial backing 

– initiated by Bill Whitbread, whose 

family brewery had started racing’s 

first modern commercial sponsorship 

in April, 1957 with the eponymous Gold 

Cup at Sandown Park - until 1999, first 

under the Mackeson brand and then 

Murphy’s. Shirt-maker Thomas Pink 

supported the race between 2000 

and 2002, while Paddy Power was the 

backer from 2003 to 2015. BetVictor 

became the new sponsor in 2016, 

when the handicap chase was won by 

Taquin Du Seuil who collected a first 

prize of £91,120. A new grandstand was 

opened in the Tattersalls enclosure, at 

a cost of £125,000, and the members’ 

lawn was extended, the first stage of 

a rebuilding plan. The weighing room 

was underneath the Festival Restaurant 

and the winner’s enclosure above the 

parade ring. 

1964 

In the face of real threat from 

property developers, the future of 

the course - a 350-acre site on the 

edge of an expanding, up-market 

population centre - was assured 

with its purchase for £240,000 by a 

newly-formed consortium that became 

Racecourse Holdings Trust. Although 

its sporting presence was strong 

at the time, the course had limited 

assets and so was open to attack. 

There was even talk of The Festival 

moving to Sandown in the event of 

Cheltenham disappearing under roads 

and houses, as would Birmingham, 

Hurst Park and Manchester during 

the sixties. The financial brain that 

saved the racecourse belonged to 

Johnny Henderson, late father of 

The Festival’s leading trainer Nicky. 

Henderson senior enjoyed racing as 

a hobby but was a stockbroker by 

profession and used his City expertise to 

put together Racecourse Holdings, a taxadvantageous 

scheme for its investors. 

Ten years later The Jockey Club became 

sole owner of RHT, a non-profitmaking 

company, and Cheltenham is now one 

of 15 tracks under the Jockey Club 

Racecourses banner. 1964 also brought 

the first sponsorship at The Festival, the 

Totalisator Champion Novices’ Chase 

(formerly the Broadway Chase, now 

RSA). 

1965 

As the redesign of the running tracks 

continued, the National Hunt Chase 

loop that took the runners behind 

and to the right (facing the finishing 

straight) of the grandstand after a 

mile was abandoned. The race’s start 

moved to one of the newly-built 

sections of track in the infield; the spur 

of the track to the left of and behind 

the grandstand where it used to start 

remained in use for other races until 

1977. The Old Course is used for the 

meetings in October and November 

(The Showcase and The Open) and 

for first two days of The Festival and 

the New Course, regarded as the 

more demanding, for the meetings in 

December (The International), January 

(New Year’s Day & Festival Trials Day) 

and April and the last two days of 

The Festival. Antiar was The Queen 

Mother’s first and only winner at The 

Festival, taking the Spa (now Stayers’) 

Hurdle the day after his owner’s 

Worcran finished third in the Champion 

Hurdle. The Queen Mother was a 

regular attendee of The Festival. 

16

ARKLE FACTS 

Form figures; 341104-1111111-11311111-113111-11111-212 

Born; April 19, 1957, Ballymacoll Stud, Dunboyne, Co Meath, 

Ireland. His sire was Archive and his dam Bright Cherry. 

Colour; Bay. 

Breeder; Mary Baker. 

Sold; Goff’s Annual August Sales - Ballsbridge, August 4, 

1960. Arkle, at the time un-named, was lot 148 and had a 

reserve of 500 guineas. He was sold to Tom Dreaper for 

1,150 guineas on behalf of Anne, Duchess of Westminster. 

Her purchase was subsequently named Arkle, the name of a 

mountain on the Duchess’ estate in Sutherland, Scotland. 

Race record; Starts: 35; 1st: 27; 2nd: 2; 3rd: 3; 4th: 2; Unp: 

1. His career runs included 26 chases (22 wins), six hurdle 

races (four wins), two bumpers and one Flat race (one win). 

Total career earnings; £78,464 5s 6d (around £1.25 million 

today). 

Owner; Anne, Duchess of Westminster (b1915 - d2003). 

Trainer; Tom Dreaper (b1898-d1975). 

Jockey; Arkle was ridden predominantly by Pat Taaffe 

(b1930-d1992). Taaffe partnered Arkle 28 times, including 

on all the horse’s 26 chase outings, and was successful on 

24 occasions The other jockeys who rode Arkle were Mr 

Mark Hely-Hutchinson (twice), Liam McLoughlin (three 

times - one win), Paddy Woods (once - one win) and T P 

Burns (once - one win). 

First race; Lough Ennel Maiden Plate (a bumper - National 

Hunt Flat race), Mullingar, Ireland, December 9, 1961. Started 

5/1 and finished third under Mark Hely-Hutchinson. 

First win Bective Novice Hurdle, Navan, January 20, 1962. 

Started at 20/1 and ridden by Liam McLoughlin. 

First outing and win in Britain; Honeybourne Chase, 

Cheltenham, November 17, 1962. Started the 11/8 favourite 

and won by 20 lengths under Pat Taaffe. 

Cheltenham Festival wins; (four - Pat Taaffe rode on each 

occasion). March 12, 1963 - Broadway Novices’ Chase 

(RSA Chase) 4/9 Fav, won by 20 lengths. March 7, 1964 

- Cheltenham Gold Cup 7/4 2nd Fav, won by five lengths. 

March 11, 1965 - Cheltenham Gold Cup 30/100 Fav, won by 

20 lengths. March 17, 1966 - Cheltenham Gold Cup 1/10 Fav, 

won by 30 lengths. 

Cheltenham; Arkle ran six times at Cheltenham, with 

his only defeat at the Home of Jump Racing coming on 

December 12, 1964 in the Massey-Ferguson Gold Cup 

over 2m 5f. With top-weight of 12st 10lb, the 8/11 favourite 

finished a close third, beaten a length and a short-head by 

Flying Wild (10st 6lb) and Buona Notte (10st 12lb) in this 

valuable handicap chase. 

Other major victories; (all ridden by Pat Taaffe) Power 

Gold Cup, Fairyhouse (1963). Hennessy Gold Cup, Newbury 

(1964, 1965). Thyestes Chase, Gowran Park (1964). Irish 

Grand National, Fairyhouse (1964). Leopardstown Chase, 

Leopardstown (1965, 1966). Whitbread Gold Cup, Sandown 

Park (1965). Gallagher Gold Cup, Sandown Park (1965). King 

George VI Chase, Kempton Park (1965). SGB Chase, Ascot (1966). 

Betting; Started at odds-on in 22 of his 26 chases. His 

shortest-ever starting price was 1/10 in the 1966 Cheltenham 

Gold Cup. 

Biggest weight carried to victory; 12st 11lb in the Milltown 

Chase at Leopardstown in February, 1963. 

Diet in training; Oats mashed up with at least two eggs and 

a couple of bottles of Guinness. 

Longest winning distance; a distance - 1965 King George VI 

Chase, Kempton Park. 

Timeform; Arkle is rated the best chaser of all-time 

by Timeform, with a rating of 212. His one-time stable 

companion Flyingbolt is next on 210, with Arkle’s old rival 

Mill House and Kauto Star both achieving 191. 

Nickname; Himself. 

Final Race; King George VI Chase, Kempton Park, 

December 27, 1966. Second to Dormant, finished lame. 

Died; May 31, 1970, Bryanstown, County Kildare. Was 

humanely put down as a result of extreme stiffness and 

lesions in both hind feet. Originally buried at Bryanstown, 

his remains were exhumed in 1976 and his skeleton was put 

on display at the Irish National Stud. 

Commemoration at Cheltenham; The bronze statue of 

Arkle created by local artist Doris Lindner was unveiled 

at Cheltenham by the Duchess of Westminster in 1972. It 

currently stands near the parade ring. The Cotswold Chase, 

the championship event for two-mile novice chasers, was 

re-named the Arkle Trophy in 1969. The Arkle Bar in the 

Club Enclosure is the most famous racecourse bar in Britain. 


1966 

Arkle captured the Gold Cup for the 

third successive year. The highestrated 

chaser of all time, he became 

a household name. Racing was a key 

part of the BBC’s outside broadcast 

schedule of sports. (See above) 

1968 

Fort Leney’s Cheltenham Gold Cup 

success meant that Tom Dreaper, who 

won five Gold Cups with three horses, 

became the winning-most trainer in 

the race. His other winners were Prince 

Regent (1946) and Arkle (1964, 1965 

and 1966). The Triumph Hurdle was 

run at Hurst Park and transferred to 

Cheltenham in 1965 on the closure of 

the London course. The race originally 

took place at Cheltenham’s April 

Meeting but was moved to The Festival 

in 1968. 

1969 

The Arkle Novices’ Chase, the two-mile 

novice chasing championship race at 

The Festival, was inaugurated with its 

current title, after Arkle’s three wins in 

the Cheltenham Gold Cup (1964-66). In 

its first year, the race was worth £1,365, 

and was won by Chatham (10/1), 

trained by Fred Rimell and ridden by 

Terry Biddlecombe. It was known as 

the Cotswold Chase before 1969. 

1970 

Tom Dreaper had the best record 

of any trainer in the Queen Mother 

Champion Chase, winning six runnings 

with Fortria (1960 and 1961), Ben Stack 

(1964), Flyingbolt (1966), Muir (1969) 

and Straight Fort (1970). 

1971 

L’Escargot won his second successive 

Cheltenham Gold Cup. Trained in 

Ireland by Dan Moore for Raymond 

Guest, the American ambassador to 

Ireland between 1965 and 1968, the 

chaser was ridden by Tommy Carberry. 

L’Escargot went on to victory in the 

1975 Grand National, beating Red Rum. 

What is now the Neptune Investment 

Management Novices’ Hurdle was 

introduced to The Festival as the 

Aldsworth Hurdlle. 

1972 

The value of the winner’s prize in the 

Cheltenham Gold Cup nearly doubled 

to £15,255. The Stayers’ Hurdle, known 

as the World Hurdle between 2005 and 

2016, was introduced with the current race 

conditions. Before 1972, the equivalent 

race was known as the Spa Hurdle. 

17

1974 

Sun Alliance & London was the first 

company outside racing to embrace 

commercial sponsorship at The 

Festival, backing what is now the RSA 

Novices’ Chase for the first time. The 

company previously supported the 

Foxhunter Chase between 1971 and 

1973. The Supreme Novices’ Hurdle came 

into being – the race was known previously 

as the Gloucestershire Hurdle and had been 

subject of division. 

1975 

The first day of The Festival was lost 

due to the weather and the last three 

races on the third day were called off 

because of a waterlogged course. 

However, all the major races were run. 

Piper Champagne was the first sponsor 

of the Cheltenham Gold Cup. 

1978 

The third day of The Festival could not 

happen in March because of snow and 

the Cheltenham Gold Cup was run 

in April. 

1979 

The main grandstand overlooking 

the winning post was completed. 

Since then there has been ongoing 

development and upgrading of 

facilities for public and professionals 

alike. The 1980s saw the grandstand 

further extended twice, with private 

boxes on the top two floors; in 1982 

the winner’s enclosure, parade ring, 

weighing room and Hurdlers Hall were 

built behind the stands with terraced 

viewing for 4,000; in 1987 Hunters 

Lodge, a 124-bed hotel for stable staff, 

was opened and three years after 

that a new stabling complex next to 

it. The pre-parade Ring was used for 

the first time in 1992 and the Hall of 

Fame Entrance officially opened in 

1993. In 1997 the old sixties Tattersalls 

stand was replaced with tiered terraces 

and a betting hall and the Panoramic 

Restaurant added to the main stand. 

In the 2000s projects included an 

upgrade of facilities, including a new 

grandstand, in the infield opposite 

the main stands, now the Best Mate 

Enclosure. The Centaur multi-purpose 

conference and events centre, the 

result of a £17-million investment, is 

the largest of its kind in the south-west 

with an accommodation of 4,000. 

1980 

The Tote took over sponsorship of the 

Cheltenham Gold Cup and the great 

race was sponsored by Betfred, which 

bought the Tote in 2011, until 2016 

when Timico became the backer. The 

Queen Mother’s name was added to 

the title of the Two-Mile Champion 

Chase this year, her 80th birthday. 

1981 

The oldest Champion Hurdle winners 

have been Sea Pigeon and Hattons 

Grace (1951), both 11-year-olds. 

1982 

Cheltenham was voted Racecourse of 

the Year for the first time by members 

of the Racegoers Club, an award 

started in 1972. Since then, Cheltenham 

has won the accolade another 20 times 

(up to and including 2015) and every 

year since 2004. 

1983 

Michael Dickinson saddled the first 

five horses home in the 11-runnner 

Cheltenham Gold Cup – Bregawn 

(Graham Bradley – 100/30F), Captain 

John (David Goulding – 11/1), Wayward 

Lad (Jonjo O’Neill – 6/1), Silver Buck 

(Robert Earnshaw – 5/1) and Ashley 

House (Mr Dermot Browne – 12/1). 

He was responsible for the first two 

the year before as well - with Silver 

Buck beating Bregawn. Amateur rider 

Caroline Beasley became the first 

female rider to partner a winner at The 

Festival on Eliogarty in the Foxhunter. 

Mercy Rimell sent out Gaye Brief to win 

the Champion Hurdle and made history 

by becoming the first female trainer to 

succeed in that championship race. 

1984 

Jenny Pitman was the first woman to 

train a winner of the Cheltenham Gold 

Cup with Burrough Hill Lad. 

1985 

Badsworth Boy achieved the feat of 

being the first and so far only threetime 

winner of the Queen Mother 

Champion Chase. 

1986 

Dawn Run was the first and only horse 

to win both the Cheltenham Gold Cup 

and the Champion Hurdle, having taken 

the hurdling crown two years earlier. 

She was the fourth mare to enjoy 

success in the Gold Cup – following on 

from Ballinode (1925), Kerstin (1958) 

and Glencaraig Lady (1972). 

1987 

A snowstorm delayed the running of 

the Cheltenham Gold Cup, with an 

inch of snow falling within an hour. The 

12 Gold Cup contenders reached the 

start but were recalled to the paddock 

because of the poor conditions. There 

was plenty of debate about what to 

do and many expected racing to be 

abandoned but it was forecast that 

conditions would improve. Indeed, the 

snow stopped and started to melt, 

with the Gold Cup going off 81 minutes 

late at 4.51pm. The Thinker, trained by 

W A (Arthur) Stephenson in County 

Durham and ridden by Ridley Lamb, 

prevailed by a length and a half. 

1989 

The only grey Cheltenham Gold Cup 

winner was Desert Orchid, a real crowd 

favourite who was trained by David 

Elsworth, owned by Richard Burridge 

and ridden by Simon Sherwood. 

1990 

Norton’s Coin was the longest-priced 

winner of the Cheltenham Gold Cup 

when triumphant at 100/1 for Welsh 

farmer Sirrell Griffiths. 

1993 

Montelado holds a unique position, 

being the only horse to land two 

consecutive Festival races. He took 

the last race at the 1992 Festival, the 

Champion Bumper, and the first of 

1993, the Supreme Novices’ Hurdle. 

1994 

The Fellow, owned by Marquesa de 

Moratalla, trained by Francois Doumen 

and partnered by Adam Kondrat, 

became the only French-trained winner 

of the Cheltenham Gold Cup. 

1995 

Britain’s only cross-country course 

was used for the first time. The track 

largely follows a series of loops on the 

infield and comprises a series of natural 

obstacles, like banks and ditches, before 

finishing over a hurdle on the main track. 

It is used three times each season - at 

The Open, The International and The 

Festival. Terrestrial television coverage 

at Cheltenham switched from the BBC 

to Channel 4. Alderbrook and Master 

Oats enabled Norman Williamson and 

Kim Bailey to join a very select group 

of jockey and trainer partnerships who 

have won both the Champion Hurdle and 

Gold Cup in the same year. The other 

successful partnerships were Tommy 

Cullinan and Jack Anthony in 1930, Ted 

Leader and Basil Briscoe in 1932, Bill Stott 

and Basil Briscoe in 1933, and Aubrey 

Brabazon and Vincent O’Brien in both 

1949 and 1950. 

18


1997 

A P McCoy’s Champion Hurdle/ 

Cheltenham Gold Cup double on Make 

A Stand and Mr Mulligan respectively 

was the 11th time that the big-race 

double has been landed by one rider 

in the same year. The other jockeys to 

have achieved the feat were Dick Rees 

(1929), Tom Cullinan (1930), Ted Leader 

(1932), Bill Stott (1933), Gerry Wilson 

(1935), Aubrey Brabazon (1949 and 

1950), Tim Molony (1953), Fred Winter 

(1961) and Norman Williamson (1995). 

1999 

The second of two greys to succeed 

in the Queen Mother Champion Chase 

was Call Equiname, following on from 

One Man the year before. 

2000 

The fastest time for the Queen Mother 

Champion Chase is 3m 44.70s, set by 

Edredon Bleu. 

2001 

The Festival was abandoned because 

of Britain’s foot-and-mouth epidemic, 

with sheep having grazed near the 

racecourse. 

2003 

The racecourse station, which had been 

closed in 1976, reopened. Formerly 

operated by the Great Western Railway, 

it is now the southern terminus of 

the 12-mile long heritage Gloucester 

Warwickshire Railway, a volunteer 

organisation and operates steam 

engines. Four greys have won the 

Champion Hurdle, the most recent 

being Rooster Booster, with the others 

were Kribensis in 1990, Our Hope in 

1938 and Victor Norman in 1936. 

2004 

Best Mate became the most recent 

three-time winner of the Cheltenham 

Gold Cup, for owner Jim Lewis, trainer 

Henrietta Knight and jockey Jim 

Culloty. 

2005 

The Festival was extended to four 

from three days, with one senior 

championship among each day’s races: 

the Champion Hurdle (Tuesday), the 

Champion Chase (Wednesday), the 

Stayers’ Hurdle (Thursday) and the 

Gold Cup (Friday). The Ryanair Chase 

(Thursday), one of the expanded 

programme’s new races which replaced 

the Cathcart Chase, earned Grade One 

status in 2008. Another is what is now 

the Albert Bartlett Novices’ Hurdle; run 

over three miles. Initially sponsored by 

Desert Orchid. Cheltenham 

Gold Cup, 1991 

Sea Pigeon winner of the 1981 Cheltenham Waterford Crystal Champion 

Hurdle race gets a welcome pat from a happy racegoer in the crowd 

Trainer Jenny Pitman with Burrough Hill Lad 

19

Brit Insurance, it was backed by Albert 

Bartlett for the first time in 2008, 

coinciding with its upgrade to Grade 

One status. 

2008 

Racing could not take place on the 

second day of The Festival because 

of high winds and the third and fourth 

days had 10 races and nine races 

respectively to make up the backlog. 

The Howard Johnson-trained Inglis 

Drever, owned by Andrea and Graham 

Wylie, became the first triple winner of 

the Stayers’ Hurdle, following on from 

his wins in 2005 and 2007. 

2009 

Quevega won the OLBG Mares’ Hurdle 

for the first time. Her sixth success in 

2014 set a record for wins in the same 

race at The Festival. The Willie Mullinstrained 

mare beat the record she 

previously shared with Golden Miller, 

who won the Cheltenham Gold Cup 

on five occasions between 1932 and 

1936. Kauto Star became the first horse 

to regain the Cheltenham Gold Cup, 

after first winning the highlight of The 

Festival in 2007. 

2011 

The fastest winning time for the 

Cheltenham Gold Cup, 6 minutes 29.7 

seconds, was set by Long Run and 

he was also the latest victor to be 

amateur-ridden, by Sam Waley-Cohen. 

Sizing Europe became the 21st Irishtrained 

winner of the Queen Mother 

Champion Chase. The JLT Novices’ 

Chase was introduced to The Festival 

and the novice chasing championship 

over two and a half miles was backed 

by Jewson from 2011 to 2013. The 

contest was elevated to Grade One 

status in 2014, with JLT taking over 

the sponsorship. Its distance falls 

between the two-mile Racing Post 

Arkle Novices’ Chase and the RSA 

Novices’ Chase, which is staged over 

an extended three miles. 

2012 

Big Buck’s created history at The 

Festival when becoming the first fourtime 

winner of the Stayers’ Hurdle, 

during a record 18-run unbeaten spell. 

Owned by the Stewart Family, trained 

by Paul Nicholls and ridden by Ruby 

Walsh, he was also successful in 2009, 

2010 and 2011, but injury ruled him out 

of challenging in 2013. He was fifth on 

his final racecourse appearance in the 

2014 renewal. Edward Gillespie, who 

oversaw the phenomenal growth and 

development of Cheltenham in the 

modern era, retired after 32 years as 

managing director. His work at 

the track was recognised when he 

was awarded an OBE for services to 

Cheltenham racing in the 2015 New 

Year honours list. He was succeeded by 

Ian Renton. 

2013 

Hurricane Fly became the second 

horse after Comedy Of Errors 

(1975) to regain the Stan James 

Champion Hurdle. 

2014 

Jessica Harrington became only the 

second woman to train a winner of 

Stan James Champion Hurdle following 

Jezki’s victory (the first was Mercy 

Rimell with Gaye Brief back in 1983). 

Jim Culloty followed in the footsteps 

of Danny Morgan, Fred Winter, Pat 

Taaffe and Jonjo O’Neill by becoming 

the fifth man to win the Cheltenham 

Gold Cup as both a trainer and a 

jockey. Culloty was in the saddle for 

each of Best Mate’s three victories 

(2002, 2003 and 2004) and enjoyed 

a memorable victory as a trainer when 

Lord Windermere prevailed in the last 

strides of a thrilling renewal. After The 

Festival ended, work started on the 

latest development of the grandstands 

and buildings. The £45-million project 

has been the racecourse’s largest single 

investment, with funding including 

£25 million raised through the Jockey 

Club Racecourse Bond, the first retail 

bond in British sport. It brought the 

sum spent on Cheltenham’s facilities 

over 30 years to £80 million. The work, 

designed by Gloucester-based Roberts 

Limbrick Architects with the main 

contractor being local construction 

group Kier, was completed in late 2015, 

well before The Festival in 2016. It 

includes a new grandstand, alongside 

the existing main grandstand built in 

1979, which offers annual members’ 

facilities, public viewing areas, private 

boxes and a Royal Box, plus elevated 

walkways overlooking the parade ring. 

2015 

Ireland’s champion trainer Willie Mullins 

sent out a record eight winners at 

The Festival as he captured The Irish 

Independent Leading Trainer Award 

for the third year in succession and a 

fourth time in all. The previous record 

for successes at a single Festival 

was held by Nicky Henderson, who 

saddled seven winners in 2012. Mullins’ 

eight triumphs were headlined by 

a memorable one-two-three in the 

Stan James Champion Hurdle, with 

Faugheen and Ruby Walsh making 

all to beat Arctic Fire and two-time 

champion Hurricane Fly. Coneygree 

became the first novice since Captain 

Christy in 1974 to win the highlight of 

the week, the Cheltenham Gold Cup. 

The Mark Bradstock-trained eight-yearold 

jumped superbly in front under 

Nico de Boinville before holding off 

Irish challengers Djakadam and Road 

To Riches on the run to the line. A P 

McCoy celebrated his final year at The 

Festival with victory aboard Uxizandre 

in the Ryanair Chase. The recordbreaking 

champion jockey, who gained 

his 20th consecutive title the following 

month, bowed out with 31 wins at The 

Festival in total. 

2016 

A record 260,579 racegoers attended 

The Festival, with new record crowds 

for the first three days – Champion Day, 

Ladies Day and St Patrick’s Thursday. 

The only reason why there was no 

record on the final day, Gold Cup 

Day, was because the attendance had 

been capped to help racegoers enjoy 

the climax to The Festival as much 

as possible. Ruby Walsh captured his 

fifth consecutive Boodles Leading 

Jockey at The Festival Award and 10th 

in total. He also equalled his best ever 

total at The Festival of seven winners 

(a record number he first achieved in 

2009) and took his overall number of 

victories at The Festival to 52. He is 

the most successful rider of all-time 

at The Festival. Walsh also achieved 

the significant milestone of riding his 

fourth Stan James Champion Hurdle, 

courtesy of Willie Mullins-trained 

mare Annie Power, becoming only 

the second jockey to do so. Mullins 

won The Irish Independent Leading 

Trainer at The Festival Award for the 

fifth time in total and for the fourth 

year in succession with seven winners. 

Mullins has now saddled 48 winners 

at The Festival and is second in the 

all-time list behind Nicky Henderson, 

who grew his tally at The Festival to 55 

winners with two successes, headed 

by the memorable victory of the Nico 

de Boinville-ridden Sprinter Sacre in 

the Betway Queen Mother Champion 

Chase. J P McManus, the leading 

owner of all-time at The Festival, saw 

his tally rise to 49 successes following 

five winners. A record total of 28 races 

were run at The Festival, thanks to the 

addition of a second race confined 

to mares, the Trull House Stud Mares’ 

Novices’ Hurdle. There was a thrilling 

end to the British v Irish competition, 

the BetBright Prestbury Cup, with a 

record 15 Irish-trained winners. Channel 

4 Racing broadcast The Festival for the 

final time and the new terrestrial TV 

contract holder, ITV Racing, takes over 

in 2017. 

20

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21

BEHIND 

THE 

SCENES 

IT TAKES A BIG TEAM TO ENSURE THAT UP 

TO 70,000 RACEGOERS A DAY ENJOY THE 

FESTIVAL TO THE FULL. 

Cheltenham has a permanent staff of 

around 100, striving 52 weeks a year 

to ensure that one week in March goes 

like clockwork, but they are joined 

for The Festival by almost 6,000 

temporary staff, mainly in catering 

and security. 

Many of those stay locally for the four 

days as do lots of racegoers, so it is 

not surprising that The Festival adds 

£100,000,000 to the economy of 

Gloucestershire and beyond. The most 

remarkable figure, though, represents 

the number of years that staff stay 

within the Cheltenham family. 

Walk around the warren of offices that 

occupy the area behind the Hall of 

Fame entrance and people will glance 

up from computer screens to recount 

that they have been with Cheltenham 

for 21, 27 and 29 years. 

Several have been around since the 

total team numbered just eight and 

were working out of Portakabins. 

One of those long-servers is Tim 

Partridge, who is head of maintenance 

for the four Jockey Club Racecourses 

in the region and he has a vivid 

description for the way the course is 

brought to life and the staff who run 

it are pushed to the maximum for four 

exhilarating days each year. 

“It’s a sleeping dragon,” he says. “It 

sleeps all year around and then we 

prod it and poke it and bring it to 

life and make it breathe fire, but it’s 

how we look after it while it was in 

hibernation that matters.” 

After 31 Festivals, 11 in his current role 

as head of maintenance, Partridge 

should know. You can sense his pride 

in the place, particularly The Princess 

Royal Stand, and it is the same for all 

those who work at Cheltenham – it isn’t 

just racing fans who get excited as The 

Festival draws near. 

Under Ian Renton, Regional Director 

of Jockey Club Racecourses, the 

preparation for each Festival starts as 

soon as the last customer has departed 

on Gold Cup night and kicks on in April, 

analysing the meeting just gone and 

22

laying plans for the 12 months ahead. 

Discussions take place continuously 

but there are major staff briefings two 

weeks before the start of the season 

and two weeks before The Festival. 

While some of the numbers are 

staggering, so is the attention to detail 

required to make it all work. 

“To hit that 70,000 capacity, we have 

to go big and every day there are 

10,000 hospitality covers alone,” Sophia 

Dale, Communications Manager for the 

region, explains. “Some may want a 

basic buffet but others are expecting 

fine dining and, apart from the menu, if 

it’s in a temporary structure we have to 

go through such things as what colour 

carpet to put down, what flowers 

and napkins will match, what type of 

furniture and crockery. 

“As a racegoer, you just turn up and 

enjoy your day – which is how it should 

be – and you will have no idea what’s 

gone on to make that happen.” 

When the gates open at 10.30am 

each day, there will already have been 

people working at the racecourse for 

six hours or more and, when night falls 

and the public have made their way to 

home and hostelry, things get 

really busy. 

“All you can hear is the beep of roadsweepers 

and rubbish lorries reversing,” 

Dale says. “Then the next lorries full of 

stock, whether drink or food, start to 

arrive.” 

IN CHARGE OF THE FAMOUS 

CHELTENHAM FENCES 


That includes the Guinness mobile bars, 

tankers and associated cellars which 

start to appear at 2am on the Sunday 

before racing, this year coming straight 

from the England v Scotland match at 

Twickenham. 

The Guinness Village is built around 

them so that the food, beverages, 

stage, toilets and other provisions 

are all in place come 10.30am on 

the Tuesday. 

For some, those might be the only 

figures that matter, along with the SP 

of the winner of the opening race and 

the denomination of notes picked up 

afterwards, but please spare a thought 

for the toilers who made it all happen. 

NAME KEITH JONES 

AGE 58 

POSITION FENCE-BUILDER 

FESTIVALS 33 

BEST MOMENT SEEING SOME OF THE GREATEST JUMP HORSES IN ACTION. 

DESERT ORCHID WINNING THE GOLD CUP IN 1989 WAS A TERRIFIC DAY 

MOST CHALLENGING MOMENT WINDY WEDNESDAY IN 2008 

WHAT I LOVE ABOUT MY JOB WORKING AT MY LOCAL RACECOURSE AND 

HELPING TO KEEP IT THE BEST JUMP COURSE IN THE WORLD. MAKING 

SURE THE FENCES ARE SPOT-ON AND FAIR AND THAT THE GROUND 

IS PERFECT 

The skills Keith Jones deploys in 

ensuring the fences at Cheltenham are 

perfect for every race, every meeting, 

took a long time to acquire and there 

is a quiet precision about him that 

conveys how much his craftsman’s 

skills mean to him and how he is 

determined to pass them on. 

“I started here in 1984 and I was here 

10 years before I was allowed to cut 

the birch for a fence, but I’ve taught 

my right-hand man John Close what I 

know and we work together,” he says. 

That birch is brought in over the 

summer; 5,000 bundles of it that 

23

has to be stored in a purpose-built 

barn to stop mice eating the material 

and rabbits eating the string until it 

is packed into the fences – 12 each 

summer on a two-year cycle – and then 

cut to size, 4ft 7½ in to 4ft 8in, no more 

no less. 

It has to be that precise to pass the 

scrutiny of course inspector (and 

Champion Hurdle-winning jockey) 

Richard Linley two weeks before The 

Festival. 

“THE MOST IMPORTANT 

THING IS TO MAKE SURE 

THE COURSE IS SAFE AND 

THE RESITING OF SOME 

FENCES HAS DONE A LOT 

TO MAKE SURE HORSES 

AREN’T CAUGHT OUT,” 

Keith Jones 

He will have a perfect view of how the 

Gold Cup winner jumps the last as on 

racedays he is one of the team putting 

the tapes in place to ensure the runners 

make for the finishing line rather than 

head out on another circuit. All the time 

with one eye on Clerk of the Course 

Simon Claisse, supervising operations 

from his eyrie atop the grandstand. 

Jones has a physically-demanding 

job, doing strenuous work in all 

weathers, and his lean frame is that of 

an athlete, so it is not surprising he is 

out before dawn, pounding the roads 

in preparation for his third London 

Marathon in 2017, for which he is raising 

funds for Racing Welfare (Justgiving/ 

keithjonesmarathon). 

First, though, are the marathon 

demands of four days of The Festival. 

Tim Partridge has seen only two 

Cheltenham Gold Cups, despite 

starting his working life at Cheltenham 

as a student doing casual work, 

followed by seven years with the 

catering crew, 12 years working with 

the firm putting up the temporary 

structures and another 11 in his current 

role heading up the maintenance team 

for all four South West courses owned 

by The Jockey Club. 

Once the race is under way and 

everyone else is transfixed by the 

action, Partridge and Steve Finch, 

who is in charge of maintenance 

at Cheltenham, have a little more 

breathing space to move around the 

course quickly, checking everything is 

going well. 

“If it’s green and grows we don’t touch 

it,” Finch chips in. “Everything else 

comes under our remit.” That includes 

overseeing the temporary structures, 

which occupy an area the size of 25 

football pitches. 

THE MAINTENANCE MEN 

NAMES TIM PARTRIDGE AND STEVE FINCH 

AGES: 48 AND 38 

POSITION MAINTENANCE TEAM LEADERS 

FESTIVALS 31 AND 5 

BEST MOMENT LOOKING BACK AT THE END OF THE FESTIVAL AND BEING 

ABLE TO SAY ‘THAT ONE WENT RIGHT’ 

MOST CHALLENGING MOMENT WITH UP TO 70,000 PEOPLE ON SITE, 

WHATEVER PREPARATION YOU PUT IN THERE’S ALWAYS SOMETHING THAT 

POPS UP 

WHAT WE LOVE ABOUT OUR JOB MAKING SURE EVERY RACEGOER, 

WHETHER PAYING £30 OR £300, HAS A GREAT DAY 

“People forget we’re trying to put on a 

major outdoor sporting event in winter 

conditions. During The Festival, the 

Village is a big campsite - everything 

is temporary. Keeping that working is 

a big job, especially when the windchill 

takes the temperature down to -12C so 

that even the beer in the taps freezes.” 

If the temporary facilities pose a 

challenge, there is a deep admiration 

for the course’s latest permanent asset, 

the Princess Royal Stand, which passed 

into the care of Partridge and Finch as 

soon as the construction was complete 

and the builders moved out. 

“She’s a great building, no doubt about 

it,” Partridge says affectionately. “And 

we’re still learning how she behaves so 

we can get the best out of her. 

“The space that’s been opened up 

around her doesn’t just make life better 

for racegoers, it helps us get on with 

our jobs too.” 

24


IN FIGURES 


£100,000,000 – local 

(Gloucestershire) economic impact of 

The Festival each year. 

£4,305,000 – record amount of 

prize money on offer at The Festival 

2017 – the most of any Jump festival 

in the world. 

£2,200,000 – the amount of money 

taken from the cash machines at The 

Festival 2016. 

£575,000 – prize money available 

for the feature race, the Timico 

Cheltenham Gold Cup. 

105,000 – people using Cheltenham 

Spa train station over the four days of 

racing. 

80,000 – number of movements 

between the racecourse and the town 

on the shuttle bus service. 

70,000 – maximum capacity at 

Cheltenham on Cheltenham Gold Cup 

Day (when all temporary facilities are 

open). 

65,000 – average attendance over 

the four-day period of The Festival. 

45,000 – bread rolls eaten at The 

Festival 2016. 

45,000 – afternoon teas served to 

customers at The Festival 2016. 

40,000 – hospitality guests served 

over the four days of The Festival. 

38,000m2 – volume of space that 

is built for the four days in the Tented 

Village and the triple decker stand 

that sits alongside the racecourse. 

36,500 – vehicles parked over the 

four days. 

21,120 – distance, in feet, run 

during the National Hunt Chase, The 

Festival’s longest race. 

12,320 – yards of running rails 

surrounding the track. 

8,000+ – gallons of tea and coffee 

served. 

5,936 – staff employed over The 

Festival. 

5,000 – bundles of birch used every 

season. 

3,500 – catering team operating 

each day. 

2001 – the only year, besides the 

periods during the two World Wars, 

that The Festival has been cancelled 

(due to foot and mouth disease). 

1934 – the year Golden Miller 

became the first horse to win both 

the Cheltenham Gold Cup and the 

Grand National in a single season. 

800 – members of the press accredited 

for The Festival each year. 

750 – students from over 20 colleges 

work at The Festival each day. 

350 – chefs on site each day. 

350 – catering managers each day. 

240 – private boxes. 

£135,000,000 – what The Jockey 

Club has spent on facilities at 

Cheltenham during the last 35 years. 

65 – mobile catering units. 

50 – staff coaches per day, sourced 

from all over the country, as far 

away as London, Cardiff, Swansea, 

Birmingham and Coventry. 

£45,000,000 – cost of the 

redevelopment of Cheltenham 

Racecourse. This project was 

concluded on time and within budget 

in November, 2015. 

34 temporary kitchens. 

30 – extra flights put on by Ryanair 

on the Dublin to Birmingham route 

during The Festival period (around 

20,000 customers will use Ryanair). 

28 – National Hunt races run at The 

Festival. 

24 – marquees, with over 2.5 miles of 

internal walls. 

22 – fences jumped during the 


12 – restaurants. 

9 – tons of potatoes consumed 

during The Festival. 

8 – most wins at The Festival by a 

trainer – Willie Mullins – in a single 

year (2015). 

7 – most wins at The Festival by a 

jockey – Ruby Walsh – in a single year 

(2009 & 2016). 

6 – most consecutive victories by a 

horse in any Cheltenham Festival race 

- Quevega in the David Nicholson 

Mares’ Hurdle between 2009 and 

2014. 

5 – tons of smoked and fresh salmon 

consumed at The Festival. 

5 – tons of cheese consumed. 

5 - furlongs of temporary bar 

counters. 

4 – number of feature races run 

during The Festival – the Timico 

Cheltenham Gold Cup, Betway Queen 

Mother Champion Chase, Stan James 

Champion Hurdle and Sun Bets 

Stayers’ Hurdle. 

3 – the three-storey temporary stand 

installed for The Festival, beyond the 

Guinness Village, is the biggest, threetiered 

temporary structure in Europe. 

2 – shortest distance raced at The 

Festival in miles. 

SUSTAINABILITY 

LOCAL PRODUCE AT THE 

HEART OF WHAT IS OFFERED 

AT THE FESTIVAL 

• 70% OF THE FRUIT & 

VEGETABLES ARE SOURCED 

WITHIN THE COTSWOLDS 

REGION. 

• 100% OF THE CHEESE USED 

IS PRODUCED WITHIN 50 

MILES OF CHELTENHAM. 

• 100% OF THE SALMON IS 

CURED OR SMOKED WITHIN 

50 MILES (SEVERN & WYE 

/ COLN VALLEY) & IS 100% 

SUSTAINABLE SCOTTISH 

SALMON. 

• 100% OF ALL THE 

SEAFOOD IS THE BEST OF 

BRITISH, EITHER LANDED AT 

ORKNEY OR BRIXHAM. 

• 100% OF THE AFTERNOON 

TEA SELECTIONS IS THE 

BEST OF BRITISH. 

25

TIMICO 

Don Cossack ridden by Bryan Cooper 

celebrates winning in 2016 

CHELTENHAM 

GOLD CUP 

Chasing’s early days were dominated by the Grand National, the calendar’s 

richest prize and most famous spectacle and betting medium. The best 

performers were expected to appear at Aintree even though, with the National 

being a handicap, they would be conceding weight, usually unsuccessfully, to 

inferior rivals. 

The founding in 1860 of the National 

Hunt Chase did not really impinge on 

the Grand National’s attraction – it 

was valuable, but could not match 

the Aintree purse – but the transfer to 

Cheltenham in the early 20th century 

led to that venue’s establishment as a 

major player in the sport. 

The National Hunt Chase found a 

permanent home at Cheltenham’s 

March meeting in 1911, and from then 

on the meeting grew to become the 

modern-day Festival. 

There was not in those days a 

conditions race for the top staying 

chasers and the forward-thinking 

Cheltenham executive, under the 

leadership of Frederick Cathcart, 

determined to fill the gap in the racing 

calendar. In 1924 the Cheltenham Gold 

Cup was inaugurated over three and 

a quarter miles in order to attract the 

best staying chasers a month before 

they tackled Aintree. 

At that stage, it was envisaged as 

a level-weights trial, rather than a 

championship event, and its first 

running, worth £685 to the winner, 

ranked the Cheltenham Gold Cup 

below both the National Hunt Chase 

(£1,285) and National Hunt Handicap 

Chase (£833) in value at the 

March meeting. 

The Gold Cup, though, steadily grew 

in importance and, after the Second 

World War, became the main objective 

of the best staying chasers in Britain 

and Ireland and continues to be. 

The contest also increased in value 

26


and turned into the richest race at The 

Festival in March, 1946 and the winner 

Prince Regent earned £1,130 against 

Prattler’s £1,036 for the National 

Hunt Chase. 

In 1972, when Piper Heidsieck became 

the first sponsor of the Gold Cup, the 

value of the first prize almost doubled, 

jumping from £7,995 to £15,255. The 

Tote took over the sponsorship in 1980 

and remained the backer, latterly under 

the totesport and Betfred banners, 

until 2015. 

Timico backed the race for the first 

time in 2016 and the total prize fund 

currently stands at £575,000, making 

the Gold Cup by far the richest 

non-handicap chase in Britain – only 

the £1-million Randox Health Grand 

National at Aintree is worth more. The 

winner in 2017 will take home £327,462. 

In the post-war years, if any Gold Cup 

winner did go on to the National, it was 

an afterthought. And the shift in the 

balance of power caused a change to 

chasers themselves. 

Out went the ‘Aintree type’, generally 

massive but relatively slow Irish halfbreds; 

in came a lighter, faster model. 

Training methods and riding styles 

were changing, too, with the increasing 

emphasis of racing on park courses 

and the growth in popularity of 

hurdle racing. 

With two notable exceptions, the prewar 

Gold Cup winners were relatively 

moderate. But what the first running in 

1924 lacked in class, it made up for as 

a spectacle. Three horses, five-year-old 

Red Splash and the veterans Conjuror 

II and Gerald L, were in the air together 

at the last and in that order were split 

by a head and a neck at the line. The 

second and third were both previous 

Festival winners; Conjuror (third in the 

1923 Grand National) had won the 1922 

National Hunt Chase and Gerald L the 

1920 National Hunt Handicap Chase. 

The two outstanding horses of the 

early Gold Cup era were dual winner 

Easter Hero (1929-30) and Golden 

Miller, with an unprecedented five 

victories from 1932. In terms of sheer 

class, the pair must still be considered 

in an all-time chasers’ top 10. 

Easter Hero, a bright chestnut who 

exuded an unusual quality for his time, 

changed owners and trainers several 

times during his career. When he won 

his Gold Cups, he carried the colours 

of Jock Whitney (later the American 

ambassador to London), who had 

acquired him after his former owner 

Alfred Lowenstein fell out of his plane 

on a cross-channel flight, and was 

trained by Jack Anthony. 

A quick, clean jumper, Ester Hero won 

his Gold Cups easily by 20 lengths. On 

the first occasion, he beat Lloydie, with 

Grakle third; on the second he was left 

clear of Grakle (who never won a Gold 

Cup in four attempts but took the 1931 

Grand National) after Gib, level with 

him but under pressure, came down 

two fences out. 

It was at Aintree, though, that Easter 

Hero produced his best performance. 

He had turned the Grand National into 

a shambles in 1928 when he slipped 

in the lead at the Canal Turn and took 

most of the field out as he straddled 

the obstacle. In 1929, on atrocious 

ground, he carried 12st 7lb and beat 

all his 65 rivals bar Gregalach, who 

was himself a high-class performer 

and received 17lb. Easter Hero raced 

for the last mile with one of his hind 

shoes twisted into the shape of a letter 

S, which must have acted like a drag 

anchor and severely impeded 

his progress. 

Golden Miller also crowned his career 

at Aintree, but with victory. Just 17 

days after his third Cheltenham success 

in 1934, he became the first and only 

horse to win the Gold Cup and the 

Grand National in the same year. The 

only other horse to win both races, 

L’Escargot, won at Cheltenham in 1970 

and 1971 and at Aintree in 1975. 

Incidentally, when Golden Miller 

won the National, he neither started 

favourite nor carried top-weight. 

His starting price was 8/1, a point 

longer than 7/1 market leader, and he 

shouldered 12st 2lb, below seventhplaced 

Gregalach (12st 7lb) and 

Thomond II (12st 4lb) third. He ran in 

four other Grand Nationals but did not 

get around in any of them, while in 

1935 he started the 2/1 market leader, 

the shortest price ever of any runner in 

the history of the famous Aintree race. 

Throughout his career, Golden Miller 

was subject to the caprices of his 

eccentric millionairess owner Dorothy 

Paget, Whitney’s cousin. He had four 

different riders for his five Gold Cup 

victories (Ted Leader (1932), Billy Stott 

(1933), Gerry Wilson (1934 & 35), Evan 

Williams (1936)) and by his fifth he had 

made the transfer from Basil Briscoe’s 

yard to that of Owen Anthony. 

It was with Whitney-owned Thomond 

that Golden Miller had his greatest 

Gold Cup duel. In 1932, 1933, 1934 and 

1936 he had scored clear victories 

(from Inverse, Thomond, Avenger and 

Royal Mail respectively) but in 1935 he 

had to fight all the way. There were 

only five runners – Southern Hero, 

Avenger and Kellsboro’ Jack were the 

others - but they were five of the best 

and it proved an epic contest. 

Golden Miller and Thomond, with Billy 

Speck in the saddle, went past the 

leader Southern Hero, who had set a 

strong pace, in the air three out and 

went down the hill side by side. Golden 

Miller, big and lazy, was being rousted; 

Thomond, small and impetuous, still 

restrained. Two out they were together, 

but going to the last Golden Miller’s 

massive stride was beginning to tell. 

Speck asked Thomond up early at 

the last and the brave little horse 

responded, landing level. 

Up the final hill, no quarter was asked 

or given and in a finish arguably 

only matched in emotion by Desert 

Orchid’s victory over Yahoo 54 years 

later, Golden Miller prevailed by three 

quarters of a length. Afterwards, 

Speck said to Wilson: “A grand race, 

mate. And when we are old, we can 

sit back in our chairs and tell them 

that we did ride at least one day in our 

lives”. Poignantly, Speck never got the 

chance. He died after breaking his back 

in a fall at Cheltenham the following 

month and his funeral procession 

through the town was two miles long. 

Two Grand National defeats of the 

1946 Gold Cup winner Prince Regent 

27

under crushing burdens – he finished 

third under 12st 5lb that year and 

fourth under 12st 7lb the following 

year – pretty much signalled the end of 

Aintree being the main target for the 

best chasers. 

Prince Regent, trained by Tom Dreaper 

in Ireland, was top-class but wartime 

restrictions meant he was coming 

to the end of his excellence when he 

raced in Britain. He was 11 when he won 

the Gold Cup. 

The changing status of Cheltenham 

was reflected in the career of threetime 

Gold Cup winner Cottage Rake 

(1948-50), who never tackled the 

Grand National. 

After Prince Regent, the next Gold Cup 

winner to go straight on to Aintree was 

Davy Lad in 1977 (he fell at the third) 

and the only ones since have been 

Alverton (1979, fell), Garrison Savannah 

(1991, second), Cool Ground (1992, 

10th), The Fellow (1994, fell), Master 

Oats (1985, 7th) and Synchronised 

(2012, fell). 

Cottage Rake’s 1948 success was 

also the first of 23 at The Festival for 

his trainer Vincent O’Brien, and the 

initial intimation to British racegoers 

of the Irishman’s genius. The gelding 

carried the colours of O’Brien’s first 

owner, the Dublin wool merchant Frank 

Vickerman, who bought him in 1944 

after backing the new stable’s first two 

significant winners, Drybob and Good 

Days, in the Irish Cambridgeshire and 

Cesarewitch respectively. 

Cottage Rake, bred for Jumping, was 

fast enough to win an Irish November 

Handicap on the Flat, and his hallmark 

in chases was his pace and finishing 

speed. His three Gold Cup victories, 

which overlapped three in the 

Champion Hurdle from his stablemate 

Hatton’s Grace, did much to propagate 

the Anglo-Irish rivalry at The Festival. 

Only two other horses have won more 

than two Gold Cups, the triple heroes 

Arkle (1964-66) and Best Mate (20012- 

04). But before them came a horse 

who was demonstrably unlucky to win 

only once. 

The Bob Turnell-trained Pas Seul’s sole 

Gold Cup success came in 1960, when 

– ridden with confident coolness by 

Bill Rees – he caught Lochroe half-way 

up the hill and accelerated past to win 

by a length, going away. The previous 

year he had fallen at the last in a clear 

lead, the following year he was second, 

when Fred Winter on Saffron Tartan 

comprehensively outrode Dave Dick, 

and in 1962, when he started favourite, 

it is accepted he was nobbled. 

Arkle was, simply, the best. Although 

exact comparisons between 

generations are difficult, he set a 

standard of superiority that has 

not yet been matched, though it 

was approached by his own Tom 

Dreaper stablemate Flyingbolt for one 

season. And, given that training and 

conditioning methods have advanced 

since the 1960s, what might have he 

achieved today? It would be equally 

wonderful to see George Best with 

modern boots, ball and pitch. 

The Duchess of Westminster’s 

champion first gave notice of what 

might be with an imperious display in 

the Broadway (now RSA) Chase at The 

Festival in 1963. At the same meeting, 

Mill House won the Gold Cup as a 

six-year-old and was trumpeted as a 

successor to Golden Miller as indeed he 

might have been, without Arkle. 

Though Mill House, trained by Fulke 

Walwyn, came off the better in their 

first meeting, when they finished first 

and third in the 1963 Hennessy Gold 

Cup (Arkle slipped as he landed over 

the third last), it was the last time 

he did. 

In that season’s Cheltenham Gold 

Cup (1964), their much-anticipated 

showdown, Arkle settled the issue in a 

matter of strides with Pat Taaffe barely 

having to move and the following year 

treated ‘the big horse’ with even 

more contempt. 

Though Arkle had only three rivals 

in each of his first two Gold Cups 

(the equal-smallest fields) and five 

in his third, none of the races lacked 

excitement, for a demonstration of 

absolute superiority can be as spinetingling 

as a pulsating finish of heads. 

He took his third Gold Cup in 1966 at 

record short odds of 1/10 by a record 

30 lengths. In contrast, the longestpriced 

Gold Cup winner, Norton’s Coin, 

owned and trained by Welsh farmer 

and permit holder Sirrell Griffiths, beat 

11 rivals at 100/1 in 1990. 

In the 1960s, there was not a 

programme of Grade One contests 

for the top horses; the King George VI 

Chase – which Arkle won in 1965 – was 

the only other accepted championship 

contest. Arkle had to prove his merit 

in handicaps, which he did time and 

time again. His victories included an 

Irish Grand National under 12st, two 

Hennessy Gold Cups under 12st 7lb, 

a Whitbread Gold Cup under 12st 

7lb (conceding at least two stone all 

round), and a Gallagher Gold Cup 

under 12st 7lb. 

Arkle’s career came to a premature 

end when he fractured a hoof during 

the 1966 King George (he still finished 

second). He retired as winner of 22 of 

his 26 chases and of countless hearts. 

The modern top-class chaser is rarely 

expected to carry huge weights in 

handicaps once they have established 

themselves, but Desert Orchid 

and more recently Denman were 

exceptions. 

Desert Orchid, trained by David 

Elsworth, was one of the few 

racehorses to jump the gap that 

divides racing from the wider sporting 

and public consciousness, helped by 

his grey colour (the only grey to win 

a Gold Cup) and his flamboyantly 

competitive attitude. Amid all the 

“Dessiemania” that accompanied 

him, it was almost forgotten what an 

absolutely top-class performer he was. 

He was tough and versatile, winning 

on 34 of his 70 starts. His victories 

included a Tingle Creek Chase over 

two miles, a Whitbread Gold Cup over 

three miles and five furlongs, a Victor 

Chandler Chase over two miles, rallying 

to give Panto Prince 22lb and a head 

beating, and an Irish Grand National 

by 12 lengths under 12st, giving at least 

26lb to his rivals. He made the King 

George VI Chase his own, with four 

victories between 1986 and 1990. 

He consistently ran well below form at 

Cheltenham, including when he won 

28

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29

the Gold Cup in 1989. His defeat of 

Yahoo that day came courtesy of sheer 

dogged determination; he had looked 

beaten at the last but refused to give 

in and, answering Simon Sherwood’s 

every call, drifted towards his rival, 

eyeballed him and fought past. He 

finished third in the following two 

Gold Cups. 

Best Mate, by contrast, was in 

his element up the Cheltenham 

Racecourse hill. He produced an 

exemplary performance in his first 

Gold Cup, leading before the final 

fence before smoothly seeing off 

Commanche Court in 2002. 

He was even more impressive the 

following year, when he produced 

a faultless round of jumping before 

going 10 lengths clear. Third time it was 

harder work, but Best Mate rose to the 

occasion, following his heart over the 

last fence and repelling Sir Rembrandt 

by half a length. The Henrietta Knighttrained 

gelding, owned by Jim Lewis 

and ridden by Jim Culloty, was another 

to achieve celebrity status. 

In 1986, Dawn Run, trained in Ireland by 

Paddy Mullins, took advantage of her 

mares’ allowance to become the first 

and only horse to add the Gold Cup 

to a Champion Hurdle, rallying to beat 

Wayward Lad and Forgive N’ Forget in 

an emotion-charged finish under 

Jonjo O’Neill. 

Dawn Run was the fourth and latest 

mare to win the Gold Cup, following on 

from Ballinode (1925), Kerstin (1958) 

and Glencaraig Lady (1972). 

The only horse to regain the chasing 

crown has been Kauto Star, whose 

rivalry with his Paul Nicholls stablemate 

Denman put chasing, and particularly 

the horses’ showdowns at Cheltenham 

Festival, firmly in the public spotlight. 

Like Desert Orchid, Kauto Star had 

two-mile brilliance, taking a Tingle 

Creek on route to his staying career, 

like him he reigned supreme at 

Kempton on Boxing Day, with an 

unprecedented five King George 

victories, and like him he occasionally 

took a heart-stopping chance at his 

fences. He was a character, an equine 

personality. 

Kauto Star ran in six successive Gold 

Cups, an impressive record in itself. 

He beat one of his regular punchbags, 

Exotic Dancer, in 2007; finished second 

to Denman in 2008; gained decisive 

revenge over his Manor Farm rival in 

2009 by 13 lengths; fell in 2010; finished 

an honourable third to Long Run who 

set a record Gold Cup time of 6m 29.7s 

in 2011; and bowed out of competition 

when he was pulled up in 2012. 

In 2008, Denman, Kauto Star and 

Neptune Collonges provided a 

remarkable Gold Cup one-two three 

for Nicholls. 

But that was not quite as singular 

as events in 1983. That year Michael 

Dickinson saddled the first five home: 

Bregawn (Graham Bradley – 100/30F), 

Captain John (David Goulding – 11/1), 

Wayward Lad (Jonjo O’Neill – 6/1), 

Silver Buck (Robert Earnshaw – 5/1) 

and Ashley House (Mr Dermot 

Bowne – 12/1). 

Dickinson also sent out the first two in 

1982, when Silver Buck beat Bregawn 

and there was a joint-highest number 

of runners, 22. The 2006 Gold Cup, the 

other to attract 22 starters, was won 

by War Of Attrition, owned by Michael 

O’Leary’s Gigginstown House Stud, 

trained by Mouse Morris in Ireland and 

ridden by Conor O’Dwyer. 

Culloty became the fifth winning 

jockey of the Gold Cup to later train 

the winner of the race in 2014 when 

responsible for Lord Windermere who 

narrowly prevailed in a thrilling renewal. 

The others have been Danny Morgan 

(rode Morse Code (1938) - trained 

Roddy Owen (1959)), Fred Winter 

(rode Saffron Tartan (1961) & Mandarin 

(1962) – trained Midnight Court (1978)), 

Pat Taaffe (rode Arkle (1964, 1965, 

1966) & Fort Leney (1968) – trained 

Captain Christy (1974)) and Jonjo 

O’Neill (rode Alverton (1979) & Dawn 

Run (1986) – trained Synchronised 

(2012)). 

The 2015 Gold Cup saw Coneygree, 

trained by Mark Bradstock and ridden 

by Nico de Boinville, prevail on just 

his fourth start over fences, making 

him the first novice to succeed since 

Captain Christy in 1974. 

Don Cossack was the 23rd Irish-trained 

winner of the Timico Cheltenham Gold 

Cup in 2016. Trained by Gordon Elliott 

and owned by Gigginstown House 

Stud, he won well from two more Irishtrained 

horses, Djakadam and Don Poli, 

both from the stable of Irish champion 

Jump trainer Willie Mullins, who has 

saddled the Gold Cup runner-up 

six times. 

The appeal of the Gold Cup is wider 

than Britain and Ireland and there has 

also been one French-trained winner, 

The Fellow, in 1994. 

TIMICO CHELTENHAM GOLD CUP ROLL OF HONOUR 

(Timico Cheltenham Gold Cup 2016-, Betfred Cheltenham Gold Cup 2012-2015, totesport Cheltenham Gold Cup 2004-2011, Tote Cheltenham 

Gold Cup 1980-2003, Piper Champagne Cheltenham Gold Cup 1975-1979, no sponsor before 1975) 

YEAR WINNER AGE/WT JOCKEY TRAINER OWNER SP RAN 

2016 Don Cossack 9-11-10 Bryan Cooper Gordon Elliott IRE Gigginstown House Stud 9/4F 9 

2015 Coneygree 8-11-10 Nico de Boinville Mark Bradstock The Max Partnership (Coneygree) 7/1 16 

2014 Lord Windermere 8-11-10 Davy Russell Jim Culloty IRE Dr Ronan Lambe 20/1 13 

2013 Bobs Worth 8-11-10 Barry Geraghty Nicky Henderson The Not Afraid Partnership 11/4F 9 

2012 Synchronised 9-11-10 A P McCoy Jonjo O’Neill J P McManus 8/1 14 

2011 Long Run 6-11-10 Mr Sam Waley- Nicky Henderson Robert Waley-Cohen 7/2F 13 

Cohen 

2010 Imperial Commander 9-11-10 Paddy Brennan Nigel Twiston-Davies Our Friends In The North 7/1 11 

2009 Kauto Star 9-11-10 Ruby Walsh Paul Nicholls Clive Smith 7/4F 16 

2008 Denman 8-11-10 Sam Thomas Paul Nicholls Paul Barber & Maggie Findlay 9/4 12 

2007 Kauto Star 7-11-10 Ruby Walsh Paul Nicholls Clive Smith 5/4F 18 

30


TIMICO CHELTENHAM GOLD CUP ROLL OF HONOUR 

(Timico Cheltenham Gold Cup 2016-, Betfred Cheltenham Gold Cup 2012-2015, totesport Cheltenham Gold Cup 2004-2011, Tote Cheltenham 

Gold Cup 1980-2003, Piper Champagne Cheltenham Gold Cup 1975-1979, no sponsor before 1975) 


2006 War Of Attrition 7-11-10 Conor O’Dwyer Mouse Morris IRE Gigginstown House Stud 15/2 22 

2005 Kicking King 7-11-10 Barry Geraghty Tom Taaffe IRE Conor Clarkson 4/1F 15 

2004 Best Mate 9-12-00 Jim Culloty Henrietta Knight Jim Lewis 8/11F 10 

2003 Best Mate 8-12-00 Jim Culloty Henrietta Knight Jim Lewis 13/8F 15 

2002 Best Mate 7-12-00 Jim Culloty Henrietta Knight Jim Lewis 7/1 18 

2001 No Race (Foot and Mouth) 

2000 Looks Like Trouble 8-12-00 Richard Johnson Noel Chance Tim Collins 9/2 12 

1999 See More Business 9-12-00 Mick Fitzgerald Paul Nicholls Paul Barber/John Keighley 16/1 12 

1998 Cool Dawn 10-12-00 Andrew Thornton Robert Alner Hon. Miss Dido Harding 25/1 17 

1997 Mr Mulligan 9-12-00 A P McCoy Noel Chance Michael & Gerry Worcester 20/1 14 

1996 Imperial Call 7-12-00 Conor O’Dwyer Fergie Sutherland IRE Lisselan Farms Ltd 9/2 10 

1995 Master Oats 9-12-00 Norman Williamson Kim Bailey Paul Matthews 100/30F 15 

1994 The Fellow 9-12-00 Adam Kondrat Francois Doumen FR Marquesa De Moratalla 7/1 15 

1993 Jodami 8-12-00 Mark Dwyer Peter Beaumont John Yeadon 8/1 16 

1992 Cool Ground 10-12-00 Adrian Maguire Toby Balding Whitcombe Manor Racing Stables 25/1 8 

1991 Garrison Savannah 8-12-00 Mark Pitman Jenny Pitman Autofour Engineering 16/1 14 

1990 Norton’s Coin 9-12-00 Graham McCourt Sirrell Griffiths Sirrell Griffiths 100/1 12 

1989 Desert Orchid 10-12-00 Simon Sherwood David Elsworth Richard Burridge 5/2F 13 

1988 Charter Party 10-12-00 Richard Dunwoody David Nicholson Claire Smith & Jenny Mould 10/1 15 

1987 The Thinker 9-12-00 Ridley Lamb Arthur Stephenson T P M McDonagh Ltd 13/2 12 

1986 Dawn Run 8-11-09 Jonjo O’Neill Paddy Mullins IRE Charmian Hill 15/8F 11 

1985 Forgive N’ Forget 8-12-00 Mark Dwyer Jimmy FitzGerald T Kilroe and Sons Ltd 7/1 15 

1984 Burrough Hill Lad 8-12-00 Phil Tuck Jenny Pitman Stan Riley 7/2 12 

1983 Bregawn 9-12-00 Graham Bradley Michael Dickinson James Kennelly 100/30F 11 

1982 Silver Buck 10-12-00 Robert Earnshaw Michael Dickinson Christine Feather 8/1 22 

1981 Little Owl 7-12-00 Mr Jim Wilson Peter Easterby Robin Wilson 6/1 15 

1980 Master Smudge 8-12-00 Richard Hoare Arthur Barrow Arthur Barrow 14/1 15 

1979 Alverton 9-12-00 Jonjo O’Neill Peter Easterby Snailwell Stud Co Ltd 5/1JF 14 

1978 Midnight Court 7-12-00 John Francome Fred Winter Olive Jackson 5/2 10 

1977 Davy Lad 7-12-00 Dessie Hughes Mick O’Toole IRE Mrs Joe McGowan 14/1 13 

1976 Royal Frolic 7-12-00 John Burke Fred Rimell Sir Edward Hanmer 14/1 11 

1975 Ten Up 8-12-00 Tommy Carberry Jim Dreaper IRE Anne, Duchess of Westminster 2/1 8 

1974 Captain Christy 7-12-00 Bobby Beasley Pat Taaffe IRE Mrs Jane M A Samuel 7/1 7 

1973 The Dikler 10-12-00 Ron Barry Fulke Walwyn Mrs D W August 9/1 8 

1972 Glencaraig Lady 8-12-00 Frank Berry Francis Flood IRE P Doyle 6/1 12 

1971 L’Escargot 8-12-00 Tommy Carberry Dan Moore IRE Raymond Guest 7/2JF 8 

1970 L’Escargot 7-12-00 Tommy Carberry Dan Moore IRE Raymond Guest 33/1 12 

1969 What A Myth 12-12-00 Paul Kelleway Ryan Price Lady Weir 8/1 11 

1968 Fort Leney 10-12-00 Pat Taaffe Tom Dreaper IRE Colonel John Thomson 11/2 5 

1967 Woodland Venture 7-12-00 Terry Biddlecombe Fred Rimell Harry Collins 100/8 8 

1966 Arkle 9-12-00 Pat Taaffe Tom Dreaper IRE Anne, Duchess of Westminster 1/10F 5 

1965 Arkle 8-12-00 Pat Taaffe Tom Dreaper IRE Anne, Duchess of Westminster 3/10F 4 

1964 Arkle 7-12-00 Pat Taaffe Tom Dreaper IRE Anne, Duchess of Westminster 7/4 4 

1963 Mill House 6-12-00 Willie Robinson Fulke Walwyn Bill Gollings 7/2F 12 

1962 Mandarin 11-12-00 Fred Winter Fulke Walwyn Madame Peggy Hennessy 7/2 10 

1961 Saffron Tartan 10-12-00 Fred Winter Don Butchers Colonel Guy Westmacott 2/1F 9 

1960 Pas Seul 7-12-00 Bill Rees Bob Turnell John Rogerson 6/1 11 

1959 Roddy Owen 10-12-00 Bobby Beasley Danny Morgan IRE Lord Fingall 5/1 11 

1958 Kerstin 8-12-00 Stan Hayhurst Verly Bewicke George H Moore 7/1 9 

1957 Linwell 9-12-00 Michael Scudamore Charlie Mallon David Brown 100/9 13 

1956 Limber Hill 9-12-00 Jimmy Power Bill Dutton John Davey 11/8F 11 

1955 Gay Donald 9-12-00 Tony Grantham Jim Ford P J Burt 33/1 9 

1954 Four Ten 8-12-00 Tommy Cusack John Roberts A Strange 100/6 6 

1953 Knock Hard 9-12-00 Tim Molony Vincent O’Brien IRE Mrs Harry Keogh 11/2 12 

1952 Mount Tremblant 6-12-00 Dave Dick Fulke Walwyn Dorothy Paget 8/1 13 

1951 Silver Fame 12-12-00 Martin Molony George Beeby Lord Bicester 6/4F 6 

1950 Cottage Rake 11-12-00 Aubrey Brabazon Vincent O’Brien IRE Frank Vickerman 5/6F 6 

1949 Cottage Rake 10-12-00 Aubrey Brabazon Vincent O’Brien IRE Frank Vickerman 4/6F 6 

1948 Cottage Rake 9-12-00 Aubrey Brabazon Vincent O’Brien IRE Frank Vickerman 10/1 12 

1947 Fortina 6-12-00 Mr Richard Black Hector Christie Lord Grimthorpe 8/1 12 

1946 Prince Regent 11-12-00 Tim Hyde Tom Dreaper IRE Jimmy Rank 4/7F 6 

1945 Red Rower 11-12-00 Davy Jones Lord Stalbridge Lord Stalbridge 11/4F 16 

1943/1944 No race 

1942 Medoc II 8-12-00 Frenchie Nicholson Reg Hobbs Lord Sefton 9/2 12 

1941 Poet Prince 9-12-00 Roger Burford Ivor Anthony D Sherbrooke 7/2 10 

1940 Roman Hackle 7-12-00 Evan Williams Owen Anthony Dorothy Paget Evs 7 

1939 Brendans Cottage 9-12-00 George Owen George Beeby Mrs Arthur Smith-Bingham 8/1 5 

1938 Morse Code 9-12-00 Danny Morgan Ivor Anthony Lt Col Dealtry Part 13/2 6 

1937 No race (flooded) 

1936 Golden Miller 9-12-00 Evan Williams Owen Anthony Dorothy Paget 21/20F 6 

1935 Golden Miller 8-12-00 Gerry Wilson Basil Briscoe Dorothy Paget 1/2F 5 

1934 Golden Miller 7-12-00 Gerry Wilson Basil Briscoe Dorothy Paget 6/5F 7 

1933 Golden Miller 6-12-00 Billy Stott Basil Briscoe Dorothy Paget 4/7F 7 

1932 Golden Miller 5-11-05 Ted Leader Basil Briscoe Dorothy Paget 13/2 6 

1931 No race (frost) 

1930 Easter Hero 10-12-00 Tommy Cullinan Jack Anthony John Hay Whitney 8/11F 4 

1929 Easter Hero 9-12-00 Dick Rees Jack Anthony John Hay Whitney 7/4F 10 

1928 Patron Saint 5-11-05 Dick Rees Stanley Harrison F W Keen 7/2 7 

1927 Thrown In 11-12-00 Hon Hugh Grosvenor Owen Anthony Lord Stalbridge 10/1 8 

1926 Koko 8-12-00 Tim Hamey Alfred Bickley Frank Barbour 10/1 8 

1925 Ballinode 9-12-00 Ted Leader Frank Morgan IRE J C Bentley 3/1 4 

1924 Red Splash 5-11-05 Dick Rees Fred Withington Major Everard Wyndham 5/1 9 

31

STAN JAMES 

CHAMPION 

HURDLE 

THE FIRST OFFICIALLY-RECORDED HURDLE RACE OVER 

A SPECIALLY-CONSTRUCTED COURSE IN BRITAIN TOOK 

PLACE IN 1821 NEAR BRISTOL, RUN IN THREE HEATS OF 

A MILE WITH FIVE FLIGHTS IN EACH HEAT. 

But many years elapsed before racing 

over the smaller obstacles really found 

a mainstream place in public and 

professional consciousness. The first 

course to become a hurdling hotbed 

was Croydon, home of the Grand 

International and Grand National 

Handicap Hurdles until its closure 

in 1890. 

Hurdling was then primarily a 

gambling, rather than sporting, 

medium, which George Lambton, 

later a great Flat trainer but then an 

impecunious owner and amateur rider, 

used to his advantage in the Croydon 

races in 1886 and 1887 on his 

mare Bellona. 

At the turn of the century, the most 

valuable hurdle races were the £875 

Jubilee Handicap at Manchester 

and the £825 International Hurdle at 

Gatwick. As a comparison, the Grand 

National was then worth £1,975. 

In 1907, another valuable handicap, 

the Imperial Cup at Sandown, was 

introduced to the racing calendar, 

worth £830 to the inaugural winner 

Carnegie. The development of racing at 

Cheltenham added the Gloucestershire 

Hurdle which in 1914 was the most 

valuable of that season at £827. 

The winner that year was Wrack, 

who carried top-weight of 12st 2lb 

to a 10-length victory. An entire, he 

was the best specialist hurdler of 

his era as well as being a useful Flat 

handicapper. Wrack went on to have a 

successful stud career in the States. 

But the best hurdler of the early 20th 

century was Trespasser, another dualpurpose 

entire. On the Flat, he won a 

32

Queen’s Prize at Kempton Park and 

over obstacles three Imperial Cups 

(1920-22) and the 1920 County Hurdle 

at Cheltenham. At stud he sired 

Tickets, who became dam of the 1936 

Champion Hurdle winner 

Victor Norman. 

The Champion Hurdle was founded 

in 1927 as a foil to the Cheltenham 

Gold Cup, too late for Trespasser 

to show his talents at The Festival. 

Appropriately, the first Champion 

Hurdle winner Blaris was ridden 

by George Duller, who was the 

outstanding hurdles’ exponent of his 

time, and had also partnered Wrack 

and Trespasser. 

But in those days hurdling was still 

very much a minor branch of the 

sport, regarded as a training ground 

for future chasers and indeed Blaris 

had won over fences at Newbury 

on his previous outing. He beat just 

three rivals at Cheltenham, where his 

£365 prize was the least valuable of 

the four hurdles, behind the County 

Hurdle (£830), the Stayers’ Selling 

Hurdle (£465) and the Gloucestershire 

Hurdle (£415). 

It was not until 1938 that the 

Champion Hurdle’s value crept 

past that of the County. The first 

sponsorship came from Waterford 

Crystal in 1978 (when the winner 

Monksfield earned £21,332); after 

which the Smurfit group took over 

until succeeded by Stan James in 2011. 

The 2017 first prize is £227,800 out of 

a total prize fund of £400,000. 

Grace (1949-51) and Sir Ken (1952- 

54). The exploits of the trio, whose 

careers overlapped, did much to 

popularise their branch of the sport 

and make the Champion Hurdle a true 

championship. 

National Spirit, trained by Vic Smyth 

in Epsom, notched 19 wins over 

hurdles and 13 on the Flat in a nineyear 

career. His first Cheltenham 

victory may have been fortunate; the 

French-trained runner-up Le Paillon 

– who won the Arc later that year - 

was steered unconscionably wide the 

whole way by a young Alec Head and 

yet went down by only a length. 

There was a comfortable second 

victory for National Spirit in 1948. 

But back in fifth came an unheralded 

little Irish-trained eight-year-old, who 

by the following year had changed 

stables. It was not quite known yet 

outside Ireland what a genius was his 

new trainer, Co Cork-based Vincent 

O’Brien, but in winning the 1949 

Champion Hurdle by six lengths under 

Aubrey Brabazon, Hatton’s Grace 

helped to spread the word. 

Hatton’s Grace won again in 1950, 

when National Sprit blundered at the 

last. A year on the contrasting pair - 

plain, pony-sized Hatton’s Grace, with 

Tim Molony up for the first time, and 

17-hand pale chestnut National Spirit 

- were in the air together again at 

the last, only for the latter, under the 

greater pressure, to fall. 

Hatton’s Grace, whose career was 

late starting because of wartime 

restrictions, won his third Champion 

Hurdle aged 11, matched only by 

Sea Pigeon in 1981. He won over 

fences in Ireland at the age of 13, 

and then retired to O’Brien’s new 

premises, Ballydoyle, where he led 

the youngsters. “He was supposed 

to be too old to win at Cheltenham,” 

recalled O’Brien later. “But he never 

knew that so I nicknamed him 

Peter Pan.” 

The youngest Champion Hurdle 

winners have been four-year-olds 

Brown Jack (1928), Brown Tony 

(1930), Seneca (1941) and Forestation 

(1942). 

The next multiple champion, Sir Ken, 

was perhaps the first truly great 

hurdler. In the post-war era, trainers 

plundered France for precocious 

Jump-bred types who had been 

learning their trade from a young age; 

so there really is nothing new under 

the sun. 

Sir Ken was plucked from a race at 

Auteuil for £750 by trainer Willie 

Stephenson. He had failed to win 

over hurdles in France but proved 

a revelation after his transfer, with 

17 straight wins, including one on 

the Flat. His first 16 hurdle victories 

included two of his three Cheltenham 

titles, but also some uncompetitive 

minor contests, one of which he won 

at odds of 1/33. 


Probably none of the pre-war 

Champion Hurdle winners can be 

considered to be worthy of the race’s 

eponymous tag, not even the second 

winner Brown Jack, who later became 

a high-class Flat stayer and a public 

idol, or the first dual winner Insurance 

(1932-33), who took his first edition by 

12 lengths - a record margin he shares 

with Istabraq (1998) – but who had 

only two rivals in the race’s smallestever 

field. 

The standard of hurdling improved 

markedly after the Second World 

War, when two Cheltenham victories 

for National Spirit (1947-48) were 

followed by three each for Hatton’s 

Winning jockey Ruby Walsh and trainer 

Willie Mullins celebrate with the trophy 

33

His winning sequence ended on his 

1953-54 seasonal debut at Uttoxeter, 

when the Maurice Kingsley-owned 

horse finished third to Impney, later 

runner-up in the Champion Hurdle, 

and Rif II, at odds of 1/7. The successful 

streak of 16 over Jumps has been 

bettered only by Big Buck’s, who 

recorded 18 successive victories 

between 2009 and 2012. 

Sir Ken’s odds of 2/5 for his middle 

title in 1953 remain the shortest 

Champion Hurdle winning price. It was 

his most impressive display; though 

fog shrouded the course and denied 

the crowds the spectacle of his slick, 

powerful technique. Rider Tim Molony 

and his rivals reported that he was not 

off the bit for a single stride. Sir Ken’s 

third victory gave Molony, who rode 

Hatton’s Grace in 1951, a unique fourtimer 

in the race. 

He won the Cotswold (now Arkle) Chase 

two years later and was strongly fancied 

when falling in the 1957 Gold Cup. 

The biggest shocks in Champion 

Hurdle history were provided by 

Kirriemuir (1965) and Beech Road 

(1989), who were both returned 

at 50/1. 

Hurdling’s next golden era – and one 

which has, for sheer strength in depth, 

yet to be surpassed - was ushered in 

by the next hat-trick hero, Persian War. 

In the 14 years between 1968 and 

1981, only seven different horses – 

Persian War, Bula, Comedy Of Errors, 

Lanzarote, Night Nurse, Monksfield 

and Sea Pigeon - won the Champion 

Hurdle, but all were top-class. 

Which was the best will always be 

the subject of spirited debate. Persian 

War (1968-70) set a high standard; as 

well as his three Cheltenham titles, his 

18 hurdle victories also included the 

Triumph Hurdle at The Festival, the 

Schweppes Gold Trophy (under 11st 

13lb) and the Irish Sweeps Hurdle. 

Despite wind problems, he was utterly 

resolute. He also had to overcome the 

whims of his owner Henry Alper, who 

kept changing his trainer. Colin Davies, 

who saddled Persian War for his three 

Champion Hurdle wins with Jimmy 

Uttley in the saddle, once memorably 

said: “When we put the tongue strap 

on the horse a few said it was a pity we 

didn’t put it on the owner.” 

Persian War lost his crown when 

second to Bula in 1971, but did best of 

all the triple winners who attempted a 

fourth success. Hatton’s Grace finished 

fifth in 1952, Sir Ken came fourth in 

1955, See You Then was 16th in 1990 

(three years after his third success) and 

Istabraq was pulled up in 2002. 

Bula’s trademark was his thrilling 

charge from off the pace under Paul 

Kelleway. His finishing speed brought 

him 21 victories from 26 hurdles starts, 

including a winning sequence of 13, and 

he blasted the 1972 Champion Hurdle 

field by eight lengths. Owned by Bill 

Edwards-Heathcote and trained by 

Fred Winter, Bula became a high-class 

chaser; he was third in the 1975 Gold 

Cup but two years later sustained 

ultimately fatal injuries in the Champion 

Chase. At the same meeting his 

stablemate Lanzarote, winner of the 

1974 Champion Hurdle and another 

high-class chasing recruit, broke a hind 

leg in the Gold Cup. 

In winning his hurdling title, Lanzarote 

beat the reigning champion Comedy 

Of Errors, who won the 1973 renewal 

under Bill Smith, then became the 

first horse to regain the crown in 1975 

when Ken White took the mount - with 

Hurricane Fly being the second in 2013. 

Comedy Of Errors, trained by Fred 

Rimell and owned by Ted Wheatley, 

was one of the handsomest horses 

ever to wear a racing bridle and had 

ability to match his looks. He was 

imperious when coming home eight 

lengths clear of Flash Imp in the 1975 

Champion Hurdle and his career 

spanned 23 hurdle victories from 48 

runs. In retirement, he was used as 

a hack by his trainer’s widow Mercy 

until his death at the age of 23. “He 

was as perfect a ride as he was in 

appearance,” she said. 

Night Nurse, trained by Peter Easterby 

in Yorkshire for Reg Spencer, picked 

up the baton of excellence in 1976, 

and arguably was the best of the lot. 

He was a top juvenile hurdler and 

made a seamless transition to senior 

company, winning all eight of his races 

in the 1975-76 season. A bold frontrunner 

- a style which endeared him 

to the public - with a usually flawlessly 

fluent technique, he became the first 

Champion Hurdle winner to lead all the 

way since Victor Norman in 1936. 

Partnered by Paddy Broderick, 36 at 

the time of the 1976 Champion Hurdle 

success, Night Nurse was followed 

home in 1976 by Birds Nest (perhaps 

the best horse to run in but never win 

a Champion), Flash Imp, Comedy Of 

Errors and Lanzarote, and the following 

year by Monksfield, Dramatist, Sea 

Pigeon, Birds Nest and Beacon Light. 

Monksfield and Sea Pigeon won the 

next four Champion Hurdles 

between them. 

But the best performance of Night 

Nurse’s career was yet to come; in the 

1977 Templegate Hurdle at Aintree 

when he gave 6lb to Monksfield and 

forced a dead-heat after an epic duel 

from the third-last, with neither horse 

flinching for a single stride. Night 

Nurse also became a high-class chaser, 

finishing second to his stablemate 

Little Owl in the 1981 Gold Cup. He 

lived in retirement with Easterby until 

he was 28. 

Monksfield, trained by Des McDonough 

in Ireland, was the rising star; he was 

only small but extraordinarily tough 

and his battles with Sea Pigeon 

became the stuff of legend. The photos 

of them in the air together at the last 

in 1979 and 1980, ridden by Dessie 

Hughes and Jonjo O’Neill respectively, 

are among the Festival’s most iconic. 

Monksfield beat Sea Pigeon and Night 

Nurse in 1978; the following year he 

and Sea Pigeon were split by just three 

quarters of a length in a driving finish. 

Hughes became only the fourth 

Champion Hurdle winning jockey to 

also achieve success in the hurdling 

championship as a trainer with Hardy 

Eustace (2004 & 2005) 

The other three riders to do this were 

Gerry Wilson (rode Lion Courage 

(1935) and trained Brains Trust (1945)); 

Fred Rimell (rode Brains Trust (1945) 

and trained Comedy Of Errors (1973 

& 1975)) and Fred Winter (rode Clair 

Solei (1955), Fare Times (1959) & 

34

Eborneezer (1961) and trained Bula 

(1971 & 1972), Lanzarote (1974) and 

Celtic Shot (1988). 

In 1980 Sea Pigeon flew the last and 

sped seven lengths clear under O’Neill, 

and secured his second title at the age 

of 11 in 1981, with John Francome up, 

against lesser opposition. 

Another Easterby inmate, he also 

won two Chester Cups and an Ebor 

Handicap on the Flat. He lived until 

he was the grand old age for a horse 

of 30; he and Night Nurse are both 

buried at Great Habton where Easterby 

trained with a plaque simply reading 

“Legends in their lifetimes”. 

Monksfield, an entire, cost only 740 

guineas (a guinea is a £1.05) as a 

yearling. He sired nothing as good as 

himself at stud, but became damsire of 

high-class performers like Alexander 

Banquet, Harbour Pilot, Ollie Magern 

and Grand National winner 

Monty’s Pass. 

See You Then’s three victories (1985- 

87) were testament not only to his 

talent, but also the skill of his trainer 

Nicky Henderson. The gelding was 

desperately difficult to keep sound 

earned the soubriquet “See You 

When?” 

His first Champion Hurdle win in 1985 

came as a five-year-old, while he put 

the 1983 champion Gaye Brief – the 

first champion hurdler trained by a 

woman, Mercy Rimell - in his place 

in 1986. 


STAN JAMES CHAMPION HURDLE ROLL OF HONOUR 

(Stan James Champion Hurdle from 2011, Smurfit Kappa Champion Hurdle 2006-2010, Smurfit Champion Hurdle 1991-2005, Waterford 

Crystal Champion Hurdle 1978-1990, no sponsor before 1978). No race 2001, 1931, 1943, 1944. 


2016 Annie Power 8-11-03 Ruby Walsh Willie Mullins IRE Susannah Ricci 5/2F 12 

2015 Faugheen 7-11-10 Ruby Walsh Willie Mullins IRE Susannah Ricci 4/5F 8 

2014 Jezki 6-11-10 Barry Geraghty Jessica Harrington IRE J P McManus 9/1 9 

2013 Hurricane Fly 9-11-10 Ruby Walsh Willie Mullins IRE George Creighton & Rose Boyd 13/8F 9 

2012 Rock On Ruby 7-11-10 Noel Fehily Paul Nicholls The Festival Goers 11/1 10 

2011 Hurricane Fly 7-11-10 Ruby Walsh Willie Mullins IRE George Creighton & Rose Boyd 11/4F 11 

2010 Binocular 6-11-10 A P McCoy Nicky Henderson J P McManus 9/1 12 

2009 Punjabi 6-11-10 Barry Geraghty Nicky Henderson Raymond Tooth 22/1 23 

2008 Katchit 5-11-10 Robert Thornton Alan King D S J P Syndicate 10/1 15 

2007 Sublimity 7-11-10 Philip Carberry John Carr IRE Bill Hennessy 16/1 10 

2006 Brave Inca 8-11-10 Tony McCoy Colm Murphy IRE Novices Syndicate 7/4F 18 

2005 Hardy Eustace 8-11-10 Conor O’Dwyer Dessie Hughes IRE Lar Byrne 7/2JF 14 

2004 Hardy Eustace 7-11-10 Conor O’Dwyer Dessie Hughes IRE Lar Byrne 33/1 14 

2003 Rooster Booster 9-12-00 Richard Johnson Philip Hobbs Terry Warner 9/2 17 

2002 Hors La Loi III 7-12-00 Dean Gallagher James Fanshawe Paul Green 10/1 15 

2000 Istabraq 8-12-00 Charlie Swan Aidan O’Brien IRE J P McManus 8/15F 12 



1997 Make A Stand 6-12-00 A P McCoy Martin Pipe Peter Deal 7/1 17 

1996 Collier Bay 6-12-00 Graham Bradley Jim Old Wally Sturt 9/1 16 

1995 Alderbrook 6-12-00 Norman Williamson Kim Bailey Ernie Pick 11/2 14 

1994 Flakey Dove 8-11-09 Mark Dwyer Richard Price John Price 9/1 15 

1993 Granville Again 7-12-00 Peter Scudamore Martin Pipe Eric Scarth 13/2 18 

1992 Royal Gait 9-12-00 Graham McCourt James Fanshawe Sheikh Mohammed 6/1 16 

1991 Morley Street 7-12-00 Jimmy Frost Toby Balding Michael Jackson Bloodstock Ltd 4/1F 24 

1990 Kribensis 6-12-00 Richard Dunwoody Michael Stoute Sheikh Mohammed 95/40F 19 

1989 Beech Road 7-12-00 Richard Guest Toby Balding Tony Geake 50/1 15 

1988 Celtic Shot 6-12-00 Peter Scudamore Fred Winter David Horton 7/1 21 

1987 See You Then 7-12-00 Steve Smith Eccles Nicky Henderson Stype Wood Stud Ltd 11/10F 18 

1986 See You Then 6-12-00 Steve Smith Eccles Nicky Henderson Stype Wood Stud Ltd 5/6F 23 

1985 See You Then 5-12-00 Steve Smith Eccles Nicky Henderson Stype Wood Stud Ltd 16/1 14 

1984 Dawn Run 6-11-09 Jonjo O’Neill Paddy Mullins IRE Charmian Hill 4/5F 14 

1983 Gaye Brief 6-12-00 Richard Linley Mercy Rimell Sheikh Ali Abu Khamsin 7/1 17 

1982 For Auction 6-12-00 Mr Colin Magnier Michael Cunningham IRE F Heaslip 40/1 14 

1981 Sea Pigeon 11-12-00 John Francome Peter Easterby Pat Muldoon 7/4F 14 

1980 Sea Pigeon 10-12-00 Jonjo O’Neill Peter Easterby Pat Muldoon 13/2 9 

1979 Monksfield 7-12-00 Dessie Hughes Des McDonogh IRE Dr Michael Mangan 9/4F 10 

1978 Monksfield 6-12-00 Tommy Kinane Des McDonogh IRE Dr Michael Mangan 11/2 13 

1977 Night Nurse 6-12-00 Paddy Broderick Peter Easterby Reg Spencer 15/2 10 

1976 Night Nurse 5-12-00 Paddy Broderick Peter Easterby Reg Spencer 2/1F 8 

1975 Comedy Of Errors 8-12-00 Ken White Fred Rimell Ted Wheatley 11/8F 13 

1974 Lanzarote 6-12-00 Richard Pitman Fred Winter Lord Howard de Walden 7/4 7 

1973 Comedy Of Errors 6-12-00 Bill Smith Fred Rimell Ted Wheatley 8/1 8 

1972 Bula 7-12-00 Paul Kelleway Fred Winter Bill Edwards-Heathcote 8/11F 12 

1971 Bula 6-12-00 Paul Kelleway Fred Winter Bill Edwards-Heathcote 15/8F 9 

1970 Persian War 7-12-00 Jimmy Uttley Colin Davies Henry Alper 5/4F 14 

1969 Persian War 6-12-00 Jimmy Uttley Colin Davies Henry Alper 6/4F 17 

1968 Persian War 5-11-12 Jimmy Uttley Colin Davies Henry Alper 4/1 16 

1967 Saucy Kit 6-12-00 Roy Edwards Peter Easterby K F Alder 100/6 23 

1966 Salmon Spray 8-12-00 Johnnie Haine Bob Turnell Mrs John Rogerson 4/1 17 

1965 Kirriemuir 5-12-00 Willie Robinson Fulke Walwyn Mrs Dorothy Beddington 50/1 19 

1964 Magic Court 6-12-00 Pat McCarron Tommy Robson J McGhie 100/6 24 

1963 Winning Fair 8-12-00 Mr Alan Lillingston George Spencer IRE George Spencer 100/9 21 

1962 Anzio 5-11-12 Willie Robinson Fulke Walwyn Sir Thomas Ainsworth 11/2 14 

1961 Eborneezer 6-12-00 Fred Winter Ryan Price Dr B N Pajgar 4/1 17 

1960 Another Flash 6-12-00 Bobby Beasley Paddy Sleator IRE J J Byrne 11/4F 12 

1959 Fare Time 6-12-00 Fred Winter Ryan Price Gerry Judd 13/2 14 

1958 Bandalore 7-12-00 George Slack Stan Wright Mrs Dorothy Wright 20/1 18 

1957 Merry Deal 7-12-00 Grenville Underwood Arthur Jones Arthur Jones 28/1 16 

1956 Doorknocker 8-12-00 Harry Sprague Charlie Hall Clifford Nicholson 100/9 14 

35

See You Then saw off Flatter, a rare 

challenger from North America, in 1987. 

He was not seen again until 1990, by 

which time he was a light of former 

days. He was ridden by Steve Smith 

Eccles to all three of his Champion 

Hurdle victories. 

Dawn Run (1984), trained by Paddy 

Mullins in Ireland for Charmian Hill, 

gained a place in history as the best 

hurdling mare of all time and the first 

of her sex to be the leading hurdler of 

the year since Lady Madcap in 1912. 

Her status did not come through her 

Cheltenham win, with O’Neill up, which 

was achieved courtesy of the recentlyintroduced 

5lb mares’ allowance, but 

from subsequent performances at 

Aintree and Auteuil. Two years later 

she earned another landmark, as the 

first horse to add a Gold Cup to the 

Champion Hurdle and what a rousing 

reception she received from the 

Cheltenham crowd. 

The latest triple champion, Istabraq 

(1998-2000), was cruelly denied his 

place in the record books by the footand-mouth 

outbreak that caused the 

cancellation of The Festival in 2001. 

The magnificent Aidan O’Brien-trained 

gelding, a Sadler’s Wells half-brother to 

Derby winner Secreto, had dominated 

the hurdling scene since his novice 

season, when he won the Royal 

SunAlliance Hurdle at The Festival. 

In his first three senior seasons, 

Istabraq lost only two of his 18 

races, one at Aintree by a head to 

Pridwell, who was given one of A P 

McCoy’s best rides, the other over 

two and a half miles on soft ground at 

Leopardstown, the forcefully-ridden 

winner’s optimum conditions. Four 

months later at Cheltenham, it was 

business as usual as Istabraq quickened 

four lengths clear of Hors la Loi to 

take his third title, and despite a fall at 

Leopardstown in December, 2000, his 

fourth looked a formality until fate took 

a hand. 

By March, 2002, his soundness was 

an issue; Istabraq was getting older 

and stiffer and, although he made it 

to Cheltenham, regular rider Charlie 

Swan pulled him up after jumping 

two hurdles. But seldom can a losing 

favourite have been given a more 

heartfelt ovation as he walked back. 

The only Jump horse to have bettered 

Istabraq’s tally of 14 Grade One 

successes is Hurricane Fly, with 22. 

The Willie Mullins-trained star, the best 

hurdler since Istabraq, won the Stan 

James Champion Hurdle in 2011 and 

2013 and was third in 2012, fourth in 

2014 and third in 2015. 

His trainer Willie Mullins has also taken 

the last two renewals with Faugheen 

in 2015 and Annie Power in 2016, with 

both horses owned by Susannah Ricci 

and ridden by Ruby Walsh. 

Annie Power, the 22nd Irish-trained 

scorer, was the fourth mare to achieve 

Champion Hurdle success, following 

on from Flakey Dove (1994), Dawn Run 

(1984) and African Sister (1939). 

She also gained the fastest time in a 

Champion Hurdle, winning in 3m 45.10s 

to just overcome the previous best of 3m 

45.25s set by Jezki in 2014, who in turn 

beat the 3m 48.1s of Istabraq in 2000. 

The highest number of runners in a 

Champion Hurdle has been 24, seen in 

both 1964 and 1991. 

Four greys have clinched Champion 

Hurdle success, the most recent being 

Rooster Booster in 2003. The others 

were Kribensis in 1990, Our Hope in 

1938 and Victor Norman in 1936. One 

roan horse has won the Champion 

Hurdle, Anzio in 1962. 

STAN JAMES CHAMPION HURDLE ROLL OF HONOUR 

(Stan James Champion Hurdle from 2011, Smurfit Kappa Champion Hurdle 2006-2010, Smurfit Champion Hurdle 1991-2005, Waterford 

Crystal Champion Hurdle 1978-1990, no sponsor before 1978). No race 2001, 1931, 1943, 1944. 

1955 Clair Soleil 6-12-00 Fred Winter Ryan Price Gerry Judd 5/2F 21 

1954 Sir Ken 7-12-00 Tim Molony Willie Stephenson Maurice Kingsley 4/9F 13 



1951 Hatton’s Grace 11-12-00 Tim Molony Vincent O’Brien IRE Mrs Harry Keogh 4/1 8 

1950 Hatton’s Grace 10-12-00 Aubrey Brabazon Vincent O’Brien IRE Mrs Harry Keogh 5/2F 12 

1949 Hatton’s Grace 9-12-00 Aubrey Brabazon Vincent O’Brien IRE Mrs Harry Keogh 100/7 14 

1948 National Spirit 7-12-00 Ron Smyth Vic Smyth Len Abelson 6/4F 12 

1947 National Spirit 6-12-00 Danny Morgan Vic Smyth Len Abelson 7/1 13 

1946 Distel 5-11-10 Bobby O’Ryan Charlie Rogers IRE Dorothy Paget 4/5F 8 

1945 Brains Trust 5-11-10 Fred Rimell Gerry Wilson F Blakeway 9/2 16 

1942 Forestation 4-11-00 Ron Smyth Vic Smyth Vic Smyth 10/1 20 

1941 Seneca 4-11-00 Ron Smyth Vic Smyth Sir Malcolm McAlpine 7/1 6 

1940 Solford 9-12-00 Sean Magee Owen Anthony Dorothy Paget 5/2F 8 

1939 African Sister 7-12-00 Keith Piggott Charles Piggott H Brueton 10/1 13 

1938 Our Hope 9-12-00 Perry Harding Roderic Gubbins Roderic Gubbins 5/1 5 

1937 Free Fare 9-12-00 Georges Pellerin Ted Gwilt Ben Warner 2/1F 7 

1936 Victor Norman 5-11-00 Frenchie Nicholson Morgan Blair Michael Stephens 4/1 8 

1935 Lion Courage 7-12-00 Gerry Wilson F Brown R Fox Carlyon 100/8 11 

1934 Chenango 7-12-00 Danny Morgan Ivor Anthony Pete Bostwick 4/9F 5 

1933 Insurance 6-12-00 Billy Stott Basil Briscoe Dorothy Paget 10/11F 5 

1932 Insurance 5-12-00 Ted Leader Basil Briscoe Dorothy Paget 4/5F 3 

1930 Brown Tony 4-11-00 Tommy Cullinan Jack Anthony Mrs J de Selincourt 7/2 5 

1929 Royal Falcon 6-12-00 Dick Rees Bob Gore Miss Williams-Bulkeley 11/2 6 

1928 Brown Jack 4-11-00 Bilby Rees Aubrey Hastings Major Harold Wernher 4/1 6 

1927 Blaris 6-12-00 George Duller Bill Payne Mrs H Hollins 11/10F 4 

36


37

BETWAY QUEEN 

MOTHER 

CHAMPION CHASE 

Sprinter Sacre ridden by jockey Nico de Boinville on the way to 

winning in 2016 

38

THE FIRST RACE AT THE CHELTENHAM FESTIVAL TO 

CATER FOR HIGH-CLASS TWO-MILE CHASERS WAS THE 

COVENTRY CUP, INTRODUCED IN 1928 AND RUN FOR 

NINE YEARS. 

It became the unofficial championship 

for the distance and appropriately the 

first running went to the remarkable 

Dudley, who raced for nine seasons 

and won 44 races, a record that stood 

until Crudwell beat it in 1959. 

Dudley won bumpers, over hurdles 

and up to three miles over fences, but 

was best over two. The 1928 Coventry 

Cup – in which he beat future Grand 

National winner Grakle, with the 

previous year’s Gold Cup winner 

Thrown In further back - was his third 

win at the Festival; his Grand Annuals 

in 1924 and 1925 were part of a 15-race 

win streak. 

With the emphasis very much on 

stamina in those days, the Coventry 

Cup fields were often small, even if 

select. In the second running another 

top-notch early two-miler, Rathcoole – 

who had beaten Dudley a short-head 

at Manchester the previous season – 

finished alone when his sole rival fell 

and in 1934 Thomond II walked over. 

Blaris, who won the first Champion 

Hurdle in 1927, won the Coventry Cup 

in 1930. 

There was not another conditions 

chase over the minimum distance until 

1959, when the National Hunt Two- 

Mile Champion Chase was created, 

replacing the NH Juvenile Chase for 

four-year-olds in the March meeting’s 

programme. It was run under its first 

title until 1979, after which The Queen 

Mother’s name was added in honour 

of her 80th birthday. 

The first running in 1959 was worth 

£2,172 to the all-the-way Dan Mooretrained 

winner Quita Que, who had 

finished second in the Champion 

Hurdle two years earlier. The Queen 

Mother Champion Chase was first 

sponsored in 2008 by Seasons 

Holidays, followed by SportingBet 

(2011-2013), BetVictor (2014) and 

Betway (2015-present). The first prize 

on offer in 2017 is £199,325. 

Two-mile chasing is a specialist 

discipline and, of The Festival’s senior 

championships, it has produced the 

smallest fields and the most multiple 

winners. The largest field was in 1999, 

when the Paul Nicholls-trained Call 

Equiname beat 12 rivals, and on six 

occasions (1961, 1963, 1964, 1968, 1972 

and 1985) five faced the starter. 

The Queen Mother Champion Chase is 

usually a genuine title decider. Some 

top-class two-milers, though, have 

not won it; such as Tingle Creek and 

Desert Orchid who did not always 

show their best over Cheltenham’s 

undulations. 

The contest is often overshadowed 

by the Gold Cup in public eyes, but 

two miles round Cheltenham requires 

steel and judgement; there is no room 

for error. Sir A P McCoy once called it 

“the professionals’ race.” 

Only one horse, Badsworth Boy from 

1983-85, has won three editions, but 

there have been 11 dual winners, the 

first being Fortria (1960-61) and the 

most recent Sprinter Sacre (2013 & 

2016). But numbers are an expression 

of quantity, not necessarily quality. 

Although Fortria and Sprinter Sacre 

were top-class performers, others 

such as Drinny’s Double (1967-68), 

Skymas (1976-77) and Hilly Way 

(1978-79) were not. 


Runners and riders in the Betway Queen Mother Champion 

Chase during Ladies Day at the 2016 Cheltenham Festival 

39

Klairon Davis with F Woods (far side) jumps the last in front of Viking Flagship 

(centre) and Sound Man (nearest camera) and goes on to win. 

Barnbrook Again (1989-90) and 

Viking Flagship (1995-96) were better 

dual winners of the Queen Mother 

Champion Chase, with the former 

trained by David Elsworth and the 

latter by David ‘Duke’ Nicholson. 

Barnbrook Again beat the Nicholsontrained 

Waterloo Boy, a Cheltenham 

favourite who won the 1989 Arkle 

Chase, into second in 1980, while 

Viking Flagship had the 1993 winner, 

Deep Sensation, in third and second 

respectively when successful. 

Popular grey One Man, trained by 

Gordon Richards in Cumbria for owner 

John Hales, made it fourth time lucky 

at The Festival in the two-mile chasing 

championship in 1998 after failures in 

the Cheltenham Gold Cup (twice) and 

RSA Chase. 

The best winner of the race is a 

horse who ran in it only once, the 

extraordinary Flyingbolt. The powerful 

white-faced chestnut lived up to his 

name and looks but his lightning flash 

blazed all too briefly across the Jump 

racing scene. In his one season at the 

top as a senior, he earned favourable 

comparisons with Arkle and a handicap 

rating that placed him second on the 

pantheon only to his peerless Tom 

Dreaper stablemate. 

Flyingbolt’s beginnings were as 

unusual as his career. His existence was 

unplanned; his sire, the Derby winner 

Airborne, was believed to be infertile 

and was turned out with some mares 

at Robert Way’s farm near Newmarket, 

including a 19-year-old barrener, 

Eastlock. The following spring, in 

1959, Eastlock produced the foal who 

became Flyingbolt. 

In his first season over hurdles, he 

trounced some seasoned seniors, 

including the reigning Champion 

Hurdler Winning Fair in the Scalp 

(now Irish Champion) Hurdle at 

Leopardstown and then cruised home 

in the Gloucestershire (now Sky Bet 

Supreme Novices’) Hurdle at The 

Festival. 

As a novice chaser, he won the 

Cotswold (now the Racing Post Arkle) 

Chase at The Festival by five lengths 

(he was not that impressive, but it 

was later reported that he had been 

doped), and then carried 12st 2lb to 

victory in a handicap at Fairyhouse, 

giving the runner-up 37lb. 

In the 1965-66 season, he won all 

six of his chases, between two miles 

and three and a quarter miles. In 

the Massey-Ferguson Gold Cup at 

Cheltenham in November, he carried 

12st 6lb, giving upwards of 25lb to his 

rivals in rain-sodden mud. He led three 

out and won by 15 lengths. Rider Pat 

Taaffe later recalled: “It was a man 

against boys.” 

Back in Ireland, he gave two stone to 

the top-class mares Height O’Fashion 

and Flying Wild, and beat them a 

distance. In the 1966 Champion Chase, 

he started at 1/5 and came home 15 

lengths clear of Flash Bulb, with the 

brief formbook description “tk ld 2 out, 

canter”. The following day he was set 

mission impossible: he turned out 

again in the Champion Hurdle and 

actually started favourite before 

finishing a most honourable third to 

Salmon Spray. 

Then less than a month later he 

won the Irish Grand National under 

12st 7lb, giving runner-up Height 

O’Fashion 40lb and third-placed 

Splash – the previous year’s winner 

– 42lb. But by the end of the year, he 

had contracted the debilitating blood 

disease brucellosis and although he 

did eventually run again, he showed 

nothing of his former brilliance in an 

intermittent subsequent career. He was 

moved to Ken Oliver, for whom he won 

a handicap at Haydock and finished 

second in the 1969 King George 

VI Chase. 

40

The only horse since to have won 

three different races at successive 

Cheltenham Festivals has been Bob’s 

Worth (Albert Bartlett Novices’ Hurdle, 

RSA Chase, Timico Cheltenham 

Gold Cup). 

Badsworth Boy came to his first 

Champion Chase under the radar; he 

had won all four of his lead-up races, 

but they had been lesser contests and 

his stablemate Rathgorman (1982), the 

reigning two-mile champion, started 

favourite to do the double. 

And despite a spectacular victory by 

the widest margin recorded in the race 

– a distance – Badsworth Boy left the 

1983 meeting rather under the radar as 

well, for the following day five other of 

Michael Dickinson’s charges took the 

first five places in the Gold Cup. 

Badsworth Boy’s second victory was 

not quite as spectacular as his first, 

in which he engaged overdrive at 

half-way and cruised home on the 

bridle, but he still won unchallenged 

by 10 lengths. By the time of his third, 

he was feeling the effects of the 

arthritis and muscular problems that 

eventually ended his career and his 

presence in the field at all was a tribute 

to the team at Poplar House, where 

Dickinson’s mother Monica had taken 

over as trainer from her son Michael. 

He again won by 10 lengths but he may 

have been lucky, for the 4/6 favourite 

Bobsline was travelling easily when he 

came down three out. 

The Jessica Harrington-trained Moscow 

Flyer was fast and brave through the 

air – sometimes too brave; even at 

his peak he would regularly unseat 

Barry Geraghty - with an indomitable 

competitive spirit and it is tribute to 

him that his rider took some time to 

acknowledge that Sprinter Sacre might 

be better. 

Moscow Flyer was 11 when he saw off 

Well Chief in 2005 (only Skymas, 12 for 

his second victory, was older), the last 

of his 26 victories. In retirement, he had 

a success in the show ring in Racehorse 

To Riding Horse Classes. 

Master Minded, trained by Paul 

Nicholls, became the first five-yearold 

to win when he made the previous 

year’s winner Voy Por Ustedes look 

ordinary on only his fourth chase in 

Britain after his transfer from France. 

He powered clear from two out and the 

gap between them on the run-in kept 

extending, despite his being allowed 

to coast the last few strides and the 

runner-up being strongly ridden. 

Master Minded won by 19 lengths in 

2008, and by a more workmanlike 

seven the following year. 

Sprinter Sacre produced an 

extraordinary 19-length romp in 

2013 as he ran away from previous 

champion Sizing Europe, part of a 

sequence of 10 victories that included 

seven Grade Ones (he won the Racing 

Post Arkle Trophy with what Barry 

Geraghty described as a schooling 

round) and earned a Timeform rating 

of 192, the highest ever recorded by 

the annual since the first publication 

of its Jumping edition in 1975-76. An 

intermittent cardiac problem brought 

the imposing gelding’s progress to a 

halt and he missed the 2014 renewal. 

Jockey Barry Geraghty on Moscow 

Flyer after winning the Queen Mother 

Champion Chase 

Others to have taken the breath away 

include Flyingbolt’s predecessor in the 

race, Dunkirk (1965), Moscow Fyler 

(2003 & 2005), Master Minded (2008- 

09) and Sprinter Sacre (2013 & 2016). 

Dunkirk was a bold-jumping trailblazer 

and a two-miler pure and simple, and 

treated his rivals with usual contempt 

in the Champion Chase, winning 

unchallenged by 20 lengths. 


Moscow Flyer, whose victories in 2003 

and 2005 came either side of one for 

the Paul Nicholls-trained Azertyuiop, 

one of his great rivals in a vintage twomile 

era that also included Well Chief 

and Flagship Uberalles. 

41

BETWAY QUEEN MOTHER CHAMPION CHASE ROLL OF HONOUR 

(Betway Queen Mother Champion Chase from 2015, BetVictor Queen Mother Champion Chase 2014, Sportingbet Queen Mother Champion 

Chase 2013, sportingbet.com Queen Mother Champion Chase 2011-2012, Seasons Holidays Queen Mother Champion Chase 2007-2010, Queen 

Mother Champion Chase 1980-2006, previously National Hunt Two Mile Champion Chase from when first run in 1959) 

YEAR WINNER AGE/WT JOCKEY TRAINER OWNER SP RN 

2016 Sprinter Sacre 10-11-10 Nico de Boinville Nicky Henderson Caroline Mould 5/1 10 

2015 Dodging Bullets 7-11-10 Sam Twiston-Davies Paul Nicholls Martin Broughton & Friends 9/2 9 

2014 Sire De Grugy 8-11-10 Jamie Moore Gary Moore The Preston Family & Friends Ltd 11/4F 11 

2013 Sprinter Sacre 7-11-10 Barry Geraghty Nicky Henderson Caroline Mould 1/4F 7 

2012 Finian’s Rainbow 9-11-10 Barry Geraghty Nicky Henderson Michael Buckley 4/1 8 

2011 Sizing Europe 9-11-10 Andrew Lynch Henry de Bromhead IRE Ann & Alan Potts 10/1 11 

2010 Big Zeb 9-11-10 Barry Geraghty Colm Murphy IRE Pat Redmond 10/1 9 

2009 Master Minded 6-11-10 Ruby Walsh Paul Nicholls Clive Smith 4/11F 12 

2008 Master Minded 5-11-10 Ruby Walsh Paul Nicholls Clive Smith 3/1 8 

2007 Voy Por Ustedes 6-11-10 Robert Thornton Alan King Sir Robert Ogden 5/1 10 

2006 Newmill 8-11-10 Andrew McNamara John Murphy IRE Mary Hayes 16/1 12 

2005 Moscow Flyer 11-11-10 Barry Geraghty Jessica Harrington IRE Brian Kearney 6/4F 8 

2004 Azertyuiop 7-11-10 Ruby Walsh Paul Nicholls John Hales 15/8 8 

2003 Moscow Flyer 9-12-00 Barry Geraghty Jessica Harrington IRE Brian Kearney 7/4F 11 

2002 Flagship Uberalles 8-12-00 Richard Johnson Philip Hobbs Elizabeth Gutner/Michael Krysztofiak 7/4F 12 


2000 Edredon Bleu 8-12-00 AP McCoy Henrietta Knight Jim Lewis 7/2 9 

1999 Call Equiname 9-12-00 Mick Fitzgerald Paul Nicholls Mick Coburn, Paul Barber, Colin Lewis 7/2 13 

1998 One Man 10-12-00 Brian Harding Gordon Richards John Hales 7/2 8 

1997 Martha’s Son 10-12-00 Rodney Farrant Tim Forster Paddy Hartigan/Michael Ward-Thomas 9/1 6 

1996 Klairon Davis 7-12-00 Francis Woods Arthur Moore IRE Chris Jones 9/1 7 

1995 Viking Flagship 8-12-00 Charlie Swan David Nicholson Roach Foods Ltd 5/2F 10 

1994 Viking Flagship 7-12-00 Adrian Maguire David Nicholson Roach Foods Ltd 4/1 8 

1993 Deep Sensation 8-12-00 Declan Murphy Josh Gifford Robin Eliot 11/1 9 

1992 Remittance Man 8-12-00 Jamie Osborne Nicky Henderson Jim Collins Evs F 6 

1991 Katabatic 8-12-00 Simon McNeill Andrew Turnell Pell-Mell Partners 9/1 7 

1990 Barnbrook Again 9-12-00 Hywel Davies David Elsworth Mel Davies 11/10F 9 

1989 Barnbrook Again 8-12-00 Simon Sherwood David Elsworth Mel Davies 7/4F 8 

1988 Pearlyman 9-12-00 Tom Morgan John Edwards Valerie Shaw 15/8F 8 

1987 Pearlyman 8-12-00 Peter Scudamore John Edwards Valerie Shaw 13/8F 8 

1986 Buck House 8-12-00 Tommy Carmody Mouse Morris IRE Mrs Phil Purcell 5/2 11 

1985 Badsworth Boy 10-12-00 Robert Earnshaw Monica Dickinson Doug Armitage 11/8 5 

1984 Badsworth Boy 9-12-00 Robert Earnshaw Michael Dickinson Doug Armitage 8/13F 10 

1983 Badsworth Boy 8-12-00 Robert Earnshaw Michael Dickinson Doug Armitage 2/1 6 

1982 Rathgorman 10-12-00 Kevin Whyte Michael Dickinson J Lilley 100/30 9 

1981 Drumgora 9-12-00 Frank Berry Arthur Moore IRE D Monahan 25/1 9 

1980 *Another Dolly 10-12-00 Sam Morshead Fred Rimell Ian Urquhart 33/1 7 

1979 Hilly Way 9-12-00 Mr Ted Walsh Peter McCreery IRE J W Sweeney 7/1 9 

1978 Hilly Way 8-12-00 Tommy Carmody Peter McCreery IRE J W Sweeney 7/1 10 

1977 Skymas 12-12-00 Mouse Morris Brian Lusk IRE Mathew Magee 7/2 8 

1976 Skymas 11-12-00 Mouse Morris Brian Lusk IRE Mathew Magee 8/1 7 

1975 Lough Inagh 8-12-00 Sean Barker Jim Dreaper IRE A Martin 100/30 8 

1974 Royal Relief 10-12-00 Bill Smith Edward Courage Edward Courage 6/1 6 

1973 Inkslinger 6-12-00 Tommy Carberry Dan Moore IRE Mrs M Jenney 6/1 6 

1972 Royal Relief 8-12-00 Bill Smith Edward Courage Edward Courage 15/8 5 

1971 Crisp 8-12-00 Paul Kelleway Fred Winter Sir Chester Manifold 3/1 8 

1970 Straight Fort 7-12-00 Pat Taaffe Tom Dreaper IRE George Ansley 7/4F 6 

1969 Muir 10-12-00 Ben Hannon Tom Dreaper IRE Waring Willis 15 11 

1968 Drinny’s Double 10-12-00 Frank Nash Bob Turnell Paul Mellon 6/1 5 

1967 Drinny’s Double 9-12-00 Frank Nash Bob Turnell Paul Mellon 7/2 8 

1966 Flyingbolt 7-12-00 Pat Taaffe Tom Dreaper IRE Mrs Jean Wilkinson 1/5F 6 

1965 Dunkirk 8-12-00 Dave Dick Peter Cazalet Bill Whitbread 8/1 6 

1964 Ben Stack 7-12-00 Pat Taaffe Tom Dreaper IRE Anne Duchess of Westminster 2/1 5 

1963 Sandy Abbot 8-12-00 Stan Mellor George Owen Mrs J D McKechnie 5/1 5 

1962 Piperton 8-12-00 Dave Dick Archie Thomlinson Archie Thomlinson 100/6 7 

1961 Fortria 9-12-00 Pat Taaffe Tom Dreaper IRE George Ansley 2/5F 5 

1960 Fortria 8-12-00 Pat Taaffe Tom Dreaper IRE George Ansley 15/8F 7 

1959 Quita Que 10-12-00 Bunny Cox Dan Moore IRE Mrs D R Brand 4/9F 9 

*Another Dolly finished second to Chinrullah, who was subsequently disqualified after failing a post-race test 

Sprinter Sacre appeared to have lost 

his sparkle when pulled up before the 

last in 2015. It was a great testament to 

trainer Nicky Henderson and his team 

to get Sprinter Sacre back to his best 

for the 2016 renewal, when he saw off 

the top-class Irish challenger Un De 

Sceaux by three and a half lengths 

under Nico de Boinville. 

His retirement was announced at The 

Open in November, 2016, and there 

was sadness plus tremendous applause 

as the Cheltenham crowd paid tribute 

to a great horse. He won on 18 of his 24 

starts, nine of which were at Grade One 

level and earned over £1 million in 

prize money. 

The fastest time for the Queen Mother 

Champion Chase is 3m 44.70s, set 

by Edredon Bleu in 2000, while Call 

Equiname in 1999 was the second of 

two greys to succeed (the first being 

One Man a year earlier). 

42

CHELTENHAM & SOUTH WEST SYNDICATE 

SYNDICATE MEMBERSHIP INCLUDES: 

A share in all three horses in training with three top trainers in the South West; 

Paul Nicholls, Warren Greatrex and Jonjo O’Neill. 

Full Membership for two years at Cheltenham, Exeter, Warwick and Wincanton Racecourses 

An exclusive facility at The Festival 

A share in any of the prize money won by the club’s horses 

An opportunity to follow each of the horses owned by the club 

Organised stable visits 

Exclusive updates and newsletters 

OUR HORSES 

FINAL CHOICE (GB) 

3-y-o (1st May 2013) Bay Gelding 

Makfi – Anasazi (IRE) (Sadlers Wells (USA)) 

Trainer – Warren Greatrex 

THE LAST BUT ONE (IRE) 

4-y-o (6th May 2012) Bay Gelding 

Kutub (IRE) – Last Hope(IRE) (Jurado (USA)) 

Trainer – Paul Nicholls 

TIMEFORWEST (IRE) 

4-y-o (17th April 2012) Bay Filly 

Westerner (GB) – Shang A Lang (IRE) 

(Commander Collins) 

Trainer – Jonjo O’Neill 

**LIMITED MEMBERSHIP STILL AVAILABLE** 

Membership is subject to a one-off fee of £2,590 

Don’t forget you can use your Rewards4Racing points towards your Syndicate purchase. 

JUMP ONLINE TODAY 

www.cheltenham.co.uk or call: 01242 537675 for more information. 

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43

Jockey Tom Scudamore celebrates with the trophy after 

winning the Ryanair World Hurdle on Thistlecrack 

SUN BETS STAYERS’ 

HURDLE 

Marathon hurdlers have been catered for at 

Cheltenham since 1912, when a three-mile contest 

over the smaller obstacles – the Stayers’ Selling 

Hurdle – was introduced. The first running went to 

the six-year-old Aftermath (who was bought in for 

105 guineas), and the last in 1938 to Chestnut (sold 

for 115 guineas). 

The first running went to the six-yearold 

Aftermath (who was bought in for Stroller in 1956, who had been 

class was Vincent O’Brien-trained 

105 guineas), and the last in 1938 to beaten a head by Clair Soleil in the 

Chestnut (sold for 115 guineas). 

1955 Champion Hurdle and then fell 

as favourite for the 1956 two-mile 

A three-mile conditions race in the championship before making amends, 

division was introduced at the first by a short-head, in the longer contest 

post-war Festival in 1946, the Spa two days later. 

Hurdle, which was immediately well 

supported. 

Clair Soleil took the Spa Hurdle in 1959 

and another Champion Hurdle winner, 

In its first year, the race was run in two Merry Deal, followed suit in 1962, five 

17-runner divisions, won by Haze and years after his first Festival victory. 

Tregor, on the meeting’s final day, each They are the only two horses to have 

worth £196, the lowest prize on offer, won both races. 

and was split again in 1948. 

The first winner with pretensions to 

The first dual victor of the Spa Hurdle, 

in 1963 and 1967, was Beau Normand, 

a very smart hurdler/chaser trained by 

Bob Turnell. 

In between Antiar, owned by The 

Queen Mother and ridden by Dave 

Dick, became the only winner in Royal 

colours at The Festival in 1965. 

Trelawney, who had already notched 

two Ascot Stakes-Queen Alexandra 

Stakes doubles on the Flat at 

Royal Ascot, scored under Terry 

Biddlecombe in 1966. 

For three years, 1968-70, there was 

no long-distance conditions race at 

The Festival. The Spa Hurdle was 

transferred to the April meeting in 

1968, swopping spots in the racing 

calendar with the Triumph Hurdle, 

before returning in 1971. 

The race’s name was changed to the 

Lloyds Bank Hurdle in 1972 when 

Parlour Moor, trained by Tom Jones 

and ridden by Macer Gifford, took the 

44

ecognised start of the race that is now 

the Sun Bets Stayers’ Hurdle. 

There was a change of sponsor in 

1978 when the contest was called the 

Waterford Crystal Stayers’ Hurdle, 

while the Bonusprint Stayer’s Hurdle 

took place between 1991 and 2004. 

Ladbrokes sponsored from 2005 to 

2015, with Ryanair backing the 2016 

renewal, during which time the race 

was known as the World Hurdle. 

The contest reverts to its earlier 

Stayers’ Hurdle handle in 2017, with Sun 

Bets taking over sponsorship. 

In its early years in the modern era, 

the race did not have the glamour of 

the other senior championships at 

The Festival and its winners could by 

no means be regarded as superior 

hurdlers. 

In 1975, for instance, Brown Lad, 

trained by Jim Dreaper in Ireland, took 

time off from proving himself one 

of season’s best novice chasers to 

beat rivals six lengths and more. Next 

time out, Brown Lad won the first of 

his unprecedented three Irish Grand 

Nationals, and was twice placed in the 


The 1980 victor Mountrivers was rated 

145 over hurdles by Timeform. His 

predecessor Lighter was not much 

better, with a rating of 149, and during 

the 1980s came such as Gaye Chance 

(148 in 1984), A Kinsman (150 in 1983) 

and mare Rose Ravine (151 in 1985). 

Contrast those with the mark of 174 

achieved by the outstanding Big 

Buck’s, who notched a record four wins 

from 2009 to 2012. 

During the 1980s, the two horses to 

stand out were Crimson Embers and 

Galmoy, who both won twice. Crimson 

Embers, trained by Fulke Walwyn 

and a standing dish in the race, was 

a genuine specialist in the discipline, 

rather than an embryonic chaser like 

Brown Lad and later Dorans Pride 

(1995), Cyborgo (1996), Bacchanal 

(2000) and Thistlecrack (2016). 

He triumphed in 1982 and 1986 – 

aged 11 which made him the oldest 

winner - and in between finished fifth, 

fourth and second, as well as fifth in 

1987. He probably should have won 

again in 1985 when runner-up; he 

was badly hampered on the run-in 

by his stablemate Rose Ravine, in the 

same ownership of Sally Smart, but 

the stewards on the day let the result 

stand. A hearing a week later ruled that 

the winner should have been demoted 

but, as there was no appeal, no further 

action could be taken. 


SUN BETS STAYERS’ HURDLE ROLL OF HONOUR 

(Sun Bets Stayers’ Hurdle from 2017, Ryanair World Hurdle 2016, Ladbrokes World Hurdle 2005-2015, bonusprint.com Stayers’ Hurdle 2004, 

Bonusprint Stayers’ Hurdle 1991-2003, Waterford Crystal Stayers’ Hurdle 1978-90, Lloyds Bank Hurdle 1972-77) 


2016 Thistlecrack 8-11-10 Tom Scudamore Colin Tizzard John & Heather Snook EvsF 12 

2015 Cole Harden 6-11-10 Gavin Sheehan Warren Greatrex Jill & Robin Eynon 14/1 16 

2014 More Of That 6-11-10 Barry Geraghty Jonjo O’Neill J P McManus 15/2 10 

2013 Solwhit 9-11-10 Paul Carberry Charles Byrnes IRE Top Of The Hill Syndicate 17/2 13 

2012 Big Buck’s 9-11-10 Ruby Walsh Paul Nicholls The Stewart Family 5/6F 11 



2009 Big Buck’s 6-11-10 Ruby Walsh Paul Nicholls The Stewart Family 6/1 14 

2008 Inglis Drever 9-11-10 Denis O’Regan Howard Johnson Andrea & Graham Wylie 11/8F 17 

2007 Inglis Drever 8-11-10 Paddy Brennan Howard Johnson Andrea & Graham Wylie 5/1 14 

2006 My Way De Solzen 6-11-10 Robert Thornton Alan King B Winfield, A Longman, 

8/1 20 

J Wright, C Fenton 

2005 Inglis Drever 6-11-10 Graham Lee Howard Johnson Andrea & Graham Wylie 5/1 12 

2004 Iris’s Gift 7-11-10 Barry Geraghty Jonjo O’Neill Robert Lester 9/2 10 

2003 Baracouda 8-11-10 Thierry Doumen Francois Doumen FR J P McManus 9/4JF 11 

2002 Baracouda 7-11-10 Thierry Doumen Francois Doumen FR J P McManus 13/8F 16 


2000 Bacchanal 6-11-10 Mick Fitzgerald Nicky Henderson Lady Lloyd-Webber 11/2 10 

1999 Anzum 8-11-10 Richard Johnson David Nicholson Old Foresters Partnership 40/1 12 

1998 Princeful 7-11-10 Rodney Farrant Jenny Pitman Robert Hitchins 16/1 9 

1997 Karshi 7-11-10 Jamie Osborne Henrietta Knight Lord Vestey 20/1 17 

1996 Cyborgo 6-11-10 David Bridgwater Martin Pipe County Stores (Somerset) Holdings 8/1 19 

1995 Dorans Pride 6-11-10 Shane Broderick Michael Hourigan IRE Tom Doran 11/4F 11 

1994 Balasani 8-11-10 Mark Perrett Martin Pipe Mark Smith 9/2JF 14 

1993 Shuil Ar Aghaidh 7-11-05 Charlie Swan Paddy Kiely IRE Mrs Paddy Kiely 20/1 12 

1992 Nomadic Way 7-11-10 Jamie Osborne Barry Hills Robert Sangster 15/2 17 

1991 King’s Curate 7-11-10 Mark Perrett Stan Mellor C J Ells 5/2F 15 

1990 Trapper John 6-11-10 Charlie Swan Mouse Morris IRE Jill Fanning 15/2 22 

1989 Rustle 7-11-10 Michael Bowlby Nicky Henderson Robert Waley-Cohen 4/1 21 

1988 Galmoy 9-11-10 Tommy Carmody John Mulhern IRE Miss D Threadwell 2/1F 16 

1987 Galmoy 8-11-10 Tommy Carmody John Mulhern IRE Miss D Threadwell 9/2 14 

1986 Crimson Embers 11-11-10 Stuart Shilston Fulke Walwyn Sally Smart 12/1 19 

1985 Rose Ravine 6-11-05 Ricky Pusey Fulke Walwyn Sally Smart 5/1F 22 

1984 Gaye Chance 9-11-10 Sam Morshead Mercy Rimell Mary Curtis 5/1 14 

1983 A Kinsman 7-11-12 Geordie Dun John Brockbank Mrs John Brockbank 50/1 21 

1982 Crimson Embers 7-11-12 Stuart Shilston Fulke Walwyn Sally Smart 2/1F 11 

1981 Derring Rose 6-11-12 John Francome Fred Winter Peter Savill 3/1 14 

1980 Mountrivers 6-11-12 Tommy Ryan Edward O’Grady IRE B Burser 7/1 19 

1979 Lighter 6-11-12 Philip Blacker John Edwards G Smith 14/1 14 

1978 Flame Gun 6-11-12 Mr Niall Madden Edward O’Grady IRE Mary Kenny 14/1 13 

1977 Town Ship 6-11-12 Tommy Carberry Peter Easterby Pat Muldoon 5/2 11 

1976 Bit Of A Jig 8-11-12 Dessie Hughes Mick O’Toole IRE Mrs Mick O’Toole 2/1F 12 

1975 Brown Lad 9-11-12 Tommy Carberry Jim Dreaper IRE Mrs Peter Burrell 7/4F 12 

1974 Highland Abbe 8-11-12 Richard Smith Les Kennard Mrs K Hankey 15/2 15 

1973 Moyne Royal 8-11-12 David Mould Arthur Pitt E Cook 10/1 8 

1972 Parlour Moor 8-11-12 Macer Gifford Tom Jones Charlotte Monckton 13/2 11 

45

Galmoy, the first horse to achieve 

glory in successive years, was the best 

winner to that time. Trained by John 

Mulhern and ridden Tommy Carmody, 

he triumphed by six lengths in 1987 

and seven lengths the following year, 

on both occasions providing Ireland’s 

sole victory at The Festival from 18 

races. Galmoy also finished second 

in 1989. 

Since moving to its present Thursday 

slot in 1993, the race has been 

scheduled for the New Course. It is 

arguably the toughest of The Festival 

championships; long-distance hurdlers 

do not get as much of a respite 

in the air over obstacles as do 

staying chasers. 

And from 2002, the Stayers’ Hurdle 

has achieved real recognition and its 

competitors a substantial fanbase, 

thanks to the exploits of three multiple 

winners – Baracouda, Inglis Drever 

and Big Buck’s - and the substantial 

increase in the prize fund. The 2017 

total prize fund stands at £300,000. 

Baracouda was the first specialist 

stayer to be rated the season’s best 

hurdler by Timeform. Trained by 

Francois Doumen near Chantilly 

in France, Baracouda burst on the 

British scene as a five-year-old with a 

14-length victory over Deeno’s Beano 

in the Long Walk Hurdle at Ascot 

in 2000. 

The foot-and mouth outbreak denied 

him his chance of Festival success 

at Cheltenham that season, but he 

made no mistake in 2002 and 2003, 

with the trainer’s son Thierry up on 

both occasions, by which time he was 

carrying J P McManus’s colours. 

On his first visit to The Festival, he 

won the stayers’ crown by a neck from 

Bannow Bay; on his second he scored 

by three quarters of a length from Iris’s 

Gift, with Limestone Lad third. The 

three were in the air together at the 

last in what was regarded as the race 

of the meeting. 

Baracouda, due to his quirks, had to 

be delivered with perfect timing but 

the excitement and uncertainty of 

his running style endeared him to the 

public. The French horse lost his title 

to Iris’s Gift in 2004, finished second 

again in 2005 (to Inglis Drever), when 

hot favourite both times, and came 

fifth, aged 11, in 2006, his final race. In 

all, he was successful on 18 of his 27 

starts over hurdles, including seven 

Grade Ones. 

Inglis Drever, who beat Baracouda fair 

and square by three lengths under 

Graham Lee, could not defend his title 

in 2006 after damaging a tendon but 

regained it in 2007 and kept the 

status in 2008, becoming the first 

three-time winner. 

Though the little Flat-bred gelding, 

trained by Howard Johnson in County 

Durham for then-newcomers Andrea 

and Graham Wylie, had his physical 

problems, he was thoroughly genuine; 

a little streetfighter with an admirable 

attitude at the sharp end. 

His only three Grade One victories 

came at Cheltenham, where the 

finishing hill played to his strengths; 

in 2007, with Paddy Brennan up, he 

bettered Mighty Man by three quarters 

of a length after a tremendous scrap, 

and though the Doumen-trained 

Kasbah Bliss made him work in 2008, 

with Denis O’Regan in the saddle, 

and was only a length behind at the 

line, the third success and his place in 

history was never in doubt. 

Events at Newbury in November that 

year determined the future course of 

the long-distance hurdling division. The 

career of Inglis Drever came to an end 

as he sustained a hock injury on his 

seasonal debut, and that of Big Buck’s 

changed direction as he clumsily 

unseated his rider at the last fence in 

the Hennessy Gold Cup. 

Big Buck’s, trained by Paul Nicholls, 

had been a smart four-year-old hurdler 

in his native France and his reversion to 

the smaller obstacles created a legend. 

His victory off top-weight in a handicap 

hurdle at Cheltenham in January, 2009 

set up a winning streak of 18, a record 

for a Jump horse, beating Sir Ken’s 

series of 16 set during the early 1950s. 

Big Buck’s 10 Grade One victories 

included an unprecedented four 

Stayers’ Hurdles under Ruby Walsh, 

his runners-up being Punchestowns 

(beaten 1¾l), Time For Rupert (3¼l), 

Grands Crus (1¾l) and Voler La 

Vedette (1¾l). 

Big Buck’s, who carried the colours 

of the Stewart family, was another 

perceived to have recidivist tendencies 

– he sometimes hit a flat spot and 

tended to idle in front - but his 

domination of the division was 

absolute. 

After his first Stayers’ Hurdle success, 

the third win of his sequence, he always 

started at odds-on. His wins came by 

an aggregate 82¾l and he always put 

daylight between himself and his rivals, 

with a minimum win margin of a length 

and three quarters. 

Big Buck’s last victory came, by nine 

lengths at odds of 1/12, in the 2012 

Long Distance Hurdle at Newbury, four 

years to the day after his Hennessy 

blunder. 

A minor tendon injury then ruled him 

out of action until January, 2014, when 

he finished a close third at Cheltenham, 

before ending his magnificent career 

at The Festival with fifth in the Stayers’ 

Hurdle to then-unbeaten More Of 

That, trained by Jonjo O’Neill for 

McManus. Star mare Annie Power lost 

her unbeaten record when second 

but went on the win the Stan James 

Champion Hurdle in 2016. 

Thistlecrack utterly dominated the 

staying hurdle division in the 2015/16 

season, winning on all his five starts. 

At The Festival, he had no difficulty 

in the Stayers’ Hurdle as he powered 

home seven lengths clear of Alpha Des 

Obeaux for an easy and impressive 

victory. 

In the 2015-2016 official Anglo-Irish 

Jump Classifications, Thistlecrack was 

rated 174, the same as Big Bucks. 

He was switched to fences in 2016/17 

and is set to attempt to follow in 

the footsteps of Captain Christy 

and Coneygree by winning the 

Timico Cheltenham Gold Cup as a 

novice chaser. 

46

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47

RYANAIR 

CHASE 

Vautour ridden by jockey Ruby Walsh 

THE RYANAIR CHASE IS THE NEWEST 

OF THE MAJOR CHAMPIONSHIP 

RACES AT THE FESTIVAL, HAVING 

BEEN INTRODUCED IN 2005 WHEN 

THE FESTIVAL EXPANDED TO FOUR 

DAYS FROM THREE. 

There had long been a need for a top 

contest for chasers between the two 

miles of the Betway Queen Mother 

Champion Chase and the extended 

three and a quarter miles of the Timico 


The Ryanair Chase replaced, over 

about two miles and five furlongs, 

the Cathcart Chase, with the race 

conditions changing significantly; being 

open to all horses rather than restricted 

to just first and second season chasers. 

The races takes place on St Patrick’s 

Thursday and is the third race of the 

day at 2.50pm, with prize money of 

£300,000 offered in 2017. 

The first three runnings were at Grade 

Two level before an upgrade to its 

current Grade One status in 2008. 

The Daily Telegraph backed the 

inaugural contest, with Irish airline 

Ryanair taking over the sponsorship 

from 2006. 

Michael O’Leary, Ryanair’s chief 

executive, has thrice owned the runnerup 

- Mossbank (2008), First Lieutenant 

(2013) and Valseur Lido (2016) 

(statistics before the 2017 renewal). 

Albertas Run, owned by Trevor 

Hemmings and trained by Jonjo O’Neill, 

is the only two-time winner of the race. 

He was successful in both 2010 and 

2011, and also finished runner-up in 

2012 when beaten by Riverside Theatre. 

He ran at The Festival a total of seven 

times and also won the RSA Novices’ 

Chase in 2008, 

Three other trainers, Paul Nicholls 

(2005 Thisthatandtother, 2007 Taranis), 

Nicky Henderson (2006 Fondmort, 

2012 Riverside Theatre) and David 

Pipe (2008 Our Vic, 2014 Dynaste), 

have each enjoyed two winners, while 

Dynaste is the only grey to have won 

the Ryanair Chase. 

Sir A P McCoy and Ruby Walsh are the 

most successful jockeys in the race’s 

48

short history, with three wins apiece. 

McCoy partnered Albertas Run for 

his two victories and made all on 

Uxizandre in 2015. Uxizandre, trained 

by Alan King, was the final one of 

McCoy’s 31 victories at The Festival 

and beat a field that include future 

Timico Cheltenham Gold Cup hero Don 

Cossack. The legendary jockey, who 

retired in April, 2015, is the third most 

successful rider at The Festival. 

Thisthatandtother ridden by Sam Thomas 

going to post 

Walsh triumphed on Thisthatandtother, 

Taranis and the brilliant 2016 scorer 

Vautour. Trained by Willie Mullins, 

Vautour lit up The Festival three years 

on the bounce, with his Ryanair Chase 

success preceded by wide-margin 

victories in the 2014 Sky Bet Supreme 

Novices’ Hurdle and 2015 JLT Novices’ 

Chase. Vautour was the first Irishtrained 

winner of the Ryanair Chase. 

Taranis ridden by jockey Ruby Walsh jumps 

the last fence on the way to winning 

The Ryanair Chase has been a success 

from the start and always attracts good 

horses. 

Imperial Commander, owned by Our 

Friends In The North, trained by Nigel 

Twiston-Davies and ridden by Paddy 

Brennan, won the 2009 renewal and 

went on the following year to capture 

the Timico Cheltenham Gold Cup. 

The Jean Bishop-owned Cue Card, 

trained by Colin Tizzard, won his 

second Grade One chase when 

capturing the 2013 Ryanair Chase. 

He has since put together a sparkling 

career over fences that includes three 

victories in Haydock Park’s Betfair 

Chase and an all-out success over 

Vautour in the 2015 King George VI 

Chase at Kempton Park. 

Cue Card ridden by Joe Tizzard 

jumps the fence on his way 

to winning 

The largest field for the Ryanair Chase 

in 2016 saw Vautour defeat 14 rivals, 

while the smallest was eight in 2013. 

RYANAIR CHASE ROLL OF HONOUR (RYANAIR CHASE FROM 2006, DAILY TELEGRAPH CHASE 2005) 



2016 Vautour 7-11-10 Ruby Walsh Willie Mullins IRE Susannah Ricci EvensF 15 

2015 Uxizandre 7-11-10 A P McCoy Alan King J P McManus 16/1 14 

2014 Dynaste 8-11-10 Tom Scudamore David Pipe John White 3/1F 11 

2013 Cue Card 7-11-10 Joe Tizzard Colin Tizzard Jean Bishop 7/2 8 

2012 Riverside Theatre 8-11-10 Barry Geraghty Nicky Henderson Jimmy Nesbitt Partnership 7/2F 12 

2011 Albertas Run 10-11-10 AP McCoy Jonjo O’Neill Trevor Hemmings 6/1 11 

2010 Albertas Run 9-11-10 AP McCoy Jonjo O’Neill Trevor Hemmings 14/1 13 

2009 Imperial Commander 8-11-10 Paddy Brennan Nigel Twiston-Davies Our Friends In The North 6/1 10 

2008 Our Vic 10-11-10 Timmy Murphy David Pipe David Johnson 4/1 9 

2007 Taranis 6-11-00 Ruby Walsh Paul Nicholls Angela Yeoman & Charles Whittaker 9/2 9 

2006 Fondmort 10-11-00 Mick Fitzgerald Nicky Henderson Bill Brown 100/30JF 11 

2005 Thisthatandtother 9-11-03 Ruby Walsh Paul Nicholls Graham Roach 9/2 12 

49

LEADING TRAINERS AT 


Willie Mullins has 

been unstoppable in 

recent years at The 

Festival, taking the Irish 

Independent Leading 

Trainer Award five times 

in the last six years. 

He broke the record for numbers of 

winners trained at a single Festival, 

eight, in 2015 and managed seven in 

2016. Nicky Henderson, with seven in 

2012, was the previous record holder. 

Henderson, son of the late Johnny 

Henderson who saved Cheltenham 

Racecourse from potential property 

development, is the winning-most 

trainer at The Festival, with 55 victories, 

seven ahead of Mullins on 48, with Paul 

Nicholls on 40, joint third with the late 

Fulke Walwyn. 

THE IRISH INDEPENDENT LEADING 

TRAINER AWARD 

Willie Mullins (IRE) 

WINNERS OF THE IRISH 

INDEPENDENT LEADING TRAINER 

AWARD 

2016 Willie Mullins IRE (7) 




2012 Nicky Henderson (7) 



2009 Paul Nicholls (5) 




2005 Howard Johnson (3) 


2003 Jonjo O’Neill (3) 

2002 Martin Pipe (3) 

2001 Cancelled 





1996 Ferdy Murphy, Edward O’Grady 

IRE, Martin Pipe (2) 

1995 David Nicholson (3) 

1994 David Nicholson, Edward O’Grady 

IRE (2) 

1993 Nicky Henderson, Martin Pipe, 

Nigel Twiston-Davies (2) 

1992 Nicky Henderson, David 

Nicholson, Simon Sherwood (2) 



1989 Toby Balding, John Edwards, 

David Elsworth, Josh Gifford, 

Martin Pipe (2) 

1988 Josh Gifford (3) 

1987 Toby Balding, Nicky Henderson, 

Fred Winter (2) 



1984 Michael Dickinson (3) 



1981 Peter Easterby (3) 

1980 John Edwards, Edward O’Grady 

IRE, Bob Turnell, Fred Winter (2) 

Mullins is Ireland’s champion Jump 

trainer, while Nicholls occupies the 

same position in Britain. 

The Irish Independent Leading Trainer 

Award is decided on the number of 

winners trained over the four days. 

If there is a tie, it will go down to the 

number of second places. If there is still 

a tie, the number of third places will be 

taken into account and the award will 

be shared if there remains a tie 

after that. 

MOST SUCCESSFUL TRAINERS AT 


Current trainers in bold (trainers of some of 

the earliest winners were not recorded) 

WINS TRAINER 

55 Nicky Henderson (1985-present) 

48 Willie Mullins IRE (1995-present) 

40 Fulke Walwyn (1946-86) 

40 Paul Nicholls (1999-present) 

34 Martin Pipe (1981-2006) 

28 Fred Winter (1970-1988) 

27 Fred Rimell (1948-1981) 

26 Tom Dreaper IRE (1946-1971) 

26 Jonjo O’Neill (1991-present) 

23 Vincent O’Brien IRE (1948-1959) 

23 Bob Turnell (1956-1980) 

22 Ivor Anthony (1930-1952) 

19 George Beeby (1930-1959) 

18 Philip Hobbs (1990-present) 

17 David Nicholson (1986-1999) 

17 Nigel Twiston-Davies 

(1992-present) 

15 Harry Brown (1920-1938) 

15 Tom Coulthwaite (1911-1936) 

15 Alan King (2004-present) 

15 Tom Rimell (1927-1949) 

14 Dan Moore IRE (1953-1979) 

14 David Pipe (2007-present) 

13 Jack Anthony (1929-1950) 

13 Peter Easterby (1967-1986) 

13 Tim Forster (1963-1998) 

12 John Edwards (1969-1994) 

12 Tom Jones (1965-1978) 

MOST SUCCESSFUL CURRENT 

TRAINERS AT THE FESTIVAL 

WINS TRAINER 

55 Nicky Henderson 

48 Willie Mullins IRE 

40 Paul Nicholls 

26 Jonjo O’Neill 

18 Philip Hobbs 

18 Edward O’Grady IRE 

17 Nigel Twiston-Davies 

15 Alan King 

14 David Pipe 

10 Ferdy Murphy FR 

9 David Elsworth 

8 Enda Bolger IRE 

8 Gordon Elliott IRE 

8 Jessica Harrington IRE 

8 Arthur Moore IRE 

7 Mouse Morris IRE 

6 Francois Doumen FR 

6 Tony Martin IRE 

6 Donald McCain 

6 Aidan O’Brien IRE 

6 Oliver Sherwood 

6 Venetia Williams 

5 Colin Tizzard 

50

LEADING JOCKEYS AT 


Ruby Walsh leads the 

way among jockeys 

at The Festival and 

has taken the Boodles 

Leading Jockey Award 

10 times out of last 13 

renewals. 

His domination is set to continue as 

bookmakers make him a short-priced 

favourite to be the leading rider over 

the four days in 2017. 

Walsh, stable jockey to Ireland’s 

champion Jump trainer Willie Mullins, is 

the most successful jockey ever at The 

Festival, with 52 victories to his name 

before The Festival 2017 commences. 


Barry Geraghty, also Irish-based and 

retained by owner J P McManus, is next 

on the list with 34 wins at The Festival 

and has twice taken the annual award, 

in 2012 and 2003. 

Record-breaking 20-time British 

champion Jump jockey Sir A P 

McCoy, who retired from race riding 

in April, 2015, is third in the list with 31 

successes. 

The late Pat Taaffe, best known as the 

rider of Arkle, has fourth place at The 

Festival with 25 victories. 

Barry 

Geraghty 

returns after 

riding in 

The Neptune 

Investment 

Management 

Novices’ 

Hurdle 

BOODLES LEADING JOCKEY 

AWARD AT THE FESTIVAL 

(current jockeys in bold) 

2016 Ruby Walsh (7) 




2012 Barry Geraghty (5) 





2007 Robert Thornton (4) 


2005 Graham Lee (3) 


2003 Barry Geraghty (5) 

2002 Richard Johnson (2) 

2001 Cancelled - Foot & Mouth 

2000 Mick Fitzgerald (4) 

1999 Mick Fitzgerald (4) 

1998 A P McCoy (5) 

1997 A P McCoy (3) 

1996 Richard Dunwoody (2) 

1995 Norman Williamson (4) 

1994 Charlie Swan (3) 

1993 Charlie Swan (4) 

1992 Jamie Osborne (5) 

1991 Peter Scudamore (2) 

1990 Richard Dunwoody (2) 

1989 Tom Morgan (2) 

1988 Simon Sherwood (2) 



1985 Steve Smith Eccles (3) 


1983 Graham Bradley (2) 


1981 John Francome (3) 

1980 Mr Jim Wilson (3) 

LEADING CURRENT JOCKEYS AT 


Ruby Walsh 52 

Barry Geraghty 34 

Richard Johnson 20 

Davy Russell 17 

Tom Scudamore 9 

Timmy Murphy 8 

Ms Nina Carberry 7 

Sam Twiston-Davies 7 

Paddy Brennan 6 

Bryan Cooper 6 

Mr Jamie Codd 5 

Nico de Boinville 4 

Andrew Lynch 4 

Paul Townend 4 

Mr Sam Waley-Cohen 4 

TOP JOCKEYS AT THE FESTIVAL 

(since 1945, current jockeys in bold) 

Ruby Walsh 52 

Barry Geraghty 34 

Sir A P McCoy 31 

Pat Taaffe 25 

Richard Johnson 20 

Richard Dunwoody 18 

Davy Russell 17 

Charlie Swan 17 

Fred Winter 17 

Tommy Carberry 16 

Robert Thornton 16 

Paul Carberry 14 

Mick Fitzgerald 14 

Peter Scudamore 13 

51

THE OTHER RACES 

NOVICE HURDLES AT THE FESTIVAL 

Brave Inca (left) ridden by Barry Cash clears the 

final hurdle ahead of second placed War of Attrition 

ridden by Connor O’Dwyer to win by a short head the 

Letheby & Christopher Supreme Novices Hurdle, on 

the first day of the Cheltenham Festival meeting. 

SKY BET SUPREME NOVICES’ HURDLE 

The Sky Bet Supreme Novices’ Hurdle, the traditional curtain 

raiser to The Festival, was known as the Gloucestershire 

Hurdle until 1974. It is the only race at The Festival to 

have been divided. From 1946-1971, when run as the 

Gloucestershire Novices’ Hurdle, it divided on no less than 

25 occasions. In both 1963 and 1946, there were even three 

divisions. Run over an extended two miles, the Sky Bet 

Supreme Novices’ Hurdle has thrown up one winner of 

the Timico Cheltenham Gold Cup and three Stan James 

Champion Hurdle heroes. L’Escargot won in 1968, before 

consecutive Gold Cup triumphs in 1970 and 1971. Bula scored 

in 1970, before Champion Hurdle victories in 1971 and 1972. 

The 2002 Champion Hurdle winner Hors La Loi III took 

the race in 1999, and Brave Inca captured the Champion 

Hurdle in 2006, having landed the novice event two years 

earlier. Irish-trained raiders have been successful on no less 

than 41 occasions, and the Irish had a stranglehold on the 

race for seven years from 1977-83. The most successful 

trainer has been Vincent O’Brien, who landed an amazing 

10 divisions between 1952 and 1959. More recently, Willie 

Mullins has dominated the race, with five victories through 

Tourist Attraction (1995), Ebaziyan (2007), Champagne 

Fever (2013), Vautour (2014) and Douvan (2015). The most 

successful jockey was Tommy Burns, who landed seven 

divisions between 1955 and 1959, while currently Ruby 

Walsh leads the way with five wins (2006, 2011, 2013 and 

2014).The 1993 winner, Montelado, holds a unique position 

in the history of The Festival at Cheltenham. He is the only 

horse to have won consecutive Festival races, landing 

the Weatherbys Champion Bumper in 1992, the last race 

of that year’s meeting, and returning to win the Sky Bet 

Supreme Novices’ Hurdle in 1993, the first race 12 months 

later. Capel Cure Sharp backed the contest in 2000 and 

the company, which became Gerrard Wealth Management, 

maintained support until 2003. Racecourse caterers 

Letheby & Christopher became the sixth sponsor since the 

initial backer Lloyds Bank in 1974 when putting its name to 

the event in 2004 and 2005, while Anglo Irish Bank was 

the sponsor from 2006 to 2008. Bookmaker William Hill 

sponsored in 2009 and the backers the following year were 

the Stewart Family, on behalf of the charity Spinal Research. 

Stan James supported the race in 2011 with William Hill 

taking over the sponsorship again in 2012 & 2013. Sky Bet 

became the backer in 2014. 

NEPTUNE INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT 

NOVICES’ HURDLE 

The Neptune Investment Management Novices’ Hurdle, run 

over two miles and five furlongs, was introduced to The 

Festival in 1971 as the Aldsworth Hurdle. It is registered as 

the Baring Bingham Novices’ Hurdle and commemorates 

52

William Alexander Baring Bingham, who purchased 

Prestbury Park and re-established racing at Cheltenham 

in 1898. Istabraq (1997), Hardy Eustace (2003) and 

Faugheen (2014) all succeeded in the Neptune Investment 

Management Novices’ Hurdle en route to victory in the Stan 

James Champion Hurdle, while Davy Lad (1975) went on to 

take the Timico Cheltenham Gold Cup. Only one horse has 

won both the Neptune Investment Management Novices’ 

Hurdle and the RSA Chase. The West Awake took the hurdle 

race in 1987 and the chase event a year later. The Irish have 

an excellent record in the Neptune Investment Management 

Novices’ Hurdle with 19 wins, including six consecutive 

victories from 1973-78. The latest success came from the 

Willie Mullins-trained Yorkhill in 2016. Oliver Sherwood and 

the late Dessie Hughes won the race as trainers and jockeys. 

Sherwood was aboard Venture To Cognac in 1979, while his 

training wins have been with The West Awake (1987) and 

Rebel Song (1988). Dessie Hughes was twice successful as a 

jockey on Davy Lad (1975) and Parkhill (1976) and sent out 

Hardy Eustace (2003) to victory as a trainer. Sun Alliance, 

who merged with Royal Insurance in 1996, took it on in 1974, 

together with the Sun Alliance Chase, having previously 

sponsored the Foxhunter Chase. Ballymore Properties 

sponsored the contest between 2007 and 2009, while 

Neptune Investment Management backed the race for the 

first time in 2010. 

JCB TRIUMPH HURDLE 

The JCB Triumph Hurdle was first run at Hurst Park in 

1939 and transferred to Cheltenham in 1965 on the closure 

of the London course. The race originally took place at 

Cheltenham’s April Meeting but was moved to The Festival 

in 1968. The contest, over two miles and a furlong, has only 

had three sponsors since transferring to Cheltenham, with 

the Daily Express backing from 1965 to 1996, and then 

the Elite Racing Club sponsoring from 1997 to 2000. The 

current sponsor JCB has backed the race since 2002. The 

Triumph Hurdle is restricted to four-year-olds only and 

three winners have progressed to victory in the Stan James 

Champion Hurdle. Persian War won the Triumph in 1967 and 

reeled off three Champion Hurdles from 1968-70; Kribensis 

won the Triumph in 1988 and the Champion Hurdle in 1990, 

while in 2008 Katchit added a Champion Hurdle victory 

to his success in the 2007 JCB Triumph Hurdle. Lambourn 

handler Nicky Henderson is the most successful trainer with 

six victories courtesy of First Bout (1985), Alone Success 

(1987), Katarino (1999), Zaynar (2009), Soldatino (2010) and 

Peace And Co (2015). Barry Geraghty is the winning-most 

jockey with five wins, having ridden Spectroscope (2003), 

Zaynar (2009), Soldatino (1020), Peace And Co (2015) and 

Ivanovich Gorbatov (2016) to success, the ninth Irish-trained 

horse to succeed. The shortest-priced winner was Attivo, 

owned by the legendary BBC racing commentator Sir Peter 

O’Sullevan, who obliged at odds of 4/5 in 1974. 

ALBERT BARTLETT NOVICES’ HURDLE 

The Albert Bartlett Novices’ Hurdle is run over three miles 

and was added to The Festival in 2005 when the meeting 

expanded to four days. Initially sponsored by Brit Insurance, 

it was backed by Albert Bartlett for the first time in 2008, 

coinciding with its upgrade to Grade One status. Trainer 

Jonjo O’Neill has recorded two victories with Black Jack 

Ketchum (2006) and Wichita Lineman (2007), while Sir A 

P McCoy gained three wins – the same two plus At Fishers 

Cross (2013). The Albert Bartlett Novices’ Hurdle has proved 

to be a good pointer to the RSA Chase in recent years. Bobs 

Worth and Weapon’s Amnesty, who captured the Albert 

Bartlett Novices’ Hurdle in 2011 and 2009 respectively, 

went on to win the RSA Chase the following season. In 

2013, Bobs Worth became the first winner of the Albert 

Bartlett Novices’ Hurdle to subsequently capture the Timico 


THE TRULL HOUSE STUD MARES’ 

NOVICES’ HURDLE 

Introduced at The Festival in 2016, the Grade Two Trull 

House Stud Mares’ Novices’ Hurdle offers an opportunity 

for novice mares to compete against their own sex. Run 

over two miles and a furlong and open to four-year-olds 

and upwards, the newest race at The Festival is sponsored 

by owners and breeders Richard and Lizzie Kelvin Hughes. 

Limini took the first running for trainer Willie Mullins and 

jockey Ruby Walsh. 

NOVICE CHASES AT THE FESTIVAL 


RACING POST ARKLE NOVICES’ CHASE 

The two-mile Racing Post Arkle Chase was inaugurated 

with its current title in 1969, after Arkle’s three wins in 

the Cheltenham Gold Cup (1964-66). It was known as the 

Cotswold Chase before 1969. Until 1980, the Racing Post 

Arkle Chase was always run on the Wednesday of The 

Festival. It now takes place on the opening day, Tuesday. 

The Racing Post Arkle Chase has always been a fiercely 

contested event, and the following winners have gone on 

to other Championship victories at The Festival: 

u u 2012 Sprinter Sacre (Betway Queen Mother Champion 

Chase winner 2013 & 2016) 

u u 2010 Sizing Europe (Betway Queen Mother Champion 

Chase winner 2011) 

u u 2006 Voy Por Ustedes (Betway Queen Mother Champion 


u u 2003 Azertyuiop (Betway Queen Mother Champion 


u u 2002 Moscow Flyer (Betway Queen Mother Champion 

Chase winner 2003 & 2005) 

uu 

1999 Flagship Uberalles (Betway Queen Mother 

Champion Chase winner 2002) 

uu 

1995 Klairon Davis (Betway Queen Mother Champion 


uu 

1991 Remittance Man (Betway Queen Mother Champion 


uu 

1978 Alverton (Timico Cheltenham Gold Cup winner 

1979). 

uu 

Alverton is the only horse to have won both the Racing 

Post Arkle Chase and Timico Cheltenham Gold Cup. 

53

Tom Dreaper and Nicky Henderson have been the most 

successful trainers of all time with five victories each. 

Dreaper scored with Fortria (1958), Mountcashel King 

(1961), Ben Stack (1961), Flyingbolt (1965) and Alpheus 

(1971), while Henderson’s winners so far are Remittance 

Man (1991), Travado (1993), Tiutchev (2000), Sprinter Sacre 

(2012) and Simonsig (2013). The Racing Post, which backed 

the Arkle Chase for the first time in 2012, is only the race’s 

fourth sponsor. The Irish Independent was the backer from 

2000 to 2011, Guinness sponsored from 1994 until 1999 and 

Waterford Crystal between 1991 and 1993. 

NATIONAL HUNT CHASE 

Although the National Hunt Chase is today one of The 

Festival’s lesser contests, the race is pivotal in the history of 

Cheltenham Racecourse and of Jump racing itself. Indeed, 

without the race for amateur riders, Cheltenham as it is 

today – the sport’s headquarters, with the four-day Festival 

that is the showcase for the season – may not have existed. 

The National Hunt Chase was conceived in the 1850s by Dr 

Fothergill Rowlands, who followed his father into medical 

practice in Monmouthshire before going with his heart to 

horses and the sporting community in Prestbury. Rowlands 

– known as Fogo – was a fine and elegant amateur rider; he 

got round Aintree in 1863 on his mare Medora, and rode her 

to victory in a Grand Steeplechase at Baden Baden, wearing 

his trademark white kid gloves. 

He later trained at Epsom, where his head lad was his 

gardener’s son John Jones, father of Herbert, who rode 

Diamond Jubilee and Minoru to victory in Royal colours. 

He was known for his philosophies, one of which was 

“Experience is nothing unless you pay for it – but the less 

you pay the better”. In the middle of the 19th century, 

interest in steeplechasing, which had deteriorated in the 

quality of its organisation and competitors, was waning. 

The astute sporting writer Robert Surtees observed: 

“Steeplechasing is neither hunting nor racing; it has neither 

the wild excitement of the one, nor the accurate calculating 

qualities of the other. Some of the horses are doubtless 

fine and well-conditioned, but the majority are lean, lathy 

brutes, lacking all the lively energy that characterises the 

movements of the up-to-the-mark hunter.” Step forward, 

Fogo. He saw the decline and devised a contest to 

encourage the breeding of quality thoroughbreds among 

the hunting community, the National Hunt Chase. He also 

was instrumental in straightening the sport through the 

formation of its first regulatory body, the National Hunt 

Committee. Steeplechasing did have its roots in hunting, 

hence the term hunt racing. When meetings took place 

open to all, it became – logically - national hunt racing. 

The plan was that the National Hunt Chase (with the suffix 

Grand in its early years) would be formally funded by hunts 

and offer a lucrative prize, but Rowlands’ first call to arms 

in 1859 met with disappointment, with only two hunts 

coming forward. In 1860, though, the response was all he 

had hoped for and what is regarded as the first edition 

of the race, which was confined to amateur riders, was a 

resounding success. The conditions published were “Grand 

National Hunt Steeplechase of £10 each, with £500 added. 

For horses which have never won before the day of starting. 

12st each. 4 miles.” Twelve hunts (the Duke of Beaufort’s, 

the Monmouthshire, Lord Fizwilliam’s, the Warwickshire, 

the North Warwickshire, the Quorn, Lord Dacre’s, Lord 

Tredegar’s, the Cambridgeshire, the Oakley, the Bicester, and 

the Heythrop) subscribed and 31 runners faced the starter. 

The race was held near Market Harborough and the favourite 

Bridegroom, owned by local man ‘Cherry’ Angell and ridden 

by Edmund Burton (who in the 1840s had twice been part 

of a losing Oxford crew in the Boat Race), won in a canter 

by 20 lengths. The National Hunt Chase quickly became 

the sport’s second most prestigious prize, after the Grand 

National. It was a moveable feast and when the race was 

first run at Prestbury Park in 1904 Cheltenham was its 27th 

different home. The contest was back at Cheltenham in 1905, 

before returning to Cheltenham permanently in March, 1911 

when the fixture then proudly bore the heading “National 

Hunt and Cheltenham” in the form book for the first time, 

and the race’s move both reflected the course’s standing, 

and consolidated it. The first winner at Cheltenham was 33/1 

shot Sir Halbert, ridden by Arthur Smith and trained by Tom 

Coulthwaite to beat 37 rivals. Even after the introduction of 

the Cheltenham Gold Cup in 1924, the National Hunt Chase 

continued to be The Festival’s most valuable contest, even 

if not the best in terms of class. In 1931, when the March 

meeting was frozen off, it was the National Hunt Chase, not 

the Gold Cup, which was reopened. It was not until after 

World War II that the Gold Cup overtook the amateurs’ 

race in terms of value to the winner, £1,130 against £1,036. 

The National Hunt Chase is for novices over an extreme 

distance. At four miles, it is The Festival’s longest race and 

for three years the distance was four miles and a furlong 

(between 2005 and 2007). Some winners subsequently 

achieved fame, including the 1886 Malton winner Why Not 

and Quare Times (1954), who both won Grand Nationals. 

Conjuror (1922), Sir Lindsay (1930), Pucka Belle (1936) 

and Teaforthree all finished third in Grand Nationals, and 

Over The Road (1988) fourth. Conjurer was also third in 

the inaugural Gold Cup. Omerta (1986) and Butler’s Cabin 

(2007) both captured Irish Grand Nationals. In the past 20 

years, subsequently prominent performers to have emerged 

from the race’s ranks include two Grand National winners in 

Hedgehunter (12th in 2003) and Silver Birch (4th in 2004), 

two Irish National winners in Timbera (2nd in 2002) and 

Niche Market (8th in 2009), and the 2014 Cheltenham Gold 

Cup runner-up On His Own (pulled up in 2011). The race has 

never been sponsored, though it has borne tribute names. 

In 2008 it was the Peter O’Sullevan National Hunt Chase 

(to honour the retired commentator’s 90th birthday); in 

2012 the Diamond Jubilee National Hunt Chase, in 2013 the 

John Oaksey National Hunt Chase and in 2014 the Terry 

Biddlecombe National Hunt Chase. The race honoured the 

late Toby Balding in 2015 and the late amateur rider J T 

McNamara, who was paralysed in a fall at The Festival in 

2013 and died in 2016. 

RSA NOVICES’ CHASE 

The three-mile RSA Chase, run under its current title since 

2009, is part of one of Cheltenham’s longest-running 

sponsorships. It was the Royal & SunAlliance Chase up to 

2008 and the Royal SunAlliance Chase in 1997. Sun Alliance, 

which merged with Royal Insurance in 1996, previously 

backed the Sun Alliance Chase for 23 years and sponsored 

54

at Cheltenham for 26 years altogether. From 1971-73, the 

Foxhunter Chase was titled the Sun Alliance & London 

Foxhunters. Sun Alliance & London was the first company 

outside racing to embrace commercial sponsorship at The 

Festival. Before 1974, the RSA was titled the Broadway 

Novices’ Chase and the Totalisator Champion Novices’ 

Chase. Fulke Walwyn and Willie Mullins have been the most 

successful trainer with four wins each. Walwyn sent out 

Mountain Prince (1948), On View (1951), Glenbeigh (1954) 

and Mandarin (1957), while current handler Mullins has 

scored with Florida Pearl (1998), Rule Supreme (2004), 

Cooldine (2009) and Don Poli (2015). Pat Taaffe has been 

the leading jockey with five wins - Coneyburrow (1953), 

Solfen (1960), Grallagh Cnoc (1961), Arkle (1963), Proud 

Tarquin (1970). 

Since 1959, nine horses have won both the RSA Chase and 

Timico Cheltenham Gold Cup. They are: 

uu 

1959 Mandarin (Timico Gold Cup 1962) 

uu 

1963 Arkle (Timico Gold Cup 1964-6) 

uu 

1974 Ten Up (Timico Gold Cup 1975) 

uu 

1979 Master Smudge (Timico Gold Cup 

uu 

1980 on the disqualification of Tied Cottage) 

uu 

1990 Garrison Savannah (Timico Gold Cup 1991) 

uu 

1999 Looks Like Trouble (Timico Gold Cup 2000) 

uu 

2007 Denman (Timico Gold Cup 2008) 

uu 

2012 Bobs Worth (Timico Gold Cup 2013) 

uu 

2013 Lord Windermere (Timico Gold Cup 2014) 

To this list might be added the name of Tied Cottage, 

winner of the RSA Chase in 1976 and the Gold Cup in 1980, 

before subsequent disqualification. The West Awake is 

the only horse to have won both what is now the Neptune 

Investment Management Novices’ Hurdle (previously 

sponsored by RSA) and the RSA Chase. He won the Hurdle 

in 1987 and the Chase in 1988. The 2010 winner Weapon’s 

Amnesty became the first horse to win the Albert Bartlett 

Novices’ Hurdle and RSA Chase, a feat repeated by Bobs 

Worth in 2011 and 2012. Hollywood legend Gregory Peck 

owned the 1966 winner Different Class. 

JLT NOVICES’ CHASE 

The JLT Novices’ Chase was introduced to The Festival in 

2011. Run over two and a half miles, the race had Grade Two 

status and was sponsored by Jewson from 2011 to 2013. The 

contest was upgraded to Grade One status in 2014, with 

JLT taking over the sponsorship. Its distance falls between 

the two-mile Racing Post Arkle Trophy Chase and the RSA 

Chase, which is staged over an extended three miles. Irishtrained 

horses have a superb record in the race, winning five 

of the first six editions including the first three runnings. The 

2012 scorer Sir Des Champs subsequently captured three 

Grade One contests in Ireland and was runner-up to Bobs 

Worth in the 2013 Timico Cheltenham Gold Cup. Vautour, 

successful in 2015, returned to The Festival in 2016 to win 

the Ryanair Chase. Dynaste, second in 2013, took the 2014 

Ryanair Chase at The Festival, a feat repeated by Uxizandre, 

who was runner-up in 2014 and captured the Ryanair Chase 

in 2015. 

HANDICAPS AT THE FESTIVAL 

Horses jump a fence in the Ultima 

Handicap Chase (Grade 3) during 

Champion Day 2016 


ULTIMA HANDICAP CHASE 

Five successful horses have used the Ultima Handicap Chase 

as a stepping stone to the Timico Cheltenham Gold Cup – 

Silver Fame (1950) & Gold Cup 1951; Four Ten (1953) & Gold 

Cup 1954; Limber Hill (1955) & Gold Cup 1956: Kerstin (1956) 

& Gold Cup 1958; Charter Party (1986) & Gold Cup 1988. 

Four subsequent Grand National winners have captured the 

Ultima Handicap Chase - Royal Tan (1952) & Grand National 

1954; West Tip (1985) & Grand National 1986; Seagram 

(1991) & Grand National 1991: Rough Quest (1995) & Grand 

National 1996. The Ultima Handicap Chase has been won 

by two owners with show business connections. Hollywood 

idol Gregory Peck owned the 1967 scorer Different Class, 

while Hot Chocolate lead singer Errol Brown saw his colours 

carried to victory by Gainsay in 1987. 

55

CLOSE BROTHERS NOVICES’ HANDICAP CHASE 

The Close Brothers Novices’ Handicap Chase was one of 

the new races introduced to The Festival in 2005 when it 

was extended to four days. Initially run as an open handicap 

for novices, it was restricted to horses with a rating of 145 

or less in 2011. There was a further tightening of the race 

conditions from 2012, with the contest being for novice 

chasers rated 0-140. Mattie Batchelor took the inaugural 

running on King Harald as the pair survived a final fence 

blunder that left the jockey without any irons on the run-in. 

His performance in the saddle was recognised at the Lesters 

Awards as he received the prize for Jump Ride of the Year. 

Defeat is no barrier to future success. Big Buck’s finished 

seventh behind Finger Onthe Pulse in 2008 before going on 

to post a record 18 consecutive wins over hurdles, headed by 

four victories in the Stayers’ Hurdle at The Festival. 

CORAL CUP HANDICAP HURDLE 

The Coral Cup, run over two miles and five furlongs, 

was introduced in 1993 and is one of the season’s most 

competitive handicaps. The first winner, Olympian, picked up 

a £50,000 bonus, having won the Imperial Cup at Sandown 

Park the previous weekend. The bonus was put up by 

Sunderlands, the then sponsor of the Imperial Cup, to any 

horse that won the Sandown race and went on to success 

in any contest at The Festival. The 2008 winner Naiad Du 

Misselot was the first Festival winner to succeed by the then 

recently introduced new distance of a nose. No horse has 

won the race more than once. 

FRED WINTER JUVENILE HANDICAP HURDLE 

The Fred Winter Juvenile Handicap Hurdle commemorates 

one of the greatest figures in the history of Jump Racing, 

both as a jockey and trainer. Fred Winter, who died aged 

77 in April, 2004, was champion Jump jockey four times 

and rode the Cheltenham Gold Cup winner twice (1961 

Saffron Tartan, 1962 Mandarin) and won the Champion 

Hurdle on three occasions (1955 Clair Soleil, 1959 Fare Time, 

1961 Eborneezer). Winter had 17 Festival successes in all as 

a jockey before retiring from the saddle at Cheltenham’s 

spring meeting in 1964 and went on to be champion Jump 

trainer on eight occasions. He saddled four Champion 

Hurdle winners as a trainer (1971 and 1972 Bula, 1974 

Lanzarote, 1988 Celtic Shot) and, although the Cheltenham 

Gold Cup proved elusive for a long while, he finally landed 

the feature chase in 1978 with Midnight Court. He saddled 

a total of 28 Festival winners and holds the unique feat of 

having been the only man to have both ridden and trained 

winners of the Cheltenham Gold Cup and Champion Hurdle. 

The Fred Winter Juvenile Handicap Hurdle, run over an 

extended two miles, was one of the new races introduced to 

The Festival in 2005 when the meeting was extended from 

three to four days. The inaugural running went to Dabiroun, 

partnered by amateur rider Nina Carberry. Carberry became 

the second female jockey to win a Festival race other than 

the Foxhunter Chase, following on from Gee Armytage. 

Trainer David Pipe enjoyed his first Festival success in 2007 

with Gaspara, who also netted a £75,000 bonus put up 

by bookmaker Sunderlands for any horse that landed the 

Imperial Cup and a race at The Festival. For good measure, 

his father Martin owned the filly. 

PERTEMPS NETWORK FINAL HANDICAP 

HURDLE 

The Pertemps Network Final was introduced to The Festival 

in 1974, replacing the George Duller Handicap Hurdle. 

Pertemps took over sponsorship in 2002. Willie Wumpkins 

entered Festival folklore with three consecutive victories 

between 1979 and 1981, when aged 11, 12 & 13. Run over 

three miles, the Pertemps Network Final is the final of the 

Pertemps handicap hurdle series. Horses must finish in 

the first six in any of the scheduled qualifiers to be eligible 

for the Pertemps Network Final. Qualifiers are held in 

Britain, Ireland and France. Forgive ‘N’ Forget is the only 

Cheltenham Gold Cup winner to have won what is now the 

Pertemps Network Final, beating 22 rivals in 1983 and going 

on to take the Gold Cup two years later. The 2014 Grand 

National winner Pineau De Re warmed up for Aintree by 

finishing a close third in the Pertemps Network Final the 

previous month. 

BROWN ADVISORY & MERRIEBELLE STABLE 

PLATE HANDICAP CHASE 

Brown Advisory & Merriebelle Stable took over sponsorship 

for this two-mile, five-furlong handicap chase first time in 

2015. The contest was formerly known as the Mildmay Of 

Flete Handicap Chase, in memory of the 2nd Baron Mildmay 

of Flete, an amateur National Hunt jockey who rode three 

winners at the Cheltenham Festival. The 2009 renewal was 

run as the Freddie Williams Festival Plate in remembrance of 

legendary bookmaker Freddie Williams, who passed away 

in 2008. The first running, which resulted in a dead-heat 

between Slender (7/1) and Canford (100/8), took place at 

Cheltenham in April, because the last two days of the 1951 

Festival were abandoned due to a waterlogged course. Red 

Rum, the only triple winner of the Grand National (1973, 1974 

and 1977), finished fourth in the 1971 renewal. 

FULKE WALWYN KIM MUIR HANDICAP CHASE 

The Kim Muir Amateur Riders’ Chase was introduced to 

the National Hunt Meeting in 1946 by Mrs Evan Williams, 

sister of Kim Muir, a young cavalry officer who lost his life 

in the early years of the Second World War. The addition 

of Fulke Walwyn to the title of the race occurred in 1991, 

reflecting the career of Cheltenham’s then most successful 

trainer. Walwyn trained 211 winners at Cheltenham and 

40 at The Festival - his haul included four Gold Cups, two 

Champion Hurdles and seven Cathcart Challenge Cups. 

His total was a record until Nicky Henderson surpassed 

the mark in 2012. Cool Ground (1989) is the only horse to 

have progressed from winning this three and a quarter mile 

handicap to a Cheltenham Gold Cup victory. Nicolaus Silver 

(1961) and Ballabriggs (2010) both subsequently won the 

Grand National after success in the Fulke Walwyn Kim Muir 

Handicap Chase. 

RANDOX HEALTH COUNTY HANDICAP HURDLE 

Randox Health, the largest diagnostics company in the 

UK, began sponsorship of the County Handicap Hurdle in 

2017. The contest, run over two miles and a furlong, was 

previously run in honour of Vincent O’Brien, who sent out 

23 victories at The Festival, including four Gold Cups, three 

Champion Hurdles, 10 Supreme Novices’ Hurdles and a flurry 

56

of supporting races. The first County Hurdle was run in 

1920 and won by Trespasser, ridden by George Duller, who 

until 1973 also had a race named after him at Cheltenham’s 

premier meeting. The Mullins family have an exceptional 

record, with brothers Tony (2007 Pedrobob), Willie (2010 

Thousand Stars and 2011 Final Approach) and Tom (2012 

Alderwood) all having trained winners of the race. 

MARTIN PIPE CONDITIONAL JOCKEYS’ 

HANDICAP HURDLE 

Run for the first time in 2009, the Martin Pipe Conditional 

Jockeys’ Handicap Hurdle is named after one the greatest 

trainers of modern times, who retired at the end of the 

2005/06 season and handed over the licence to his son 

David. In a career spanning 32 years, Martin Pipe was 

champion Jump trainer on no fewer than 15 occasions and 

broke many records. His 4,182 winners included 34 at The 

Festival. The first and second in 2011, Sir Des Champs and 

Son Of Flicka, both returned to The Festival in 2012 with Sir 

Des Champs winning the JLT Novices’ Chase and Son Of 

Flicka capturing the Coral Cup. 

JOHNNY HENDERSON GRAND ANNUAL 

HANDICAP CHASE 

The Johnny Henderson Grand Annual Chase is the oldest 

race at The Festival and the oldest in the chasing calendar. 

It was first run at Andoversford, near Cheltenham, in April, 

1834, over three miles of open country. The race died out in 

the 1860s, like much of the Jump calendar, but was revived 

at the turn of the century. In fact, for some time, it was 

the single most important National Hunt race, surpassing 

even the Grand National. During the early 1900s, it was 

held at Melton Mowbray, Leicester and Warwick, before 

finally returning to Cheltenham in 1913. Johnny Henderson’s 

name was added to the race title in 2005. Henderson, 

who died in December, 2003, was aware in 1963 that 

there was a danger that property developers would buy 

Cheltenham Racecourse, so together with other Jockey 

Club members he formed Racecourse Holdings Trust, a 

non-profit-making organisation, that raised £240,000 to 

purchase the racecourse and safeguard its future. RHT 

- which subsequently changed its name to Jockey Club 

Racecourses – is still Cheltenham’s parent company and now 

runs 15 British racecourses. Henderson, whose son Nicky has 

enjoyed great success at Cheltenham as a trainer, served 

as patron at the course until his death. The 2006 renewal 

provided an emotional success for trainer Nicky Henderson 

with Greenhope, in the race named after his father. Run over 

an extended two miles, up to 24 horses can take part. Three 

winners have progressed to win the Betway Queen Mother 

Champion Chase - Pearlyman (1986) & Queen Mother 1987 

& 1988; Katabatic (1990) & Queen Mother 1991; Edredon Bleu 

(1998) & Queen Mother 2000. 

MORE RACES AT THE FESTIVAL 


OLBG MARES’ HURDLE 

2017 sees the 10th running of the OLBG Mares’ Hurdle (for 

the David Nicholson Trophy), and the third as a Grade One 

contest. It is named in memory of the legendary Cotswoldbased 

jockey and trainer, who passed away in August, 2006. 

OLBG, the online sports betting community, sponsored for 

the first time in 2012. “The Duke” enjoyed five successes at 

The Festival as a jockey between 1963 and 1973, but is best 

known for his 17 victories as a trainer, including wins in the 

Betway Queen Mother Champion Chase (1994 & 1995 Viking 

Flagship), Stayers’ Hurdle (Anzum 1999) and Cheltenham 

Gold Cup (1988 Charter Party). Nicholson became the first 

trainer for more than 50 years to saddle three winners in a 

day at The Festival when Putty Road (Neptune Investment 

Management Novices’ Hurdle), Viking Flagship (Betway 

Queen Mother Champion Chase) and Kadi (Plate) all 

triumphed on March 15, 1995. Quevega dominates the roll 

of honour, having captured six runnings – 2009, 2010, 2011, 

2012, 2013 and 2014. The Willie Mullins-trained mare became 

the first horse to win a race six times at The Festival in 

2014, beating the record she previously shared with Golden 

Miller, who won the Cheltenham Gold Cup on five occasions 

between 1932 and 1936. Quevega was been ridden by Ruby 

Walsh on each of her victories in the OLBG Mares’ Hurdle. 

The mare was sent off favourite for all six of her successes, 

and was the shortest-priced winner in 2012 at odds of 4/7. 

The exploits of Quevega in the OLBG Mares’ Hurdle have 

been recognised by Cheltenham Racecourse with Quevaga’s, 

a new bar situated at the top of the paddock which was 

opened in November, 2014. Willie Mullins saddled Quevega 

to all six of her victories and the trainer has an amazing 

eight wins in the race in total, with Glens Melody scoring in 

2015 and Vroum Vroum Mag taking the spoils in 2016. 

GLENFARCLAS CROSS COUNTRY CHASE 

The Glenfarclas Cross Country Handicap Chase was 

introduced at The Festival in 2005 and was initially run as 

a handicap until switching to a conditions race in 2016. It 

is one of three races scheduled over the Cross Country 

course at Cheltenham during the season and follows on 

from the Glenfarclas Cross Country Handicap Chases at The 

Open in November and at The International in December. 

In the 2004/05 season, all three races were won by Spot 

Thedifference. Trainer Enda Bolger and owner J P McManus 

boast a formidable record in the race, having dominated 

the early runnings with four winners – Spot Thedifference 

(2005), Heads Onthe Ground (2007) and Garde Champetre 

(2008 & 2009). The same combination also struck in 2016 

with Josies Orders, who was awarded the race after first 

past the post Any Currency was later disqualified due to a 

prohibited substance. Runners over three miles and seven 

furlongs have to negotiate 32 obstacles, including banks, 

ditches and hedges. The most recent obstacles to be 

introduced were ‘the cheese wedges’ (fences 15 & 16), which 

were first used at The Open in 2009. Silver Birch was runnerup 

in 2007 before going on to win the Grand National at 

Aintree the following month. 

57

The first female jockey to win a race at 

Cheltenham, Caroline Beasley who won the 

Christie’s Foxhunter 

WEATHERBYS CHAMPION BUMPER 

The Weatherbys Champion Bumper is the only Grade One 

National Hunt Flat race to be run in Great Britain and the 

contest was introduced at The Festival in 1992. Weatherbys, 

racing’s administrators, have backed the extended two mile 

contest since 1997. Willie Mullins has saddled eight winners 

- he also rode his first winner of the race, the 1996 scorer 

Wither Or Which, while his son Patrick was in the saddle 

when both Cousin Vinny won in 2008 and Champagne 

Fever scored for the stable in 2012. Irish-trained horses 

enjoy a superb record in the Weatherbys Champion Bumper, 

accounting for 17 of the 24 winners. The first winner of 

the Weatherbys Champion Bumper was Montelado, who 

achieved what is thought to be the unique feat of winning 

two consecutive Festival races. The Bumper, now run on 

Wednesday, was originally the last race of The Festival. 

Montelado went on to win the opening race of the Festival in 

1993, the Supreme Novices’ Hurdle. 

ST JAMES’S PLACE FOXHUNTER CHASE 

The Foxhunter Chase is one of the oldest races at the 

Festival. The first running in 1904 was won by the 6/4 

favourite Palmy Boy, owned and ridden by Mr J Widger. 

It is now the richest and most prestigious hunter chase 

of the season, worth £45,000. Christie’s, the international 

auctioneers and valuation experts, backed the race for 

34 years until 2012. The Country Gentlemen’s Association 

(CGA) sponsored in 2013 and 2014. St James’s Place Wealth 

Management, with offices around Britain and headquartered 

in Cirencester, became the backer in 2015. Since 1946 eight 

horses have won the St James’s Place Foxhunter Chase 

twice, most recently On The Fringe in 2015 and 2016, 

although no horse has won the race three times. 

The St James’s Place Foxhunter Chase is the only race 

at The Festival open to trainers who are not full-time 

professionals or hold a permit to train their family’s horses. 

Richard Barber, brother of Betfred Cheltenham Gold Cupwinning 

owner Paul, has been the leading trainer with four 

wins – Rushing Wild (1992), Fantus (1995 and 1997) and 

Earthmover (1998). Paul Nicholls trained Earthmover to his 

second victory in 2004. The St James’s Place Foxhunter 

Chase is one of three races exclusively for amateur riders at 

The Festival – the others are the National Hunt Chase and 

the Fulke Walwyn Kim Muir Challenge Cup Chase. Colman 

Sweeney is the most successful jockey with three wins – 

Sleeping Night (2005) and Salsify (2012 & 2013). Three of 

the five 13-year-olds to have been successful at The Festival 

since 1946 have come in the St James’s Place Foxhunter 

Chase – Earthmover in 2004, Merry, who dead-heated in 

1953, and Greenwood in 1950. The other two 13-year-olds 

to have won were Approval in the 1959 Vincent O’Brien 

County Handicap Hurdle and Willie Wumpkins in the 1981 

Pertemps Network Final. They are the oldest horses to have 

succeeded at The Festival in this period. There have been 

10 Irish-trained winners since 1946, including the last five 

- Eliogarty (1983), Attitude Adjuster (1986), Lovely Citizen 

(1991), Whyso Mayo (2006), Zemsky (2011), Salsify (2012 

& 2013), Tammys Hill (2014) and On The Fringe (2015 & 

2016). Caroline Beasley became the first female rider to 

win a race at The Festival when successful on Eliogarty in 

the 1983 St James’s Place Foxhunter Chase. Since then the 

race has been won six more times by women – Katie Rimell 

on Three Counties in 1989, Polly Curling on Fantus in 1995, 

Fiona Needham in 2002 on Last Option, Rilly Goschen on 

Earthmover in 2004, and Nina Carberry with On The Fringe 

in 2015 and 2016. 

58

Bookmakers in front of the See You Then Terrace on New Year’s Day 

MORE RACING AT 

CHELTENHAM 

IT IS EASY TO FORGET, SUCH IS THE ATTENTION ON THE 

FESTIVAL, THAT CHELTENHAM HAS A LONG-ESTABLISHED 

FIXTURE LIST THROUGHOUT EACH JUMP SEASON. 

THE SHOWCASE 

Cheltenham’s October meeting, the first of the new season 

at the Home Of Jump Racing, was renamed The Showcase 

in 2007 and moved to a Friday/Saturday slot. 

The Open 


The popular two-day meeting is a natural starting point for 

horses returning from their summer breaks and is often used 

in preparation for The Open the following month. 

THE OPEN 

The Open is a prestigious and historic three-day meeting at 

Cheltenham Racecourse, which signals that the new Jump 

season is in full swing. There is lots of prize money on offer 

and BetVictor Gold Cup is the feature race. 

The Open is the biggest and most important meeting of the 

first half of the Jump season - a weekend of entertainment, 

sport and fun not to be missed, including a plethora of trade 

stands in the shopping village. 

THE INTERNATIONAL 

The International takes place at Cheltenham in mid- 

December each year over two days, Friday and Saturday. 

Key races during The International include the Grade Two 

StanJames.com International, a leading trial for the Stan 

James Champion Hurdle at The Festival in March, and the 

Grade Three Caspian Caviar Gold Cup. 

NEW YEAR’S DAY 

Cheltenham races twice in January and starts off each 

year in great style on January 1. It is a very popular day 

with racegoers. 

FESTIVAL TRIALS DAY 

The second January raceday at Cheltenham happens later 

in the month and is the last opportunity to experience the 

delights of the Home of Jump Racing before The Festival. 

Festival Trials Day on a Saturday in late January offers 

tremendous racing with horses out to prove their credentials 

at the course ahead of The Festival. The feature is the 

BetBright Trial Cotswold Chase. 

APRIL MEETING 

The April meeting at Cheltenham is staged in the middle 

of the month over two mid-week days and marks a perfect 

time to experience racing at the course in a relaxed 

atmosphere. 

HUNTER CHASE EVENING 

The Hunter Chase Evening marks Cheltenham’s final fixture 

of the season and has a different ambience, celebrating the 

important amateur element of Jump Racing. It takes place in 

late April or early May. 

59

abt 3 Mile Hurdle 

CHELTENHAM COURSE 

MAPS 

THE NEW COURSE 

Used on Thursday and Friday of The Festival and during 

December, January and April. 

2M 1F NHF 

1 Mile abt 6 F NHF 

Abt 3 Mile 

2M 

F NHF 

2 Mile 4F Hurdles 

Abt 1 

Abt 

Abt 1 

THE OLD COURSE 

Used on Tuesday and Wednesday of The Festival and 

during October and November.

THE FESTIVAL 2017 MEDIA GUIDE

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