THE FESTIVAL 2017 MEDIA GUIDE

Cheltenham Media Guide 2017
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
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