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Which horse was twice beaten a short-head in the Cheltenham Gold Cup?

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The most valuable steeplechase of its kind in Britain, the Cheltenham Gold Cup is, for many, the highlight not just of the Cheltenham Festival, but of the whole National Hunt season. The race is run over three miles and two-and-a-half miles, and 22 notoriously stiff fences, on the stamina-laden New Course at Prestbury Park and provides a thorough examination of the prowess of any staying steeplechaser.

For the connections to many such horses, to even be in the reckoning for race of the calibre of the Cheltenham Gold Cup is a privilege and actually winning it remains, as pioneering jockey Rachael Blackmore out it, an “impossible dream”. Spare a thought, then, for those horses that are beaten by narrow margins in the ‘Blue Riband’ event because, as connections of On His Own (beaten a short-head in 2014) and Santini (beaten a neck in 2019) will probably acknowledge, it must be an agonising experience.

Of course, neither On His Own nor Santini ever won the Cheltenham Gold Cup, but the horse that was beaten a short-head not once, but twice, did manage to add his name to the roll of honour at the fourth time of asking. The horse in question was The Fellow, trained in France by Francois Doumen and ridden on all four Gold Cup attempts by Adam Kondrat. In 1991, The Fellow was sent off at a relatively unfancied 28/1, but nonetheless came within a whisker of beating Garrison Savannah. The following season, he returned to the Cheltenham Festival off a win in the King George VI Chase at Kempton Park on Boxing Day, but was again beat a short-head, by Cool Ground.

Which is the longest race run at the Cheltenham Festival?

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Until fairly recently, the answer to that question would have been the traditional “four miler”, the National Hunt Challenge Cup, which until 2020 was run over 3 miles, 7 furlongs and 147 yards on the Old Course. However, following a contentious renewal in 2019, when only four of the 18 runners finished on the prevailing soft ground and three jockeys were suspended for riding “contrary to the horse’s welfare”, the British Horseracing Authority (BHA) reviewed the distance and eligibility criteria of the race. The suspensions were subsequently quashed, but the distance of the National Hunt Challenge Cup was shortened to 3 miles 5 furlongs and 201 yards from 2020 onwards.

Thus, the oldest race run at the Festival is the longest no more, with that distinction belonging to the Cross Country Chase, which was inaugurated in 2005 and has been sponsored since 2009 by Speyside whisky distillery Glenfarclas. As the title suggests, the race is the only one run on the Cross Country Course at Cheltenham during the Festival and is currently scheduled as the fourth race on the second day, dubbed ‘Style Wednesday’. The Glenfarclas Cross Country Chase is run over 3 miles, 6 furlongs and 37 yards – or, in other words, 56 yards further than the revised National Hunt Challenge Cup – and a total of 32 distinctive obstacles akin to those found in open countryside. Runners must negotiate banks, ditches, hedges and even a Grand National-style fence.

Triumph Hurdle

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The fourth and final day of the Cheltenham Festival, a.k.a. Gold Cup Day, is the day around which, for many, the whole of the National Hunt season revolves. The first race of the day is the Grade 1 Triumph Hurdle, which is run over two miles and a furlong on the New Course and open to juvenile novice hurdlers, which are all, by definition, four-year-olds.

Inaugurated in 1939, the Triumph Hurdle was run at the long-defunct Hurst Park, near West Molesey, Surrey, until 1962, before being transferred to Cheltenham three years later and becoming part of the Cheltenham Festival in 1968. The race has sometimes, but not often, proved a trial for the Champion Hurdle, with Clair Soleil (1953), Persian War (1967), Kribensis (1988) and Katchit (2007) all going on to victory in the two-mile hurdling championship. Persian War, of course, won the Champion Hurdle three years running, in 1968, 1969 and 1970.

Coincidentally, the leading trainer in the history of the Champion Hurdle, Nicky Henderson, is also the leading trainer in the history of the Triumph Hurdle, having saddled First Bout (1985), Alone Success (1987), Katarino (1999), Zaynar (2009), Soldatino (2010), Peace And Co (2015) and Pentland Hills (2019). As might be expected of an out-and-out test of class, the race has produced five winning favourites in the past decade, plus three other winners at single-figure prices. Pentland Hills and Burning Victory (2020) had yet to be awarded an official rating by the British Horseracing Authority (BHA), but the other eight winners in the last 10 years were rated at least 139.

Spa Novices’ Hurdle

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Probably better known by its sponsored title, Albert Bartlett Novices’ Hurdle, the Spa Novices’ Hurdle is run over three miles on the New Course at Cheltenham, where it is currently scheduled as the fourth race on Gold Cup Day at the Cheltenham Festival, immediately before the Cheltenham Gold Cup itself. The race was inaugurated, as a Grade 2 event open to novice hurdlers aged four years and upwards, in 2005, when the Cheltenham Festival was extended from three days to four.

In 2008, the same year that Albert Bartlett took over sponsorship from Brit Insurance, the race was promoted to Grade 1 status and much more recently, in 2023, closed to four-year-olds. In 18 previous runnings, no four-year-old had ever won anyway, so the latter change was largely inconsequential. In fact, nine of the last 10 renewals have been won by horses aged six or seven.

Despite the Albert Bartlett Novices’ Hurdle being a Grade 1 contest, the last winning favourite was At Fishers Cross, ridden by Tony McCoy, in 2013, and the last 10 renewals have produced just one winner at a single-figure price. Indeed, winners at 50/1, 33/1 (twice), 18/1 (twice), 16/1 and 14/1 (twice) in the past decade seem to suggest that the result of the race is at least as unpredictable, if not more so, than the notorious Festival handicaps. Rather more predictably, that man Willie Mullins is the leading trainer in the history of the Albert Bartlett Novices’ Hurdle, having saddled Penhill (2017), Monkfish (2020) and The Nice Guy (2022).

Martin Pipe Conditional Jockeys’ Handicap Hurdle

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Nowadays, the Martin Pipe Conditional Jockeys’ Handicap Hurdle has the distinction of being the very last race of the four-day, 28-race betting extravaganza that is the Cheltenham Festival or, in other words, the ‘Getting Out Stakes’. The eponymous Martin Pipe, who retired at the end of the 2005/06 National Hunt season, dominated the sport for 20 years and won the trainers’ title a record 15 times.

Run over two miles and four and a half furlongs on the New Course, the Martin Pipe Conditional Jockeys’ Handicap Hurdle is open to horses aged four years and upwards, but is restricted to conditional jockeys or, in other words, young professionals who have yet to ride 75 winners. However, following a review by the British Horseracing Authority (BHA), in an effort to encourage trainers to book the most experienced conditional jockeys available, from 2019 onwards all weight allowances were abolished.

A typical Festival handicap, with a safety limit of 24, the Martin Pipe Conditional Jockeys’ Handicap Hurdle has failed to produce a winning favourite in the past decade, but two second-favourites and two third-favourites have won in that period. Willie Mullins is the leading trainer with five wins, courtesy of Sir Des Champs (2011), Don Poli (2014), Killultagh Vic (2015) andGalopin Des Champs (2021), but Ireland narrowly lead Great Britain 9-7 overall. The race is open to horses officially rated 0-145, but a rating of 135 or higher has been a pre-requisite for victory in recent years.

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