The Cheltenham Gold Cup is a Grade 1 National Hunt horse race run on the New Course at Cheltenham Racecourse in England, over a distance of 3 miles 2½ furlongs (5,331 m), and during its running there are 22 fences to be jumped. The race is scheduled to take place each year during the Cheltenham Festival in March.
The steeplechase, which is open to horses aged five years and over, is the most prestigious of all National Hunt events and it is sometimes referred to as the Blue Riband of jump-racing. Its roll of honour features the names of such chasers as Arkle, Best Mate, Golden Miller, Kauto Star and Mill House. The Gold Cup is the most valuable non-handicap chase in Britain, and in 2012 it offered a total prize fund of £491,850. From 2012 it is sponsored by Betfred, after the betting company bought the government-owned Tote in June 2011.
The most recent Gold Cup was won by Synchronised under champion jockey Tony McCoy.
Read more about Cheltenham Gold Cup: Records, Winners, Further Reading
Famous quotes containing the words cheltenham, gold and/or cup:
“Here lies I and my three daughters,
Killed by drinking the Cheltenham waters.
If we had stuck to our Epsom salts
We’d not be lying in these vaults.”
—Anonymous. From H. J. Loaring’s Curious Records (1872)
“We mustn’t touch them yet, but see and see!
And what was green would by and by be gold.
Their name was called the Gold Hesperidee.”
—Robert Frost (1874–1963)
“In poorer lands
No one touches the water of life.
It has no taste
And though it refreshes absolutely
It is a cup that must also pass
Until everybody
Gets some advantage....”
—John Ashbery (b. 1927)