Gold Cup
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The Gold Cup, the chasing crown, is a grade 1 race over 3 miles 2 furlongs and 70 yards and 22 fences of the New Course and is open to 5-year-olds and above. Although the first race at Cheltenham known as the Gold Cup was in July 1819, it was a flat race over 3 miles on the Cleeve Hill course and was won by Spectre owned by Mr Bodenham, and the race did continue for a number of years afterwards. However, it has no real connection with the present day pinnacle of National Hunt racing which was first contested on 12th March 1924 over 3 miles 3 furlongs. The race was not staged in 1931 due to frost, nor in 1937 due to flooding, and the Second World War prevented the race being held in both 1943 and 1944. |
| Early history:- The inaugural running of the Gold Cup was on 12th March 1924 over 3 miles 3 furlongs and was won by Red Splash (5/1) owned by Major Humphrey Wyndham, trained by Fred Withington and ridden by Dick Rees, beating Conjuror II (7/1) and Gerald L (5/1). | |
| Gold Cup 1998 | Grade 1 | 3 miles 2 1/2 furlongs | ||
| Pos. | Horse | Jockey | Trainer | Owner |
| 1 | COOL DAWN | Andrew Thornton | Robert Alner | Hon Miss D Harding 25/1 |
| 2 | STRONG PROMISE | Norman Williamson | Geoff Hubbard | Mr Geoff Hubbard 14/1 |
| 3 | DORANS PRIDE | Richard Dunwoody | Michael Hourigan (Ire) | Mr T J Doran 9/4 fav |
| 4 | SENOR EL BETRUTTI | Carl Llewellyn | Susan Nock | Mr Gerald Nock 33/1 |
| 5 | SUNY BAY | Graham Bradley | Charlie Brooks | Uplands Bloodstock 9/1 |
| 6 | SIMPLY DASHING | Lorcan Wyer | Tim Easterby | Mr Steve Hammond 33/1 |
| 7 | CHALLENGER DU LUC | Chris Maude | Martin Pipe | The Johnson Family 20/1 |
| 8 | BARTON BANK | Adrian Maguire | David Nicholson | Mrs Jenny Mould 33/1 |
| 9 | STRATH ROYAL | Martin Brennan | Owen Brennan | Lady Anne Bentinck 100/1 |
| 10 | YORKSHIRE GALE | Leighton Aspell | Josh Gifford | Mr Bill Naylor 100/1 |
| 11 | GO BALLISTIC | Conor O'Dwyer | John O'Shea | Mrs B J Lockhart 12/1 |
| 12 | INDIAN TRACKER | Jonathon Lower | Martin Pipe | Joe & Joanne Richards 150/1 |
| 13 | SEE MORE BUSINESS | Timmy Murphy | Paul Nicholls | Mr Paul Barber 11/2 |
| 14 | ROUGH QUEST | Mick Fitzgerald | David Casey | Mr A T A Wates 14/1 |
| 15 | COULDNT BE BETTER | Dean Gallagher | Charlie Brooks | Mr R A B Whittle 33/1 |
| 16 | ADDINGTON BOY | Brian Harding | Gordon Richards | Gatt Foods Ltd 12/1 |
| 17 | CYBORGO | Tony McCoy | martin Pipe | County Stores Somerset 10/1 |
| Over round 117% | ||||
| This race was held on Thursday 19th March 1998 when Cool Dawn beat Strong Promise and Dorans Pride by 1 3/4 lengths and a head | ||||