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 1972 | Grade 1 | 3 miles 2 1/2 furlongs | ||
| Pos. | Horse | Jockey | Trainer | Owner |
| 1 | GLENCRAIG LADY | R Coonan | Francis Flood | Mr P Doyle 6/1 |
| 2 | ROYAL TOSS | N Wakley | H Handel | Mr H Handel 22/1 |
| 3 | THE DIKLER | Barry Brogan | Fulke Walwyn | Mrs D W August 11/1 |
| 4 | L'ESCARGOT | Tommy Carberry | D L Moore (Ire) | Mr R R Guest 4/1 |
| 5 | LEAP FROG | V O'Brien | Tom Dreaper (Ire) | Mrs P Burrell 4/1 |
| 6 | CRISP | Richard Pitman | Fred Winter | Sir C Manifold 3/1 fav |
| 7 | SPANISH STEPS | Bill Smith | Edward Courage | Mr E Courage 10/1 |
| 8 | BIGHORN | D Cartwright | C Miller | Mr A Kingsley 33/1 |
| 9 | GAY TRIP | Terry Biddlecombe | Fred Rimell | Mr A Chambers 35/1 |
| 10 | TITUS OATES | Ron Barry | Gordon Richards | Mr P Cussins 40/1 |
| 11 | YOUNG ASH LEAF | Tommy Stack | Ken Oliver | Mr R McDonald 40/1 |
| 12 | DIM WIT | David Mould | Paddy Mullins (Ire) | Mr J O'Neill 66/1 |
| Over round 112% | ||||
| This race took place on Thursday 16th March 1972 when Glencraig Lady beat Royal Toss and The Dikler by 3/4 length and a head | ||||