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 1985 | Grade 1 | 3 miles 2 1/2 furlongs | ||
| Pos. | Horse | Jockey | Trainer | Owner |
| 1 | FORGIVE 'N' FORGET | Mark Dwyer | Jimmy Fitzgerald | T Kilroe & Sons 7/1 |
| 2 | RIGHTHAND MAN | Graham Bradley | Mrs Monica Dickinson | Mrs M Haggass 15/2 |
| 3 | EARLS BRIG | Phil Tuck | W Hamilton | Mr W Hamilton 13/2 |
| 4 | DRUMADOWNEY | Hywel Davies | Tim Forster | Lady Vestey 9/1 |
| 5 | HALF FREE | Richard Linley | Fred Winter | Sheikh Ali Abu Khamsin 9/1 |
| 6 | BOREEN PRINCE | Niall Madden | A McNamara (Ire) | Mr E Lenehan 20/1 |
| 7 | COMBS DITCH | Colin Brown | David Elsworth | Mr R Tory 4/1 fav |
| 8 | BREGAWN | Willie Mullins | A Mullins (Ire) | Mrs S Kennelly 22/1 |
| 9 | WAYWARD LAD | Robert Earnshaw | Mrs Monica Dickinson | Mrs S Thewlis 8/1 |
| 10 | RAINBOW WARRIOR | K Morgan | Michael Cunningham (Ire) | Mr N McGrady 22/1 |
| 11 | DOOR LATCH | John Francome | Josh Gifford | Mr H J Joel 25/1 |
| 12 | BALLINACURRA LAD | Paul Leach | J Crowley (Ire) | Mrs A Moynihan 33/1 |
| 13 | GREENWOOD LAD | Richard Rowe | Josh Gifford | Mrs A Grantham 40/1 |
| 14 | HOMESON | Jonjo O'Neill | Josh Gifford | Mr H Corboz 100/1 |
| 15 | SOINTULLA BOY | T Houlbrooke | Houlbrooke | Mrs H Houlbrooke 100/1 |
| Over round 115% | ||||
| This race took place on Thursday 14th March 1985 when Forgive 'N' Forget beat Righthand Man and Earls Brig by 1 1/2 lengths and 2 1/2 lengths | ||||