The 2024 Cheltenham Festival has finally arrived, and it’s shaping up to be one of the most thrilling in recent years. The highlight of this four-day event is the Cheltenham Gold Cup. This race is classed as a Grade 1 National Hunt horse race, run over a distance of 3 miles 2 1⁄2 furlongs, on the New Course at Cheltenham Racecourse.
Let’s dive straight in and take a closer look at the long, rich history of the Cheltenham Gold Cup, which was first held in 1924.
What is the Cheltenham Gold Cup?
The Cheltenham Gold Cup is one of the most coveted events on the UK horse racing calendar. A total of 13 horses aged five years or above have 22 fences to jump in the world-famous steeplechase event, and the winner will take home more than half of the purse.
Here are a few quick facts:>
- Month the Cheltenham Gold Cup is held: March, during the Cheltenham Festival, usually on the final day (day 4)
- Track: Left-handed
- Course: Cheltenham New Course
- Surface: Turf
- Distance ran: 3 miles 2½ furlongs (which is 5,294 metres, or 3 miles 2 furlongs and 70 yards)
- Race type: Steeplechase, Grade I race
- Latest edition: 2024
- Inaugural edition: 1924 (on the New Course), 1819 (on the Old Course)
- Qualification/age requirement: 5 years old and up
- Weight 11 st 10 lb (6yo+) / 11 st 6 lb (5yo)
- 2024 expected purse: £625,000, split among the first five horses. The winner will walk away with £351,688
- Most successful horse: Golden Miller (5 wins)
- Current reigning champion (2023): Galopin des Champs
- Current odds-on favourite: Galopin des Champs (5/4 average Cheltenham odds)
- Leading jockey: Pat Taafe (4 wins)
- Leading owner: Dorothy Paget (7 wins)
- Leading trainer: Tom Dreaper (5 wins)
A brief history of the Cheltenham Gold Cup
When the first Cheltenham Gold Cup race occurred on 12 March 2024, a horse called Red Splash won. The five-year-old was priced at 5/1. Red Splash was trained by Fred Withington and owned by Humphrey Wyndham, and the winning jockey was Dick Rees.
Interestingly, the time was not recorded in the inaugural Cheltenham Gold Cup. Although the Cheltenham Gold Cup first occurred in 1819, it was a Flat race. The first time it was un as a steeplechase race, which it still is today, was in 1924, and it was held on what is now called the ‘Old Course.’
The Gold Cup wasn’t always the highlight of the event and didn’t become the pinnacle it is today for many years to come. In 1959, the Gold Cup switched from the Old Course to the ‘New Course’ and then during the 60s, a horse called Arkle made history by winning three years in a row (1964, 1965, and 1966).
In 1983, Thoroughbred horse trainer Michael Dickinson made history with the best-ever results when five of his horses were the first to finish. The only horse in the history of the Cheltenham Festival to win the Gold Cup AND the leading hurdle event, the Champion Hurdle, at the same festival was Dawn Run in 1986.
The most notable underdog/outside with the longest odds ever to win the Cheltenham Gold Cup was Norton’s Coin, which was priced at 100/1 before the race got underway. In 2022, while riding A Plus Tard, Rachel Blackmore became the first-ever female jockey to win the Cheltenham Gold Cup.
Final thoughts
Don’t forget that the 2024 Cheltenham Gold Cup will begin at 13:30 on Tuesday, 14 March, with the Turners Novices Chase. Grey Dawning is the current odds-on favourite to win this opening race at around 5/2.
The final race on day 4 is the Martin Pipe Conditional Jockeys Handicap Hurdle, which is scheduled to start at 17:30 on Friday, 15 March.
