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In horse racing in the United Kingdom, France and Republic of Ireland, National Hunt racing requires horses to jump fences and ditches. National Hunt racing in the UK is informally known as "jumps" and is divided into two major distinct branches: hurdles and steeplechases. Alongside these there are "bumpers", which are National Hunt flat races. In a hurdles race, the horses jump over obstacles called hurdles; in a steeplechase the horses jump over a variety of obstacles that can include plain fences, water jump or an open ditch. In the UK, the biggest National Hunt events of the year are generally considered to be the Grand National and the Cheltenham Gold Cup.
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 about 3 miles 2½ furlongs, and during its running there are 22 fences to be jumped. The race takes place each year during the Cheltenham Festival in March.
Rupert "Ruby" Walsh is an Irish former jockey. He is the second child, and eldest son, of former champion amateur jockey Ted Walsh and his wife Helen. Widely regarded as one of the greatest National Hunt jockeys of all time, Walsh is the third most prolific winner in British and Irish jump racing history behind only Sir Anthony McCoy and Richard Johnson.
Kauto Star was a French-bred National Hunt champion racehorse trained by Paul Nicholls in Somerset and owned by Clive Smith. He was known for his versatility and longevity, being the only horse ever to be top rated over 2 miles, 2.5 miles and 3 miles in the same season. He is also the first horse ever to win a grade 1 race in 6 consecutive seasons - he then added 2 more the following season to make it 7. His Racing Post rating of 192 is the highest ever awarded to a National Hunt horse. He won the Cheltenham Gold Cup twice, in 2007 and 2009, becoming the first horse to regain the cup, beating Denman by thirteen lengths in 2009, after losing it in 2008 by seven lengths behind Denman. He tried for three more years to win the race again, but the best placing he could achieve was in 2011, coming third behind Long Run. He also won the King George VI Chase a record five times. He was one of the most successful steeplechasers of modern era finishing his racing career with a National Hunt record of £3,775,883 in earnings, which consisted of £2,375,883 in race prize money, £1,000,000 bonus for the completion of the 2006/2007 Stayers Chase Triple Crown and also a £400,000 reward for heading the BHA Table of Merit in the same 2006/2007 season.
Paul Frank Nicholls is a British National Hunt horse trainer with stables at Ditcheat, Somerset. A relatively successful jump jockey, Nicholls has become the leading National Hunt trainer of his generation, finishing the 2007–08 season with 155 winners and a record £4 million in prize money. As of April 2023, he has trained over 3,500 winners, won the 2012 Grand National, four Cheltenham Gold Cups and has been crowned British jump racing Champion Trainer fourteen times.
The 2007 Cheltenham Gold Cup was a horse race which took place at the Cheltenham Racecourse on Friday March 16, 2007. It was the 79th running of the Cheltenham Gold Cup, and it was won by the pre-race favourite Kauto Star. The winner was ridden by Ruby Walsh and trained by Paul Nicholls.
Exotic Dancer was a French-bred National Hunt racehorse, who was trained by Jonjo O'Neill. He had a famous rivalry with Kauto Star but never beat him.
The 2008 Cheltenham Gold Cup was a horse race which took place at Cheltenham on Friday 14 March 2008. It was the 80th running of the Cheltenham Gold Cup, and it was won by Denman. The winner was ridden by Sam Thomas, and the first three horses were all trained by Paul Nicholls. The odds-on favourite Kauto Star finished second and Neptune Collonges was a close third.
Denman was an Irish-bred National Hunt racehorse sired by Presenting. Known as The Tank, Denman was widely known for his great rivalry with Kauto Star for the Cheltenham Gold Cup. This large horse with a front-running style won the Cheltenham Gold Cup in 2008.
My Way De Solzen was a French-bred National Hunt racehorse, who began his racing career trained in France by A. Lamotte D'Argy.
The 2010 Cheltenham Gold Cup was a horse race which took place at Cheltenham on Friday 19 March 2010. It was the 82nd running of the Cheltenham Gold Cup, and it was won by Imperial Commander. The winner was ridden by Paddy Brennan and trained by Nigel Twiston-Davies. The pre-race favourite Kauto Star fell at fence 19.
Imperial Commander was a Cheltenham Gold Cup winning thoroughbred racehorse.
Long Run is a retired National Hunt racehorse owned by Robert Waley-Cohen and trained during his racing career by Nicky Henderson in Great Britain and later by his owner.
The 2011 Cheltenham Gold Cup was a horse race which took place at Cheltenham on Friday March 18, 2011. It was the 83rd running of the Cheltenham Gold Cup, and it was won by the pre-race favourite Long Run who beat three previous winners of the Gold Cup in Kauto Star, Denman and defending champion Imperial Commander. Long Run was ridden by Mr Sam Waley-Cohen and trained by Nicky Henderson. Waley-Cohen became the first amateur jockey to win the Cheltenham Gold Cup since Jim Wilson on Little Owl in 1981 while Long Run was the first six-year-old to win the race since Mill House in 1963.
Synchronised was an Irish-bred, British-trained Thoroughbred racehorse. A specialist long-distance steeplechaser, he was best known for his performances in the 2011–2012 National Hunt season, when he won the Grade I Lexus Chase in Ireland before winning Britain's most prestigious steeplechase, the Cheltenham Gold Cup, on 17 March. He was euthanized after incurring a leg fracture in the Grand National on 14 April 2012.
The 2012 Cheltenham Gold Cup was the 84th annual running of the Cheltenham Gold Cup horse race held at Cheltenham Racecourse on 16 March 2012.
Bobs Worth was an Irish-bred, British-trained Thoroughbred racehorse. He won the Albert Bartlett Novices' Hurdle in 2011, the RSA Chase in 2012 and the Cheltenham Gold Cup in 2013 at the Cheltenham Festival, making him the first horse since Flyingbolt in the 1960s to win three different races at consecutive Cheltenham Festivals. In 2012, he also won the Hennessy Gold Cup at Newbury. Bobs Worth was trained by Nicky Henderson, owned by the Not Afraid Partnership.
Sizing Europe is an Irish National Hunt horse, best known for winning the 2011 Queen Mother Champion Chase at Cheltenham. He won the Irish Champion Hurdle in 2008 before switching to chasing, where he has won six Grade 1s over fences.
Coneygree is a retired British Thoroughbred racehorse who competed in National Hunt races. In a career which ran from November 2010 to February 2019 he ran in eighteen races, winning nine times. In March 2015, he became the first novice chaser to win the Cheltenham Gold Cup for more than forty years. His subsequent career was hampered by injury and he did not run again in the Cheltenham Gold Cup after winning it.
Sam Thomas is a retired Welsh National Hunt jockey who is now a horse trainer. He is best known for winning the 2008 Cheltenham Gold Cup with Denman.
References
- 2009
- sportinglife.com
- guardian.co.uk – "Kauto Star regains Gold Cup in splendid isolation" – March 13, 2009.