The Cheltenham Festival is renowned for its world-class racing. Across the 28 races on the race card, many of the world’s elite horses will battle for supremacy.
Since the early days of the Festival, it has been seen as the pinnacle of jumps racing. It’s a place where jockeys and trainers make their names, while horses have the ability to write themselves into the record books. With this in mind, here are six of the biggest, most surprising and best Cheltenham racing results in history.
Golden Miller, 1936 Gold Cup
Golden Miller is undoubtedly one of the finest racehorses of all time. To date, he remains the only horse to win both of the United Kingdom's premier steeplechase races - the Cheltenham Gold Cup and the Grand National - in the same year (1934).
Between 1932 and 1936, Golden Miller dominated the Cheltenham Gold Cup, winning it five times in a row.
Despite his great achievements, it took a few years for the British public to really warm to Golden Miller. But, by the time of his fifth victory in 1936, he was truly adored. As a result, there’s now a large statue of him at Cheltenham Racecourse.
Arkle, 1966 Gold Cup
Although some consider Golden Miller to be the better runner overall, no horse is more synonymous with the Cheltenham Festival than the great Arkle.
Before his impressive career was tragically cut short by injury, he won the Gold Cup three times. Of all of these wins, his third and final may have been his best. He started at 1/10 and won by 30 lengths! This is despite making a mistake and ploughing through the 11th fence.
Today, Arkle still holds the record for the highest Timeform rating ever awarded to a steeplechaser at 212. He also has his own statue at Cheltenham Racecourse, as well as a race named in his honour: The Arkle Challenge Trophy.
Norton’s Coin, 1990 Gold Cup
In 1990, Norton’s Coin delivered one of the greatest shocks that the racing world has ever seen. Despite starting the Gold Cup at odds of 100/1, he won the race ahead of legends like Desert Orchid. Not only did he win, his time of 6 minutes, 30.9 seconds was the fastest in the race since 1953!
Sadly, he only won once more in a further 18 races. Still, he’ll always be fondly remembered by racing fans and he certainly did well for a horse that was described as an “ugly, plain chestnut” when he was born.
Istabraq, 1998 Champion Hurdle
The foal of Sadler’s Wells, Istabraq was reared for flat racing. However, to the shock of many, he excelled over jumps.
After one full season of jumps racing in 1997, he won all of his first four races at the start of 1998. Unsurprisingly, he then entered as the favourite for the 1998 Champion Hurdle, which he won by 12 lengths! He followed this up with further victories in both 1999 and 2000.
Big Buck’s, 2012 World Hurdle (now the Stayers’ Hurdle)
Big Buck’s is a true legend of Cheltenham Racecourse. Foaled in France, he made his name in Britain where he won the World Hurdle four times between 2009 and 2012.
He was in serious trouble at the last in 2012, but his class clearly showed on the final straight as he pulled away to a huge roar from the expectant crowd. Today, he’s rightly regarded as one of the greatest staying hurdlers in history.
Quevega, 2015 Mares’ Hurdle
Willie Mullins is one of the finest trainers of all time and has trained some of the greatest horses in the history of the sport. Despite this, it can be very easily argued that Quevega is his most successful.
The Mares’ Hurdle had only just been established in 2009, when Quevega won it for the first time. Amazingly, she then also won it for the next five years in a row. With her 2015 victory, she became the first horse in history to win at six consecutive Cheltenham Festivals.
