Category: Cheltenham Festival

Of course, the most successful horse in the history of the Cheltenham Gold Cup was the indomitable Golden Miller, owned by the equally indomitable Dorothy Paget, who won the ‘Blue Riband’ event five years running between 1932 and 1936. However, since World War II, three horses have won the Cheltenham Gold Cup three times.

The first of them was Cottage Rake, trained by Vincent O’Brien, who completed a hat-trick in 1948, 1949 and 1950. He was ridden on all three occasions by Aubrey Brabazon, who also won the Champion Hurdle twice, in 1949 and 1950, on Hatton’s Grace for the same trainer. Collectively, their successes increased the appeal of the Cheltenham Festival to an Irish audience.

So, too, did the three victories of Arkle, trained by Tom Dreaper, in 1964, 1965 and 1966. On the first occasion, he dethroned Mill House, previously considered the best steeplechaser since Golden Miller, winning easily by 5 lengths. On the second, he beat the same horse by 20 lengths and, on the third, cantered to a 30-length victory over Dormant, at odds of 1/10, to confirm his position as arguably the greatest steeplechaser of all time.

Since Arkle, just one horse, Best Mate, has completed a hat-trick in the Cheltenham Gold Cup. He did so in 2002, 2003 and 2004 and was ridden on each occasion by Jim Culloty, who also won the race as a trainer with Lord Windermere in 2014.

The late Frederick ‘Fred’ Winter, who died in April, 2004, aged 77, was a force majeure in British National Hunt racing for over three decades, first as a jockey and latterly as a trainer. As a jockey, he rode a then-record 923 winners and won the National Hunt Jockeys’ Championship four times, in 1952/53 and 1955/56 to 1957/58 inclusive. As a trainer, he saddled 1,557 winners and won the National Hunt Trainers’ Championship eight times, in 1970/71 to 1974/75 inclusive, 1976/77, 1977/78 and 1984/85.

As far as the Cheltenham Gold Cup is concerned, Winter also has the distinction of being one of just four men – the others being Danny Morgan, Pat Taaffe and Jim Culloty – to win the ‘Blue Riband’ event as a jockey and a trainer. Indeed, as a jockey, Winter won the Cheltenham Gold Cup twice in as many years. His first success came on Saffron Tartan, trained by Don Butchers at Priam Lodge, Epsom, in 1961 and was quickly followed by his second, Mandarin, trained by the legendary Fulke Walwyn at Saxon House, Lambourn, in 1962.

Winter retired from race riding in 1964 and took to training at Uplands, which would become one of the most famous racing stables in Upper Lambourn, Berkshire. Remarkably, Winter saddled the winner of the Grand National in each of his first two seasons as a trainer. He had to wait a little longer to saddle a Cheltenham Gold Cup winner, but did so in 1978, courtesy of Midnight Court, ridden by his stable jockey, John Francome.

 

 

 

 

 

The Champion Hurdle is, as the name suggests, is the two-mile hurdling championship and has been a fixture of the Cheltenham Festival since 1927. In its history, the Champion Hurdle has thrown up five three-time winners, all of whom, coincidentally, recorded three consecutive victories.

The first horse to complete a hat-trick in the Champion Hurdle was Hatton’s Grace, trained by Vincent O’Brien, in 1949, 1950 and 1951. He was immediately followed by the second, Sir Ken, who did likewise in 1952, 1953 and 1954. Next up was Persian War, trained by Willie Stephenson, in 1968, 1969 and 1970; the fourth highest-rated hurdler in the history of Timeform, he went on to finish second when attempting an unprecedented four-timer in 1971.

More recently, trainer Nicky Henderson managed to work the oracle with the talented, but fragile, See You Then, who was rarely seen outside the Cheltenham Festival, but completed a hat-trick in 1985, 1986 and 1987. Last, but by no means least, the second highest-rated hurdler in the history of Timeform, Istabraq, stood on the cusp of immortality in 2001, only for the Cheltenham Festival to be cancelled, in its entirety, due to an outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease. Trained by an up-and-coming Aidan O’Brien, Istabraq had already completed a hat-trick in 1998, 1999 and 2000 and was odds-on to make it four in a row.