How many times did Kauto Star run in the Cheltenham Gold Cup?

 

Rated 191 by Timeform, Kauto Star was, unarguably, one of the greatest steeplechasers of all time. All told, he won 19 of his 23 steeplechases and amassed just shy of £2 million in winning prize money alone. As far as the Cheltenham Festival is concerned, Kauto Star made his first appearance, as a 6-year-old, in 2006, when he was sent of 2/1 favourite for the Queen Mother Champion Chase. He fell at the third fence on that occasion but, having won his next five races, including the King George VI Chase at Kempton, he returned to Cheltenham in 2007, for his first crack at the Cheltenham Gold Cup.

Sent off 5/4 favourite, he quickened into the lead at the second last fence and, despite hitting the last, stayed on strongly to beat Exotic Dancer by 2½ lengths. The following year, 2008, Kauto Star was once again sent off favourite for the Cheltenham Gold Cup, at 10/11, but proved no match for his stable companion Denman, who beat him 7 lengths. Nevertheless, he was back again in 2009, making history by becoming the first horse to regain his title with an impressive, 13-length win over Denman. That was that, in terms of winning, but Kauto Star actually ran in three more Gold Cups, making six in all.

Did Desert Orchid ever start favourite for the Champion Hurdle?

No, contrary to the information supplied by a certain free, Internet-based encyclopaedia, Desert Orchid never started favourite for the Champion Hurdle. He did run in the Champion Hurdle, sponsored in those days by Waterford Crystal, twice, in 1984 and 1985, but the favourites in those renewals were Dawn Run, at 4/5, and Brown’s Gazette, at 4/6, respectively.

On the first occasion, after a successful season, which had included victory in the Grade One Tolworth Novices’ Hurdle at Sandown Park, Desert Orchid was actually sent off 7/1 second favourite behind Dawn Run. However, having disputed the lead with the favourite for most of the way, Desert Orchid came under pressure on the downhill run to the third-last flight and weakened out of contention to finish among the backmarkers.

On the second occasion, despite winning his preparatory race, the Oteley Hurdle – now the Contenders Hurdle – at Sandown, Desert Orchid was sent off as a largely unconsidered 20/1 chance in the Champion Hurdle. Once again, as was his customary style, he was always well to the fore, chasing the breakneck pace set by rank outsider Northern Trial. However, his early exertions took their toll and he weakened into last place before the field reached the top of the hill and was eventually pulled up in the race won by See You Then.

Has the Cheltenham Gold Cup ever produced a dead heat?

Since its inauguration, as a steeplechase, in 1924, 92 runnings of the Cheltenham Gold Cup have failed to produce a dead heat. That said, several horses have taken their place on the roll of honour by virtue of victories achieved by narrow margins. Indeed, the very first winner of the Cheltenham Gold Cup, Red Splash, only scraped home by a head and a neck but, since then, the ‘Blue Riband’ event has produced five even more thrilling finishes.

In 1951, in the days before photo-finish cameras, the 12-year-old Silver Fame justified favouritism, but only just, when edging out Greenogue by a short head. Two decades later, in 1973, the boot was on the other foot, so to speak, when The Dikler caught the odds-on Pendil in the shadow of the winning post to give Fulke Walwyn his fourth and final Gold Cup winner by the same margin. Fast forward another two decades and The Fellow, trained in France by François Doumen, had the dubious distinction of being beaten a short head not once, but twice, in consecutive years. In 1991, he failed, narrowly, to overhaul Garrison Savannah and, in 1992, just came off worst in a protracted duel with Cool Ground.

Last, but by no means least, the 2014 Cheltenham Gold Cup produced a controversial finish, with the main protagonists veering right on the run-in and Davy Russell, jockey of the eventual, short-head winner, Lord Windermere, suspended for a day for careless riding. However, after a 15-minute inquiry, the stewards decided that the result should stand.

Has any horse ever won the Cheltenham Gold Cup and the Grand National in a single season?

The Cheltenham Gold Cup and the Grand National are the two premier steeplechases run in Britain and, as such, are much-coverted prizes. Indeed, many owners, jockeys and trainers spend their entire lives dreaming of winning one or the other, never mind both.

The Cheltenham Gold Cup wasn’t run, as a steeplechase, until 1924, while the first ‘official’ Grand National was run in 1839 but, in the period that the races have co-existed, just two horses have won both. L’Escargot, trained by Dan Moore, recorded back-to-back victories in the Cheltenham Gold Cup in 1970 and 1971, before defeating none other than Red Rum, who was chasing an unprecedented hat-trick, in the 1975 renewal of the Grand National.

However, the legendary Golden Miller, trained by Basil Briscoe and, later, by Owen Anthony, remains the only horse ever to have won the Cheltenham Gold Cup and the Grand National in a single season. In fact, ‘The Miller’ won the Cheltenham Gold Cup five years running between 1932 and 1936, inclusive and following his third win, in 1934, cruised to victory in the Grand National, under 12st 2lb, and broke the course record in the process.

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