Cheltenham Festival

For those who know nothing or little about the Gold Cup Race, the very first Cheltenham Festival Gold Cup was run in July 1819, and the race was first run as a jumps race in 1924 with a reward of £685 heading to the winning proprietor. The Gold Cup is the most prestigious of all National Hunt races and the main attraction of the world legendary Cheltenham Festival. And as the event of jump racing, all the attention will be on Cheltenham on March 16th. In recent times, Kauto Star has long been the top performer of the Gold Cup. Paul Nicholls’ horse triumphed in the illustrious event for the very first time in 2007 and reclaimed the Gold Cup crown in 2009. Another horse, Imperial Commander won the event in twenty ten before Long Run’s victory in last year’s Festival. As such, the battle between Kauto Star and Long Run will be the major attraction of this year’s Gold Cup, with the two of them topping the betting. Nicky Henderson ‘s Long Run is slight favorite to win here as he looks to deny Kauto Star an extraordinary third Gold Cup crown. Grand Crus, Burton Port, Midnight Chase and Synchronised will also be prominent in the betting for this race, the latter horse was particularly magnificent in last December’s Lexus Chase and a good bet to watch at around 12/1.