Gold Cup Day 15th March 2024 – Cheltenham Festival Day Four

Race 1 - JCB Triumph Hurdle - 13:30

The first race of the day is Grade 1 and is open to horses aged four years. The weight of the horses is eleven stone exactly, though fillies get a seven pound allowance. Like all races on Gold Cup Day this is run on the New Course at Cheltenham. It lasts for two miles and one-hundred and seventy-nine yards (2m, 179y), with eight fences to be jumped during its course. This is for novice hurdlers only and is, in fact, the leading race in the UK competed in exclusively by juveniles.

Established in 1939 at Hurst Park in Surrey, it moved over to Cheltenham in 1965 and became part of the Festival three years later. The race has endured numerous sponsors over the years, so you may well find it has a different name when you’re looking for it on the race card. The most successful jockey in the Triumph Hurdle is Barry Geraghty, who has won it five times since 2003. As with so many other races, the most successful trainer is Nicky Henderson. He won his first Triumph Hurdle in 1985 and has since won six more.

Race 2 - County Handicap Hurdle - 14:10

Open to horses aged five years and up, this Premier Handicap race lasts for two miles and one-hundred and seventy-nine yards (2m, 179y) and has eight fences that must be negotiated. As its name suggests, this is a handicap race so weight allowances are decided upon by the handicapper. Introduced in 1920 and called the Vincent O'Brien County Handicap Hurdle from 1995 until 2016, this was the final race of the Festival until its position was moved in 2009.

When it comes to looking for a winner in this race then you’ll want to bear in mind that no horse has won it more than once since 1946. The same isn’t true of jockeys, though, with that old Festival favourite Ruby Walsh having picked up four wins over the years. Paul Nichols has enjoyed the same number of wins in the race as Walsh as a trainer, but it is yet again Willie Mullins who holds the record with 6 wins. Three of Walsh’s wins came on horses trained by Nicholls and one on a Mullins horse.

Race 3 - Spa Novices' Hurdle - 14:50

One of a number of races that was introduced to the Cheltenham Festival when it made the move from three days to four back in 2005, this Grade 1 race takes place over two miles seven furlongs and two-hundred and thirteen yards (2m, 7f, 213y) and has twelve hurdles to be cleared. It is for novice hurdlers aged four years and over. Four-year-olds can weigh ten stone eleven pounds and five-year-olds and up can be eleven stone seven pounds, with a seven pound allowance for both fillies and mares.

When the race was first introduced it was considered to be a Grade 2 level race, but it changed to Grade 1 in 2008. That was the same year that Albert Bartlett started sponsoring it and to date it still bears the company’s name. The Novice Hurdle’s leading jockey is Tony McCoy with three wins. Two of those wins came on Black Jack Ketchum and Wichita Lineman, horses trained by Jonjo O’Neill who second in the leading trainers, that is behind Willie Mullins who has chalked up three wins to date.

Race 4 - The Cheltenham Gold Cup - 15:30

After all the build-up and all of the waiting, it’s finally time for the main event. This blue riband race is, of course, Grade 1 and takes place over three miles, two and seventy yards (3m, 2f, 70y). It has twenty-two fences that need to be jumped before the horses get onto the final straight and it is open to five-year-olds and over. The weight is eleven stone eight pounds or eleven stone ten pounds for horses aged six or more. There’s a seven pound allowance for mares. Considered to be Britain’s most valuable non-handicap chase, the Gold Cup has enjoyed numerous sponsors during its existence.

An event named the Gold Cup was run at Cheltenham for the first time in 1819, but the race as it is today can trace its roots back to 1924 - the first year it featured jumps. We talk about the Gold Cup in more detail elsewhere on the site, so we won’t go into too much detail here. What we will tell you is that it switched to the New Course in 1959 and when Coneygree won it in 2015 that was the first time in forty years that a novice emerged victorious. One of the most famous horses to win it was Arkle and he was ridden by Pat Taaffe, the race’s most successful jockey. Taaffe won it three times on Arkle and once on Fort Leney. Arkle was trained by Tom Dreaper, who is the race’s most victorious trainer thanks to his two other wins with Prince Regent and Fort Leney.

Race 5 - Foxhunter Challenge Cup - 16:10

There’s obviously a slight feeling of 'after the Lord Mayor’s Show' when it comes to the racing in the wake of the Gold Cup, so the Cheltenham organisers have embraced that rather than tried to go against it. The Gold Cup is the last Grade 1 race of the Festival, with the Foxhunter Chase being an ungraded race for amateur riders on horses aged five or older. Having said that, it’s worth noting that it’s run over the same three miles, two and seventy yards (3m, 2f, 70y) circuit as the Gold Cup and the horses still have to jump the same twenty-two fences, leading many people to call it the 'Amateur Gold Cup'.

Horses can weigh eleven stone twelve pounds if they’re five and twelve stone exactly if they’re older, with a seven pound allowance for mares. The race was first run in 1904 - twenty years before the modern day Gold Cup - and horses must qualify to take part in it by performing well during the year. The leading jockey in the race since 1946 is Colman Sweeney with three wins, whilst the leading trainers are Richard Barber and Paul Nicholls who have both won it four times.

Race 6 - Mrs Paddy Power Mares' Chase - 16:50

The Mare's Chase was introduced for the 2021 Cheltenham Festival on Gold Cup Day.  Plans were drawn up in 2019 to create a new race for the Festival and it was decided this should be a new 2m 4f Mares' Chase to complement the Dawn Run Mares' Novices' Hurdle and the Mares' Hurdle.

This replaces the Novice's Handicap Chase listed race, over the same distance, that was the 6th race on the card on Champion Day.  In order to accommodate this the Fred Winter Juvenile Chase moved from Ladies Day to Champion Day and Grand Annual Chase moved from Gold Cup Day to Ladies Day.

With not too much to say about the race given 2021 was the inaugural year we will look at why it was created.  The general feeling is more Mares' races are needed in order to maintain the value of unraced fillies' and encourage owners to buy them.  By Cheltenham adding this race to the Festival they are supporting breeding in the industry as a whole.

Of course being a Grade 2 race and replacing a Listed race at the same time increases the number of graded races at the Festival as a whole.  The inaugural race was won by Irish horse Colreevy, 9/4 second favourite, ridden by Paul Townend.  He was of course trained by Cheltenham legend Willie Mullins, who else could it have been to win the first Liberthine Mares’ Chase.

Naturally it had to be Mullins to win the second ever race too, doing so with Elimay ridden by Mark Walsh at exactly the same odds as last time.  Mullins finished second in 2023 but it was yet again another Irish trained winner, to make it three from three for the Emerald Isle mares'.

Race 7 - Martin Pipe Handicap Hurdle - 17:30

Established in 2009 and named after a hugely successful trainer who decided to retire in 2006 with thirty-four Cheltenham wins under his belt, this race is open to horses aged four-years-old and up. As it’s a handicap race there is no weight restriction per se, with the horses given different handicaps to ensure a level playing field. It is a two mile, four furlongs and fifty-six yards (2m, 4f, 56y) race that has ten different hurdles along the way.

What sets this race apart from others at the Cheltenham Festival is that it is open to conditional jockeys only. For those that don’t know, a conditional jockey is essentially an apprentice jockey who has not won any more than seventy-five times under rules. Because of that no jockey has ever won this race more than once, which is perhaps also why no horse has won it more than once either. Willie Mullins has won it more than any other trainer with his four victories.