Cheltenham Gold Cup: Worth the wait in gold

There are plenty of cups to be won in racing, and some of them are even of the gilt variety, but to everyone who knows anything about the sport, there is only one Gold Cup that matters - the one with Cheltenham in its name.

On Friday, the 83rd renewal of the totesport Cheltenham Gold Cup since it became a jumps race in 1924 will be run over the undulating New Course at Prestbury Park. The three miles two-and-a-half furlong Grade-1 chase with 22 jumps and the famous closing "hill" is the stiffest test of top-class steeplechasers anywhere on the planet. The Grand National at Aintree may be more famous, but the Gold Cup is still the blue riband, the grand prix, the World Cup final of steeplechasing.

It is 100 years since the National Hunt Chase, the original race around which the National Hunt Festival grew, moved to Cheltenham on a permanent basis, so in a sense this is the centenary year of the Festival.

A book, A Centenary History, has been penned by the former BBC political editor turned racing correspondent Robin Oakley, and a very good read it is, too, full of memories of the events which have made the Cheltenham Festival uniquely special in sport.

Unsurprisingly, the Gold Cup takes pride of place in Oakley's fascinating history, and the book starts with an enthralling account of Dawn Run's famous victory - was it really 25 years ago? - when the gallant Irish mare battled up the hill under Jonjo O'Neill to become the first and only horse to complete the Champion Hurdle-Gold Cup double.

The Gold Cup produces intriguing stories every year, but it is hard to recall quite such anticipation for the race as this year. Quite honestly, every other race in the Festival is playing third and fourth fiddle, never mind second, to the big one. No wonder, because for the first time in years we have no less than four proven star-quality horses vying for the Cup, plus a supporting cast from which a new superstar may yet emerge.

Reigning champion Imperial Commander, young pretender Long Run, the mighty Denman who won in 2008, and living legend Kauto Star, winner in 2007 and 2009, will contest the great race, and racing aficionados are salivating at the prospect.

That's certainly the case if you judge by the crowd at Abbot Racing's Scottish Festival Preview in Hamilton on Friday.They heard a panel of experts give their views on the Gold Cup and every other race in the Festival.

One of the points about the Gold Cup is that all four main contenders are vulnerable: Imperial Commander has had only one run this year, Kauto Star and Denman may be too old at 11, and Long Run may be too young and inexperienced at six.

Former multiple-champion jockey Peter Scudamore said: "I think it has worked in Imperial Commander's favour. He's going there fresh and the others have not been performing to their best." That's true - Kauto Star, who fell in last year's race, "looks a shadow of himself", as Scudamore put it, while Denman's recent breathing operation casts doubt on him, but they are still in the highest rank of chasers. With King George VI Chase winner Long Run having little experience, Scudamore felt other entrants could step up: "Midnight Chase is the sort that could get second or third at a big price."

Ian Robinson, head of the Our Friends in the North syndicate which owns Imperial Commander, said the horse he bought for 30,000 on a handshake has had "a little more difficult season" but he is still confident as the horse is in great shape. "The jockey was on tranquilisers after a recent gallop at Warwick," said Robinson. "He galloped for a long time, he is in good form, and he's 95 per cent certain to get to where he was last year. Maybe that's good enough, maybe it's not. I've backed him."

For what it's worth, my tip is Long Run who I think is a mature and still-improving six-year-old. No horse of that age has won the Gold Cup since mighty Mill House in 1963, but I think Long Run is something special and amateur jockey Sam Waley-Cohen, son of owner Robert, is a proven Cheltenham winner.

I've also heard good reports from Ireland for Mouse Morris's First Lieutenant in Wednesday's Neptune Investments Novices Hurdle. He and Big Buck's in the Ladbrokes World Hurdle and Binocular in the Champion Hurdle along with Long Run make up my Festival Yankee bet.

Scotland will have several representatives at this year's Festival. Current Scottish champion NH trainer Lucinda Russell, who is Scudamore's partner, will definitely have The Starboard Bow going in the Fred Winter Juvenile Handicap Hurdle on Wednesday.

Russell said: "He's a horse that has run three times and probably should have won the Scottish Triumph Hurdle trial at Musselburgh last month. I think an awful lot of him, I also think he's well handicapped and he will be a big price - back him each way."

James Ewart from Langholm has his first runners at the Festival, both on Wednesday, with Aikman a decent each-way shout in the Neptune Investments Novices Hurdle and Captain Americo going in the four-mile National Hunt chase 35 minutes earlier.

Whisper it, but his jockey for the big day, Sam Waley-Cohen, was spotted in Langholm last week having a useful preparatory spin on board the nine-year-old who looks purpose-built for the staying game - another each-way chance for Ewart.

All these other events will take second place to the Gold Cup, however. This could be the race of a lifetime, so don't miss it.

n The Cheltenham Festival, A Centenary History, by Robin Oakley. Aurum Press, 20.