2012 Cheltenham Gold Cup 2012 Cheltenham Gold Cup The 2012 Cheltenham Gold Cup (known as the Betfred Gold Cup for sponsorship reasons) was the 84th annual running of the Cheltenham Gold Cup horse race held at Cheltenham Racecourse on 16 March 2012. Fourteen horses ran and the steeplechase was won by 8/1 shot Synchronised, who was trained by Jonjo O'Neill and ridden by Tony McCoy. Synchronised completed the course in a time of 6 minutes 36.19 seconds and won by a distance of 2¼ lengths from second-placed The Giant Bolster. Kauto Star was attempting to win the Gold Cup for the third time and
Horse racing in the United States based. The backstretch has extensive facilities to house the horses and workers. In the United States, Thoroughbred flat races are run on either dirt, synthetic or turf surfaces. Other tracks offer Quarter Horse racing and Standardbred horse racing, or combinations of these three types of racing surfaces. Racing with other breeds, such as Arabian horse racing, is found on a limited basis. American Thoroughbred races are run at a wide variety of distances, most commonly from . The shorter distances are more common but the mid-to-long distance races tend to be higher in prestige. With this in mind, breeders of