2008 Cheltenham Gold Cup 2008 Cheltenham Gold Cup The 2008 Cheltenham Gold Cup was a horse race which took place at Cheltenham on Friday 14 March 2008. It was the 80th running of the Cheltenham Gold Cup, and it was won by Denman. The winner was ridden by Sam Thomas, and the first three horses were all trained by Paul Nicholls. The odds-on favourite Kauto Star finished second and Neptune Collonges was a close third. The race had been billed as the most anticipated Gold Cup since Arkle and Mill House clashed in 1964, with Kauto Star racing against Denman for the first time.
Horse racing in Great Britain possession, published in York in 1748, the result is recorded of a race run in September 1709 on Clifton and Rawcliffe Ings, near York, for a gold cup of £50. In 1740, Parliament introduced an act "to restrain and to prevent the excessive increase in horse racing"; this was largely ignored and in the 1750 the Jockey Club was formed to create and apply the Rules of Racing. However, until the 1760s, individual horses seldom ran more than five or six times, due to the scarcity of prizes on offer, but this began to change with major race meetings expanding