2005 Cheltenham Gold Cup 2005 Cheltenham Gold Cup The 2005 Cheltenham Gold Cup was a horse race which took place at Cheltenham on Friday 18 March 2005. It was the 77th running of the Cheltenham Gold Cup, and it was won by the pre-race favourite Kicking King. The winner was ridden by Barry Geraghty and trained by Tom Taaffe. Kicking King was the first winner of the Gold Cup to be trained in Ireland since Imperial Call in 1996. The three-time winner Best Mate was withdrawn from the race a week earlier after bursting a blood vessel. A fourth day was added to the
Long Run (horse) Commander (who pulled up), Denman, and Kauto Star. Returning in the 2011/12 National Hunt season, Long Run finished second to Kauto Star in both the Betfair Chase and the King George VI Chase, with Kauto Star winning the latter for the fifth time. Long Run had another clash with Kauto Star in the 2012 Cheltenham Gold Cup. He went into the race 7-4 favourite and with Kauto Star recovering from injury. However, both horses were upstaged by JP McManus' horse Synchronised, who won the race by 2 and a quarter lengths from The Giant Bolster, with Long Run finishing in