1990 Cheltenham Gold Cup 1990 Cheltenham Gold Cup The 1990 Cheltenham Gold Cup was a horse race which took place at Cheltenham on Thursday March 15, 1990. It was the 63rd running of the Cheltenham Gold Cup, and it was won by Norton's Coin. The winner was ridden by Graham McCourt and trained by Sirrel Griffiths. The pre-race favourite Desert Orchid finished third. With a starting price of 100/1, Norton's Coin became the longest-odds winner in the race's history. He was the second winner to be trained in Wales – the first was Patron Saint in 1928. Further details of the winner, Norton's Coin:
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