Cheltenham Gold Cup chasers as Arkle, Best Mate, Golden Miller, Kauto Star and Mill House. The Gold Cup is the most valuable non-handicap chase in Britain, and in 2014 it offered a total prize fund of £550,000. The first horse race known as the Cheltenham Gold Cup took place in July 1819. It was a flat race, and it was contested over 3 miles on Cleeve Hill, which overlooks the present venue. The inaugural winner, Spectre, won a prize of 100 guineas for his owner Mr Bodenham. The Cheltenham Gold Cup was first run as a jumps race on 12 March 1924. The
George Beeby (horse racing) George Beeby (horse racing) George Beeby (1904–1977) was a British racehorse trainer. He was born in Leicestershire on 6 May 1904, the son of a noted horse dealer, and after a short riding career as an amateur began to train there in 1924. In 1936 he bought Hamilton House at Compton in Berkshire and trained there until his retirement in 1972. For much of his career he concentrated on jumpers but in his later years trained exclusively on the Flat. Beeby trained two winners of the Cheltenham Gold Cup, Brendan's Cottage in 1939 and Silver Fame in 1951. Beeby also