2011 Cheltenham Gold Cup 2011 Cheltenham Gold Cup The 2011 Cheltenham Gold Cup was a horse race which took place at Cheltenham on Friday March 18, 2011. It was the 83rd running of the Cheltenham Gold Cup, and it was won by the pre-race favourite Long Run who beat three previous winners of the Gold Cup in Kauto Star, Denman and defending champion Imperial Commander. Long Run was ridden by Mr Sam Waley-Cohen and trained by Nicky Henderson. Waley-Cohen became the first amateur jockey to win the Cheltenham Gold Cup since Jim Wilson on Little Owl in 1981 while Long Run was the first
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