Cheltenham Gold Cup was responsible for all of the first five horses to finish – Bregawn, Captain John, Wayward Lad, Silver Buck and Ashley House. The 1986 winner, Dawn Run, is the only horse to have ever won both this race and the leading hurdle event, the Champion Hurdle. One of the most popular horses to win the Gold Cup was Desert Orchid, a grey who won the event in 1989. The following year's running was won by Norton's Coin, whose starting price of 100/1 represents the race's longest ever winning price. The entire Cheltenham Festival was cancelled in 2001 because of an
Denman (horse) an irregular heartbeat. After treatment in Newmarket, which was successful, the horse returned to full training. Although entered for a race over hurdles over the Christmas period (in which he did not run), he made his reappearance at Kempton Park Racecourse on February 7. Despite starting an odds-on favourite, he finished well beaten in second place behind Madison Du Berlais, and questions were asked as to whether he would regain his old form. He did not run again before he tried to retain the Gold Cup at Cheltenham in March. Denman finished a 13l second in the 2009 Cheltenham Gold