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
1989 Grand National after finishing third in the Welsh National, behind Bonanza Boy but then fell when trying to score a second Gold Cup the month before the National. That race had been won by Simon Sherwood aboard Desert Orchid but with the Cheltenham Champion not sent to Aintree, Sherwood took the ride on The Thinker in a bid to complete the double in the same season. Despite being given the top weight of 11 stone 10 lbs, The Thinker was backed down to 10/1 at the off but for most of the race it looked as if they would fare no better