Cheltenham Gold Cup 2012

It time for the biggest race of the 2012 Cheltenham Festival, if not the season, the 2012 Cheltenham Gold Cup. A Class A, Grade 1 chase run over 3m 2f, the race is open to horses aged five years old and upwards and with an incredible £500,000 in prize money for this race, it is the ultimate feather in any trainer and owners cap.

The 2011 winner was race favourite Long Run, ridden by amateur jockey Sam Waley-Cohen, who had a blinding race despite being up against some very tough competition, namely from Paul Nicholls trio Denman, Kauto Star and What A Friend but they were no match for awesome Long Run who goes in to the 2012 Gold Cup as clear favourite and on the day will undoubtedly be odds on so although ante-post odds aren’t great, they’re also probably the longest they’ll ever be!

Of course that comes down to the fact that short odds horses fair very well and six favourites have won from the last nine outings. Kauto Star seems to be his nearest rival and despite a fantastic win at Haydock in Betfair Chase on November 19th, he is going to be 12 years old which may be a tad too much for the Gold Cup.