MY GOLDEN MEMORIES OF GOLD CUP

Andrew Lowrie remembers Cheltenham 1987

The blue riband event of next month’s Cheltenham Festival is the Cheltenham Gold Cup, run over about 3m 2½ f on the new course on the final fourth day of superb racing in the Cotswolds at the foot of Cleeve Hill.

First run in March 1924 on the old course, the race did not enjoy the same prestige as it does today. It was not even the feature race of the meeting in those days, that mantle fell to the National Hunt Chase. In recent times that race has also been referred to as the four-miler, although from 2020 it will be run over a trip just shy of 3¾ miles. The 3¾ miler does not quite have the same ring to it, however, so I expect racegoers who are traditionalists at large will still refer to it as the four miler!