The Cheltenham Gold Cup is a National Hunt chase race. It allows horses to enter who are age 5 and over. There are 22 fence obstacles over a distance of 5,331 metres. The race takes place at the annual Cheltenham National Hunt Festival in Prestbury Park, Cheltenham.  The Gold Cup race has always been one of the most exciting races, with the top horses and jockeys racing.

It was established in 1819 but at that time it was a flat race. This changed and it became a jump race in 1924. It has been a jump chase race every year since. The Gold Cup is the most prestigious of all of the National Hunt races, and in the past it has been dubbed the ‘Blue Riband’ of horse racing.

The Gold Cup has been canceled on a number of occasions, including 1931 due to frosty weather, 1937 due to flooding, and then again in 1943 and 1944 because of World War II. Then in 2001 after an outbreak of foot and mouth disease in bovine animals across the UK, dubbed  ‘mad cow disease’, the Gold Cup was canceled once again.

There are a whole host of previous winners, and the first ever winner was Red Splash in 1924. In more recent years there have been some fantastic wins. In 1996, Imperial Call won with jockey Conor O’Dwyer, then in 997 we saw the title won by Mr Mulligan and jockey Tony McCoy.

The following year was won by Cool Dawn, then in 1999 it was won by See More Business. The millennium saw Looks Like Trouble take the lead, but in 2001 the event was canceled as previously mentioned due to foot and mouth disease.

The next race was in 2002, and it was won by Best Mate who went on to win the next two years races. 2005 was won by Kicking King, in 2006 War of Attrition took the top spot, 2007 was Kuato Star, Denman in 2008, Kuato Star then won again in 2009 and the last Cheltenham Gold Cup was won by the stunning Imperial Commander.

For 2011, the Gold Cup will be on the final day of the Cheltenham National Hunt Festival which falls on 18th March 2011. Imperial Commander, who was last year’s winner is once again the bookmaker’s favourite to win the 2011 Gold Cup with odds of 37/10. The next closest is Long Run with odds of 7/1.

It is quite clear that there is a strong feeling that Imperial Commander will win the title a second year running. Imperial Commander has so far run only one race this season which was the Betfair Chase in November 2010. He missed the King George VI Chase because of an infection, however he is now reported to be well recovered and still very much at the top to win the Gold Cup come March. Nigel Twiston-Davies is the trainer for this wonderful horse, and the jockey for the 2011 Gold Cup will be Paddy Brennon.