In "your" lifetime, what are your most taking cheltenham festival performance(s)?

Our Conor - Triumph Hurdle

When he came down in the Champion Hurdle, was the one time I've been at cheltenham, but wished I wasn't. I look forward to going to Chelts every year, but that day ruined the whole festival for me.

Gotta agree Masterminded as a five year old, we were at a preview meeting two nights before and voy por ustedes was 'unbeatable and in the form of his life' according to choc thornton.

Denman, his brutish performance to overpower Kauto was pretty jaw dropping too.

WTF value = Anzum was a fairytale finish, he was never in it until a yard from the line....

wow I could go on all day!

Has to be Tommo asking Ruby, " do you think you chose the wrong one"? After Denman beat Kauto.

Dawn Run's Gold Cup
Tuitchev winning The Arkle for Henderson - a dodgy jumper coming good on the big day
Hors La Loi - absolutely trashing the field in the Supreme


WTF - McCoy rousting Blowing Wind home in The County to land a monster punt from a seemingly hopeless position

Looks Like Trouble's RSA was immense. The mighty Nick Dundee took that pearler of a fall, which effectively ended his career, but the two had already pulled miles clear by that point. Looks Like Trouble kept galloping and won by a distance! The whole field set off like it was the Arkle and most were cooked with a mile to run. It was brutal, but incredible viewing.

Arkle's majestic Gold Cup wins.
Desert Orchid's 1989 GC win.
Night Nurse eipc battle with Monksfield 1977 (the CHs that followed were pretty good too)
Denman's win v Kauto 2008 Gold Cup
Florida Pearl RSA Chase win (his pinnacle).

So many to choose from Willie Wumpkins, Baulking Green in lesser races.

1989 when Rogers Princess won the Coral Hurdle. She took it up two out and won by twelve lengths.

I can't belive that it was 26 years ago now.

Barton - Sun Alliance Hurdle (Neptune)
Master Minded - Queen Mother @ 5
Our Conor - Triumph
Istabraq - 3rd Champion Hurdle
Dunguib - Bumper .... still get goosebumps watching that

sublimity
binocular
our conor    all magic days financially

dawn run
monksfield
hardy eustace    magic days emotionally

i was there to witness the two following epic moments:
;
sprinter sacre's arkle: when barry took a look over his shoulder for the second time the crowd made this noise that still gives me the chills

long run's gold cup: when kauto and denman were going at it turning in, and we all got this surprise match up that seemed unlikely and then long run spoilt the party

Yes to many of the above but Imperial Commander's Gold Cup ranks pretty high.

All the build up it had been about Kauto and Denman (fine horses both) and on the day itself, everyone was being 'forced' into one of these camps.

I was in the Arkle Bar early on with a group of mates and we all had reached a consensus we were pretty disgusted with this 'Binary' marketing that was going on. They were giving out scarves with the horses colours on, Cheltenham and the racing Post had got on board and to us and a few others that were in earshot, it seemed disrespectful of the other runners and connections in The Gold Cup and far from being 'good for racing' it was the absolute antithesis of the 'all in it together' heartbeat of Nationl Hunt racing.

Anyway the Guiness slid down and we got more and more vocal about the brainwashed Kauto vs Denman 'once a year' types (Our National Hunt inclusiveness thrown joyously to the four winds at this point! Phuq these scarf-wearing to$$er$ was pretty much our mindset at this point!)until in the end we decided to put up or shut up and stick the rest of our drinking fund on Imperial Commander.

You know how the story panned out.

Looking back, we probably took it way too seriously but for a couple of hours, we felt like the guardians of the soul of Jumps Racing, standing firm against the marketing weasels and their easily-led peons.....or something!

Golden Cygnet Supreme Novices most visually stunning
Sea Pigeon    81 Champion Hurdle poetry in motion
Rooster Booster tanking and Johnson taking a pull after 2nd last
Badsworth Boy and Master Minded  Champion Chase
Dunguib and Cue Card bumper.

Geoff M, have to agree with you there on all counts, I'd chuck in Sprinter in 2013 aswell and Vautour last year was hugely impressive, although the form doesn't read too well now.

WPM MULLINS ride on WITHER OR WITCH in the BUMPER 1996 seen him win in rearranged STEPHENS/BOXING DAY MEETING LEOP 31st DEC 95 finished with head in its chest with WPM not asking but horse pulling 20L clear EVERYTHING ELSE that day finished out on their feet ground was that sticky.
   TOLD ALL THE LAD'S IN OUR PARTY THAT THIS IS AN ABSOLUTE CERTAINTY couldn't believe WPM was facing wrong way when starter let them go he turned round after them took it up 5 FURLONGS OUT and WON 2L
BACK IN FRONT SN IN 2003 when he was coming to 2 out youd think everything else had ran 3 mile

Has to be Moscow Flyer regaining his Champion Chase crown as an 11 year old. WTF moment was Pizarro keeping the bumper after Frank stopped Rhinestone Cowboy twice up the straight.

Another vote for Denman. When Sam took up the running on the second cirtuit... what a display of relentless gallopping and jumping.

Why has there been no mention on Regal Ambition.

Katarino (Triumph) - kicking in the turbo's up the hill after looking in trouble
Hors La Loi (Supreme) - demolition as a 4-y-o
Remittance Man (Arkle) - fantastic jumper
Looks Like Trouble (Gold Cup) - thorough staying performance

WTF - Kings Curate - winning Stayers hurdle after looking like being pulled up
      Home Counties - weaving through the field like Arazi in the County Hurdle

Saw recently that Scudamore put Regal Ambition at No.1 in his best horses ridden list ahead of Carvill's Hill

The mare Brief Gale trouncing the hype horses Harcon and Banjo in the Sun Alliance mid nineties. Sweet moment.

Denman's brutal front running performance in the Gold Cup.

Harchibald not winning the champion - Never known the racecourse so animated after a race before or since.

Unsinkable Boxer. Gold Card Final.

alderbrook 1995 champion hurdle...sickening for large action supporters (i was one) but a monster performance by the novice

best mate going through the gears between the last down the back and coming down the hill,taking lengths out of the field in cruise mode,same accelaration a year later when harbour pilot tried to cut him up,

I go for most of the above and will throw in
Mysilv finishing 2nd in the stayers after running in the Champion Hdl.

all the stayers inglis,barracouda,iris gift,big bucks,when open looking races at the top of the hill disintegrate,when these thorough stayers kick in the over drive

Rooster booster 2003 champion hurdle, literally pulled itself away from the field

It has to be Collier Bay for me. I had a horse with Jim Old at the time and we were all on at nice prices and topped up after he won the Irish CH. Led from some way out and his jumping was the most accurate I have ever seen thanks to Graham Bradley. Jodami was one of the most impressive looking horses I have ever seen and his GC win was special.

Newmill 2006 QMCC
Pedrobob 2007 VOBCHH (For the ride as much as anything, How many pulls did P Carberry take coming down the hill then into the straight)
Denman 2007 RSA
Inglis Drever 2008 WH
Sprinter Sacre 2012 Arkle
Big Bucks 2012 WH

Less my lifetime more one's I witnessed which stuck in my head

Carberry on Bellvano deserves a mention.

walsh probably give his best ever ride on oonenphoja[dog for short] and still got chinned by pedro
what was the name of that horse that was owner trained before moving to pro trainer that used to cruise up before finding zilch,cattermole was wetting himself when he cruised up by azertyiup in the ch chase before finding less than zilch,

Venn Ottery ?

thays the fella, ,
owner thoughtn he should have won the gold cup,national and boat race,had an engine though ,for about half a mile in every race,

Man was slightly overambitious to say the least , Didn't him and Nicholls fall out over some of his lofty targets and constant entries ?

him and notty

venn ottery and hunt ball

could have had some match bets,

Soon to appear on a "Cheltenham - Where are they now" thread

think venn ottery needed an all out end to end fast run 4 miler around fakenham with john francome puuting his head in front on the line

Viking Flagship's first Champion Chase win made a big impression - he was tiny, had to carry 12 stone and I don't think I've ever seen a horse try harder than him.

I loved Katchit's Champion Hurdle win for similar reasons.

Cu Card's bumper win for that West Country dairy farmer bloke was an eye opener as well...

Most taking as opposed to best obviously

Badsworth Boy's effortless 31 length champion chase win in 1983
Bula 1971 Champion Hurdle
One Man Champion Chase 1998
Alverton 1979 Gold Cup

sprinter sacre winning champion chase

terninded doing same

Sea Pigeon and Derring Rose 1981 both ridden by the great John Francome.

Wither or witch is the best I ever seen left behind and still won can't remember if it was all amateurs then or professional jockeys were used but to win like that was something else

So many to choose from and hard to argue with most already mentioned. So I'll add another.

Stoutey's flying grey - Kribensis winning the CH in 1990, 2 years after bolting up in the Triumph.

Our Connor in the Triumph, absolutely destroyed them

back in front 2003
MAXIMIZE @ 40-1 getting up to beat merchants friend
DANOLI
WHATS UP BOYS
HARCHIBALD/HARDY
barracouda/bannow bay
dunguib
hurricane fly 2011
DARK STRANGER 2000ish
royal predica HANDICAP CHASE 2002  ISH

Rooster Booster
Barton
Any of Viking Flagships's

for sheer perseverance and the effort involved Flagship Uberalles.

Morley street
Montelado

Morley Street was a proper horse. Won the CH despite the ground and track being against him (he was a fast ground Aintree specialist if I remember right).

That rogerthebutler is a true intellectual. Should I put him in the aftertiming thread? Perhaps not, seeing as he
can spell consensus.

We are all harking back a few years but Vautour was awesome in the Supreme last year-and Faugheen is even better! With Un Des Sceaux as well, we might look back in 2 years time and see that they are all really top class-on the other hand they might not be.

PeteTheBloke
     25 Feb 15 19:20   

That rogerthebutler is a true intellectual. Should I put him in the aftertiming thread? Perhaps not, seeing as he
can spell consensus.

I thought I came off more 'pretentious tosspot' actually!

And the mare is beginning to get up.(the great Dawn Run)

I thought I came off more 'pretentious tosspot' actually

Not at all.

Golden Cygnet without any shadow of a doubt. Here's the video of his win in the Supreme Novices Hurdle. Terrible quality but you'll pick him up second from the right and sawing on the bit as he comes down the hill.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Q2vbqNMf-I
Desperately sad we only saw him in two more races. Still in his first season over hurdles he was set to give 5lb to Night Nurse and only received 1lb from Sea Pigeon in the Scottish Champion Hurdle but he came to grief at the last when travelling like the winner and died from his injuries several days later.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GtieDQ9blK4
I think he would have been the greatest ever.

Fond memories of Ruling placing 3rd in the 1991 Champion Hurdle at 50/1 which won me a very nice jeraboam of champagne as the Ladbrokes Pocket Companion horses to follow champion 1990.

Not only that he followed up, with a 20/1 3rd a year later.

Royal Gait's CH win was fascinating.  A disqualified Group 1 winner on the flat he went and beat Oh So Risky and Ruling 3rd.  I was on Ruling but I loved it that a flat horse came good over the jumps.

Desert Orchid was the most special of all IMO.

I saw Garrison Savannah and was also at Aintree when little Seagram collared him on the run-in to prevent him making history.  Underrated IMO.

Carvills Hill/Golden Freeze saga.

Denman/Kauto

Monksfield/Night Nurse/Sea Pigeon/Birds Nest - just about old enough to remember those battles

dessie 89

sprinter sacre 2015 :)

Cheers for posting that Autocue

rathgorman QMCC

rathgorman QMCC

Rooster Booster winning the CH... Absolutely hosed up!

your deep in your programming, but it's all yours

I remember Gaelstrom winning a novice hurdle under P Scudamore in early 90s. Remarkably game mare.

it's not going to be a popular choice but one of the most surprising and impressive performances I've seen was when Mister McGoldrick, seemingly way past his best, won the Racing Post Plate in 2008. He went off at 66/1 and absolutely destroyed the field by over 10 lengths