WHEN Red Splash, a five-year-old chestnut with a white blaze whose name only rarely crops up these days in pub quizzes, won the inaugural Cheltenham Gold Cup in 1924, few people could have guessed how big the race would go on to become. Back then it was all about the Grand National. Indeed that first Gold Cup, one of the few weight-for-age non-handicap chases at the time, was very much regarded as a trial for Aintree, and the main talking point after that first running was less about Red Splash than Conjuror II’s head defeat in second that strengthened his position in the betting for Liverpool the following month.
As we approach the 100th anniversary of the race, the wheel has turned. Even though the National, a handicap dating back to 1839, has a longer history, tradition and is worth more, it finds itself somewhat under pressure. But partly because it is a handicap, the emphasis is on jumping and there are a lot of runners, the best horse does not always win. What’s more, crucial to
