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Betfred Gold Cup Meeting
Sandown Park
The Betfred Gold Cup at Sandown Park has always held a special place as the last big race of the National Hunt season - staged as part of a mixed jumps/Flat raceday which symbolises the transition from winter to summer.
This popular and exciting raceday has an end-of-season party atmosphere, especially with the recent introduction of an awards ceremony to honour the top performers of the jumps season.
The big race, formerly known as the Whitbread Gold Cup and then the attheraces Gold Cup, offers a final opportunity for the top staying chasers to prove their courage and class over three miles and five furlongs around Sandown's famous course.
The atmosphere is always electric as the horses battle up the final hill to the winning post and it is no surprise that Sandown is regularly voted one of Britain’s top racing venues.
The race has produced some of the most memorable moments in jump racing history, including Arkle’s famous weight-carrying win in 1965, when he shouldered 12st 7lb and became the only horse to complete the Cheltenham Gold Cup-Whitbread Gold Cup double in the same year.
Other illustrious winners include the Queen Mother’s Special Cargo, who won by two short-heads in 1984, and Desert Orchid (1988).
There is high-class Flat racing too, with the Group 2 betfred.com Mile and the Group 3 Gordon Richards Stakes over 10 furlongs.
The first day of the meeting also mixes Flat and jumps, with the Flat races including the 10-furlong Classic Trial, often a pointer to the Derby.
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Racing
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