Five great winners of the Hennessy Gold Cup at Newbury
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Five great Hennessy Gold Cup winners
Native River is currently 5/1 favourite with Coral to land the 60th running of the Hennessy Gold Cup at Newbury on Saturday (15.10).
Here, our horse racing experts take a look at five great horses that have won the prestigious 3m 2f handicap chase at the Berkshire venue…
Arkle (1964/65)
Trained by Tom Dreaper, Arkle is the greatest steeplechaser of all time and carried 12st 7lb to victory to win back-to-back runnings of the contest. In the second of those in 1965 he gave 32lb and upwards to his rivals and ran them ragged. Owned by Anne, Duchess Of Westminster, the gelding also landed a hat-trick in the Cheltenham Gold Cup between 1964 and 1966 and among his numerous other top class successes was victory in the 1964 Irish Grand National.
Bregawn (1982)
The Michael Dickinson trained Bregawn was a quirky but highly talented individual renowned for sometimes planting himself at the start. He lost around five with a bad mistake at the last in the 1982 Hennessy before surging home on the run-in under Graham Bradley to collar stable companion Captain John. Bregawn went to to finish runner-up to stablemate Silver Buck in the Cheltenham Gold Cup that season before a year later going one better to lead home four stable companions in chasing’s blue riband contest. The Dickinson ‘Famous Five’ is one of the greatest training achievements of all-time.
Burrough Hill Lad (1984)
After winning the Coral Welsh Grand National in 1983, the Jenny Pitman trained Burrough Hill Lad produced a series of stunning performances. He gave 21lb a a four length beating to RSA chase winner Canny Danny under top weight of 12st in the 1984 Hennessy when given an ultra-confident ride by John Francome before going on to land the King George at Kempton and Cheltenham Gold Cup. His career was then blighted with injury but he undoubtedly produced one of the best weight carrying performance of the modern era when landing the Hennessy.
Denman (2007/2009)
Known as “The Tank”, the Paul Nicholls trained Denman destroyed the field under an attacking ride to land the 2007 Hennessy before going to to beat legendary stablemate Kauto Star by seven lengths in the 2008 Cheltenham Gold Cup. He Then become the first since Arkle to win a second Hennessy in 2009, with the only other to achieve such a feat being Mandarin. Not only had Denman equalled those great horses, but he had done so following a remarkable comeback from a heart ailment which at one stage threatened not just his racing career but his life.
One Man (1994)
The Gordon Richards trained popular grey won 20 of 35 races and ran out one of the easiest winners in the history of the Hennessy when taking along throughout and pulling effortlessly clear to win by a wide margin. One Man went on to land back-to-back runnings of the King George at Kempton in 1995/96 before landing the 1998 renewal of the Queen Mother Champion Chase at the Cheltenham Festival. He was renowned for his jumping ability and high cruising speed and adopted by many as the new Desert Orchid.
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