The Cheltenham November Meeting is one of the highlights of autumn and the Paddy Power Gold Cup is the feature event of what is always three highly competitive days in the Cotswolds.
Cheltenham November Meeting: 5 PPGC Winners
The November Meeting is Cheltenham’s highest profile get-together outside of the Festival in March and here we look back at five of the finest winners of the meeting’s flagship handicap chase.
Cheltenham November Meeting: Fortria
First ran in 1960 as the Mackeson Gold Cup, Fortria was a stellar inaugural winner of the race for Irish trainer Tom Dreaper and jockey Pat Taaffe. Winner of the Champion Chase at the Festival in 1960 and 1961, Fortria won the race for a second time in 1962 and is one of only five horses to have won the race more than once.
A top-notch performer at a number of distances, Fortria also won the Irish Grand National in 1961 and twice finished as runner-up in the Cheltenham Gold Cup, to Mandarin in 1962 and behind Mill House a year later.
Cheltenham November Meeting: Half Free
Only two horses have ever managed to win successive renewals of Cheltenham’s November showpiece. The first was Half Free, who scored in 1984 and 1985 for legendary trainer Fred Winter and jockey Richard Linley.
Bradbury Star repeated the trick in 1993 and 1994 for handler Josh Gifford.
Cheltenham November Meeting: Our Vic
Martin Pipe is the winningmost trainer in the history of the Paddy Power Gold Cup with eight victories to his name. The Pond House supremo saddled Beau Ranger (1987), Challenger du Luc (1996), Cyfor Malta (1998 and 2002), Lady Cricket (2000), Shooting Light (2001) and Celestial Gold (2004) to victory before claiming his final win in the race with Our Vic in 2005.
Timmy Murphy was in the saddle that day as the pair held off Monkerhostin to win well.
Cheltenham November Meeting: Exotic Dancer
Jonjo O’Neill and AP McCoy teamed up to land the Cheltenham prize with Exotic Dancer in 2006, one of three wins for the trainer and four for the 20-time champion jockey. Success in the race formed part of Exotic Dancer’s best season. He won the December Gold Cup back at Cheltenham soon after and then finished second to the mighty Kauto Star in the King George at Kempton and Cheltenham Gold Cup.
Exotic Dancer would have his own days in the sun, too, beating My Will in the Aintree Bowl in April 2007 and adding another Grade 1 success to his CV in the Lexus Chase at Leopardstown in December 2008.
Cheltenham November Meeting: Al Ferof
Another class act to score was Paul Nicholls’ much-loved grey Al Ferof, who provided Ruby Walsh with just sole success in the race. Winner of the Supreme Novices’ Hurdle at the Festival in 2011, Al Ferof was a Grade 1-winning novice chaser that year but his career stalled somewhat soon after.
He won the 2012 renewal of the Paddy Power under topweight in what proved to be his only start of the season. Al Ferof was confined to Grade 2 wins at Ascot and Huntingdon later in an honourable career that also saw him run well in a host of Grade 1 staying chases as he ended his time under the care of Nicholls’ protege, Dan Skelton.
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