1989 Cheltenham Gold Cup

The 1989 Cheltenham Gold Cup was a horse race which took place at Cheltenham on Thursday 16 March 1989. It was the 62nd running of the Cheltenham Gold Cup, and it was won by the pre-race favourite Desert Orchid. The winner was ridden by Simon Sherwood and trained by David Elsworth.

The race was later voted the "Greatest Race of All Time" in a Racing Post poll, ahead of the 1973 Grand National and the 1975 King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes.

Race details

• Sponsor: Tote
• Winner's prize money: £66,635.00
• Going: Heavy
• Number of runners: 13
• Winner's time: 7m 17.6s

Full result

	*	Horse	Age	Jockey	Trainer †	SP
1		Desert Orchid	10	Simon Sherwood	David Elsworth	5/2 fav
2	1½	Yahoo	8	Tom Morgan	John Edwards	25/1
3	8	Charter Party	11	Richard Dunwoody	David Nicholson	14/1
4	dist	Bonanza Boy	8	Peter Scudamore	Martin Pipe	15/2
5	dist	West Tip	12	Peter Hobbs	Michael Oliver	66/1
Ref	Fence 22	Cavvies Clown	9	Ross Arnott	David Elsworth	8/1
PU	Fence 22	Pegwell Bay	8	Carl Llewellyn	Tim Forster	25/1
BD	Fence 20	Ballyhane	8	Richard Rowe	Josh Gifford	50/1
Fell	Fence 20	Ten Plus	9	Kevin Mooney	Fulke Walwyn	11/2
Fell	Fence 17	Slalom	8	John White	Michael Robinson	33/1
Fell	Fence 10	The Thinker	11	Chris Grant	Arthur Stephenson	15/2
Fell	Fence 7	Carvill's Hill	7	Ken Morgan	Jim Dreaper (IRE)	5/1
Fell	Fence 6	Golden Freeze	7	Brendan Sheridan	Jumbo Wilkinson	16/1

* The distances between the horses are shown in lengths or shorter. Ref = refused; PU = pulled-up; BD = brought down.
† Trainers are based in Great Britain unless indicated.

Winner's details

Further details of the winner, Desert Orchid:

• Foaled: 11 April 1979 in Great Britain
• Sire: Grey Mirage; Dam: Flower Child (Brother)
• Owner: Richard Burridge
• Breeder: James Burridge

References

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• 1989
• news.google.co.uk/newspapers – Glasgow Herald – 22 March 1989.

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