2008 Cheltenham Gold Cup

The 2008 Cheltenham Gold Cup was a horse race which took place at Cheltenham on Friday 14 March 2008. It was the 80th running of the Cheltenham Gold Cup, and it was won by Denman. The winner was ridden by Sam Thomas, and the first three horses were all trained by Paul Nicholls. The odds-on favourite Kauto Star finished second and Neptune Collonges was a close third.

The race had been billed as the most anticipated Gold Cup since Arkle and Mill House clashed in 1964, with Kauto Star racing against Denman for the first time. However, a close contest failed to materialise as Denman defeated his rival by a comfortable margin.

Race details

  • Sponsor: Totesport
  • Winner's prize money: £268,279.10
  • Going: Good to Soft
  • Number of runners: 12
  • Winner's time: 6m 47.84s

Full result

* Horse Age Jockey Trainer † SP
1 Denman 8 Sam Thomas Paul Nicholls 9/4
2 7 Kauto Star 8 Ruby Walsh Paul Nicholls 10/11 fav
3 shd Neptune Collonges 7 Mick Fitzgerald Paul Nicholls 25/1
4 9 Halcon Genelardais 8 Robert Thornton Alan King 16/1
5 16 Exotic Dancer 8 Tony McCoy Jonjo O'Neill 17/2
6 16 Knowhere 10 Paddy Brennan Nigel Twiston-Davies 25/1
7 65 Afistfullofdollars 10 Paul Carberry Noel Meade (IRE) 20/1
PU Fence 21 Iron Man 7 Denis O'Regan Peter Bowen 100/1
PU Fence 18 Celestial Gold 10 Timmy Murphy David Pipe 100/1
PU Fence 15 Contraband 10 Tom J. Dreaper Paul Murphy 200/1
PU Fence 14 Fustrien du Paon 12 Anthony Lecordier Richard Chotard (FR) 250/1
PU Fence 13 Azulejo 10 Tom Scudamore Michael Scudamore 200/1

* The distances between the horses are shown in lengths or shorter. shd = short-head; PU = pulled-up.
† Trainers are based in Great Britain unless indicated.

Winner's details

Further details of the winner, Denman:

References