When it comes to shocks at the Cheltenham Festival, there is perhaps nothing to compare to when Norton’s Coin won the Gold Cup in 1990.
Trained in Wales by dairy farmer Sirrell Griffiths, Norton’s Coin’s victory at odds of 100/1 came at the expense, among others, of the hugely popular Desert Orchid, who had been sent off the odds-on favourite to win the Gold Cup for the second year running.
Norton’s Coin’s victory 24 years ago could foreshadow a potentially similar upset in this year’s renewal, yet it seems harder than ever to view an outsider causing such a Gold Cup shock.
A short-priced Gold Cup favourite
If you are looking to bet on horse racing online for the Gold Cup, last year’s winner Galopin Des Champs is a general even-money favourite, and not a dissimilar price to Desert Orchid. When assessing the betting for Cheltenham Festival Gold Cup markets, the horse that possesses a comparable profile, if not quite price, to Norton’s Coin is The Real Whacker.
Like Norton’s Coin, The Real Whacker has shown previous Festival form after winning last year’s Brown Advisory Novice Chase, will also be taking on the previous year’s Gold Cup winner and the general 25/1 shot is in the stable of a small trainer in Patrick Neville.
While Neville does not possess the battalion of quality horses the likes of Willie Mullins and Gordon Elliott do, he still has more ammunition than Griffiths did.
Griffiths did not even need two hands to count the number of horses in his yard and also did not hold a full trainer’s license so was only able to run Norton’s Coin due to being his owner.
Yet, despite this background and his 100/1 starting price, Norton’s Coin’s victory should perhaps not be looked back upon as such a seismic shock, even if no horse has won the Gold Cup at a bigger price than 25/1 in the subsequent years.
A love of Cheltenham and the springtime
Norton’s Coin started to rise through the chasing ranks in the 1988-89 season and he finished runner-up in the Cathcart Chase at the 1989 Festival before rounding off the campaign with back-to-back wins, including a Grade Two success at 20/1 in the Silver Trophy at Cheltenham.
He finished a distant last behind Desert Orchid on his return in the King George VI Chase at Kempton the next season and also failed to win his next three starts, albeit in races over shorter distances. It was clear, though, that a combination of the spring and Cheltenham brought the best out of Norton’s Coin.
In the Gold Cup, Norton’s Coin was settled towards the rear of the field by jockey Graham McCourt in the early stages of the race before moving forward at the end of the first circuit. He then sat just off the leaders before being brought through to challenge turning for home, staying on strongly to beat Toby Tobias, with Desert Orchid third.
Norton’s Coin did only win once more in his career, but that was also in the spring at Cheltenham when he won the Silver Trophy for a second time in 1991, having fallen in the Gold Cup the month before.
The National Hunt landscape has changed dramatically since Norton’s Coin’s Gold Cup win in 1990, but his victory is proof that so long as you have the right horse, even the smallest of trainers and biggest-priced horses can have their day in the spotlight.
Header image source: Unsplash