Blue Square Gold Cup
This premier National Hunt race will be staged on Saturday 20th February 2010 and with a guaranteed prize money fund of £100,000, this Grade 3 Ch4-televised race is one of the most valuable races of the jump racing calendar and attracts the very best long distance steeplechasers from around the country.
The Blue Square Gold Cup has attracted high profile sponsors since its inception in 1968, with previous sponsorship banners including Greenalls and De Vere, but one thing has remained constant during the race's lengthy history and that is its habit of consistently producing high-quality action.
Often billed as the trial for the Grand National, this valuable staying handicap chase certainly served its purpose as a stepping stone to Aintree during the '70s. Indeed the most successful National horse of all time, Red Rum, has used this Haydock race as his prep run for all 5 years of his remarkable Aintree era and both Party Politics (1992) and Earth Summit (1998) gained their Aintree wins after finishing 5th in the same season's Gold Cup.
The Blue Square Gold Cup is not solely confined to its effectiveness as a National trial, however. In fact, in many ways it has proved a better trial for the Cheltenham Gold Cup, with Royal Frolic (1976), Alverton (1979) and Cool Ground (1992) all victorious at Haydock en route to landing the Cheltenham Gold Cup, whilst the 1995 Gold Cup winner, Master Oats was also successful in both contests.
There are many other memorable names on the Blue Square Gold Cup's roll of honour and the race has been particularly kind to several course specialists, whom regular Haydock visitors will doubtless remember. The 1996 victor, Lo Stregone, was a 4-time winner here, whilst Suny Bay notched his 3rd course win when landing the race the following year. The most recent Haydock favourite to win was The Last Fling, his success in 2000 being his 4th and final victory at the track.
Today
'Summer Loving' Evening Racing
6:10PM
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