Greatwood Gold Cup Odds
The Greatwood Gold Cup is a Grade 3 handicap steeple chase that takes place at Newbury in late February, and often attracts quality horses that may not be good enough to win at the Cheltenham Festival a few weeks later, but this race is still a quality affair contested by a whole host of classy performers. You can find the Greatwood Gold Cup odds here when they become available with the boomakers.
Greatwood Gold Cup Tips
You can check out our Greatwood Gold Cup tips here...
What is the Greatwood Gold Cup?
The Greatwood Gold Cup is a Grade 3 handicap chase run at Newbury and is run over two miles and four furlongs. Open to horses aged five years or older, it is often a competitive betting heat targeted by all the leading trainers in Britain.
Being so close to the Cheltenham Festival, it may lack the strength in depth of those races seen at Prestbury Park a few weeks later, but it's an ideal race for those that just fall below the level needed to win the likes of the Ryanair Chase at Cheltenham, so it can still provide a decent winner that could progress on to bigger and better things.
Introduced to the National Hunt calendar in 2004, it was promoted to Grade 3 level in 2007, and continues to grow in stature and certainly offers Newbury racegoers a classy race to watch in February.
What happened in the 2023 Greatwood Gold Cup?
Henry Oliver's The Big Bite was a shock 12/1 winner of the Greatwood Gold Cup as he fended off Gemirande in a thrilling finish to the valuable handicap chase at Newbury.
The history of the Greatwood Gold Cup
Still a relatively new race on the National Hunt calendar having only been introduced in 2004, but the history of the race is all about Paul Nicholls, who has a sensational record in the Newbury race.
While Nicholls biggest rival Nicky Henderson bagged the inaugural running of the race with Isio, it was Nicholls that has dominated the race since and bagged his first win in the race in 2006 with Cornish Sett, who dead-heated with Horus. The Ditcheat handler hasn't looked back and won a plethora of renewals of the Greatwood Gold Cup with Natal (2008), Big Fella Thanks (2010) and Sametegal (2016) just another trio of notable winners.
Named in honour of Greatwood, a charity for the welfare of retired racehorses, the Greatwood Gold Cup is sure to continue to blossom over the coming years, and is sure to be a key target for all the premier trainers.
Who is the most iconic winner of the Greatwood Gold Cup?
It may not be the most iconic winner of the race, but the most memorable renewal of the Greatwood Gold Cup was the 2006 running which saw the Paul Nicholls-trained Cornish Sett ridden by Ruby Walsh dead heat with Martin Pipe's Horus, who was the mount of Jamie Moore.
After a gruelling test of 2m 4f, the pair went across the line in unison and the judge was unable to split the pair and the Greatwood Gold Cup had its first ever dead heat.
Are there any trials for the Greatwood Gold Cup?
There's a host of middle-distance handicap chases taking place across the country during the season, so it's hard to pinpoint an actual trial race for the Greatwood Gold Cup, but Newbury and Ascot offer competitive handicap chase races during the season, so form at those two tracks could prove informative.
Who is the most successful jockey in the Greatwood Gold Cup?
Nick Scholfield has the best record in the Greatwood Gold Cup as having ridden Natal to victory in 2008 for Paul Nicholls, the pair then teamed up with New Little Bric in 2009. Scholfield then bagged his third win in the race on board San Benedeto in 2019, so he has the most wins in the race with three victories.
Who is the most successful trainer in the Greatwood Gold Cup?
One man is dominant in this race and that's Paul Nicholls, who has trained the winner on nine occasions. Cornish Sett (2006) was his first win in the race, while he saddled the aforementioned duo of Natal (2008) and New Little Bric (2009) to victory. Since then Big Fella Thanks (2010), Aerial (2012), Pacha Du Polder (2013), Sound Investment (2015), Sametegal (2016), and San Benedeto (2019) have enhanced his stunning record.