Paddy Power Gold Cup memories: David Ord's favourite Cheltenham winners

I suppose the Paddy Power Gold Cups you remember most fondly are the ones in which you backed the winner. It’s that sort of race.

If you followed the Martin Pipe team around the turn of the century, then you were in clover. It was like a conveyor belt of well-backed, Pond House bankers in the first big handicap of the jumps season.

Challenger Du Luc (1996), Lady Cricket (2000), Shooting Light (2001), Cyfor Malta (2002), Celestial Gold (2004), Our Vic (2005) - they came, they saw, they conquered for a genuine game-changing operation at the peak of its powers.

To beat them you needed something special. Nicky Henderson had it in 2003 with Fondmort, a strong-travelling, bold-jumping horse who was made for Cheltenham. He loved the place – and those there loved him.

Jonjo O’Neill stuck cheekpieces on Exotic Dancer for the first time over fences as he beat the Pipes' Vodka Bleu in 2006 to take his first steps on what was to be a stellar chasing career.

And if his was good, how about Imperial Commander? He was rated 139 when beating Barber Shop in a tremendous 2008 renewal before scaling the greatest heights of the winter game.

One of the few advantages of raising the bat upon reaching your half-century, other than qualifying for a free flu jab, is being able to remember Half Free going back-to-back for Fred Winter and Richard Linley in 1984 and 1985. Fifty Dollars More was another high-quality winner for the same team in 1982.

Very Promising and Another Coral stand out for the David Nicholson and Richard Dunwoody axis, Beau Ranger was an early warning shot of what was to come from the Pipe empire, from the front and running his rivals ragged nine years before their next success in the race.

But two winners stand out for me, personally – and I backed neither. In fact, I backed the same horse in all three races we’re going to discuss and he was placed each time.

Egypt Mill Prince was never to win the artist formerly know as the Mackeson but he hit the frame in 1993, 1994 and 1995.

In his first crack at the prize, with ten stone two pounds to carry, he produced an exhibition round under Jamie Osborne. By the turn for home he had them all beat bar Declan Murphy and Bradbury Star. As was his ilk, Murphy was motionless aboard the runner-up.

Osborne and the leader conjured one final slick leap at the last but that hill is steep and wasn’t for him - even with those younger legs. Bradbury Star, trained by the wonderful Josh Gifford, devoured it to win by seven lengths. A month later he came within a head of winning the King George, denied by Barton Bank in a King George finish of the ages.

The principals were back 12 months on. Bradbury Star was up 20 pounds to an official mark of 174 and carried 12 stone. Philip Hide was in the saddle this time and his partner produced one of the best modern-day performances in the race, travelling and jumping typically sweetly before this time coming out on the right side of a head verdict after a rare old tussle with Irish raider Second Schedule.

Egypt Mill Prince was third that day, beaten approaching the last, but in 1995 his day looked to have finally arrived. As he always was when he was on song, Jenny Pitman's charge was quick at his fences, travelled sweetly on the heels of the leader and went past him going to the last under Warren Marston.

Another proficient leap there and that was that. The hill needed climbing of course but this time there was petrol in the tank.

The problem is the horse he’d passed was Dublin Flyer.

He had been foot perfect himself at every fence - no, even better than that - but with no obstacles left to eke out an advantage, he had to call on his remarkable reserves of courage to pull this one out of the fire. The giant nine-year-old devoured the ground in the closing stages to not only get to the leader – but past him.

At the line he was a widening half-a-length clear. It’s a race you can watch over and over and over again – even if you backed the second.

Who was your favourite Paddy Power Gold Cup winner and why?

Email racingfeedback@sportinglife.com.

Andrew Pelis:

Some wonderful memories of Cheltenham winners past.

My personal favourite was that hardy grey Man Alive, who won a cracking contest back in 1979.

I was still in my early stages of falling in love with racing, just starting to recognise and remember horse names.

And Night Nurse was already well on my radar and I was familiar with Bawnogues (a previous winner) and Even Melody (a Massey Ferguson Gold Cup winner) who had both run in the big two-mile chase on Grand National day, Bishop's Pawn, Artifice and Rollercoaster.

But it was the Gordon Richards-trained Man Alive, an almost white horse, who stood out in this renewal.

At the top of the hill, Night Nurse had run his race and it was The Snipe who went on, with plenty of contenders queueing up. At the tricky second last, Rollercoaster and Oliver Sherwood held a narrow lead, with Man Alive and Ron Barry making stealthy progress to the inside, to lead on the home turn.

As they straightened up to take the final fence, there were four virtually in a line: Man Alive, The Snipe, Rollercoaster and Flashy Boy. It was the former two who went on and The Snipe jumped the last the better and had a clear advantage.

But that Cheltenham Hill played its part and Man Alive, with the inside rail to help, rallied well to get up in an exciting finish.

Man Alive was instantly recognisable and went on to race well into his teens. He was one of ten first fence fallers in the 1982 Grand National and ran several times over the big fences, memorably running out on one occasion when going well in the Topham or Foxhunters. He was one of my all-time favourite greys and one of the building blocks in my love of racing. That Mackeson brings back so many happy memories and was jam-packed with horses I recall instantly still today as they all competed often and in the big races.

More from Sporting Life

• Racecards
• Fast results
• Full results and free video replays
• Horse racing news
• Horse racing tips
• Horse racing features
• Download our free iOS and Android app
• Football and other sports tips
• Podcasts and video content

Safer gambling

We are committed in our support of safer gambling. Recommended bets are advised to over-18s and we strongly encourage readers to wager only what they can afford to lose.

If you are concerned about your gambling, please call the National Gambling Helpline / GamCare on 0808 8020 133.

Further support and information can be found at begambleaware.org and gamblingtherapy.org.