Horse Racing: Best Mate, the Cheltenham Gold Cup winner
The champion thoroughbred was foaled on the 28th of January 1995 and is known to be one the greatest racehorses of Ireland. The colt was sired by Un Desperado out of Katday. The bay coloured gelding was bred and owned by Jacques Van’t Hart and Jim
Lewis respectively. Best Mate contended 22 career meets under the trainer Henrietta Knight, out of which he managed to win 14 races and finished in the second place in 7 career starts. At the time of his retirement, the racehorse had earned a total of 1,022,436
pounds.
Apart from being famous for winning the Cheltenham Gold Cup thrice, the racehorse also gained a huge deal of media attention for his sudden death. He was and still is one of the most fancied horses in the history of UK horse racing industry.
Under the jockey Jim Culloty, Best Mate took over the field in the 2002, 2003 and 2004 editions of the Cheltenham Gold and thus took over the record set by Arkle. Unfortunately, it was decided that the champion racehorse will not be sent out to contend the
2005 race because of the blood vessel that burst on the gallops, eight days before the race had to take place. He was also withdrawn from the 2001 festival because of the foot and mouth issues that he was facing, despite him being the most favourite contender
for the Arkle Challenge Trophy. Apart from the prestigious Cheltenham Gold Cup, Best Mate also owns the honour of winning the King George VI Chase 2002 and tthe 2003 Ericsson Chase.
The legendary racehorse started his racing career in the 2000 racing season. He won a couple of major races in this year which include the Mersey Norvices’ Hurdle event (2000), the November Norvices’ Chase (2000). Best Mate was then sent out to contend the
Scilly Isles Norvices’ Chase and the Haldon Gold Cup in the next racing season. The colt managed to finish both the aforementioned events in first place. Next year in 2002, Best Mate gave spectacular performances in the Cheltengam Gold Cup, Peterborough Chase
and the King George VI Chase. On the basis of his splendid performances during the years, Best Mate was adorned with some of the most prestigious awards including the British Horse Racing Board’s Jump Horse of the Year and the Champion Three-Mile Chaser. He
has been honoured by the Statue and Best Mate Enclosure at Cheltenham Racecourse. Best Mate was also inducted in the Cheltenham’s Hall of Fame at the 2007 event, along with another colt named Desert Orchid.
Throughout his racing career, Best Mate was compared with Arkle who was also one of the most talented racehorses at that time. Both of these colts were considered to be each other’s rivals because of them were Cheltenham Gold Cup winners. Nonetheless, the
highest Timeform rating that Arkle recorded was 212, meanwhile Best Mate’s highest rating was recorded to be 182.
It is suspected that the great racehorses died of a heart attack while Jockey Paul Carberry was riding him in the William Hill Haldon Gold Cup at the Exeter Racecourse on the 1st of November 2005. This unfortunate incident made headlines in all
the newspapers and news channels of the country.
In the DVD that has been produced about Best Mate, Alastair Down narrates: “A horse, up a gallop. But not just any horse. This one, a three-time Cheltenham Gold Cup winner, and in the process of establishing his pre-eminence, became one of those rare animals
who get under our skin, and graduate to being public property. Many promise, but few delivers as Best Mate did.”
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