Gold Cup – Horse Racing’s Greatest Show, Gambling and ‘Going for Gold’

– Gold Cup at Cheltenham – Most important event on horse racing calendar

– Gold Cup trophy contains 10 ounces of gold

– Today’s prize is worth over £9,000 in gold terms

– £600 million bets on horses, 220,000 pints of Guinness will be drunk, 9 tonnes of potato eaten

– Gold constantly and universally awarded as top prize

– Ultimate prize to award our heroes as early as 408 BC

– Humanity recognises it as very rare and very valuable

– Gold a great prize and a good bet but works best as hedge and a safe haven

– Better to take a ‘punt’ on gold than the horses

Cheltenham Gold Cup – Wikipedia

This week 65,000 people have been gathering in Cheltenham for one of the most important events on the horse racing calendar, the world famous Cheltenham Festival and the Gold Cup race.

Over 25 races will be raced over the four day gathering with £4,305,000 of prize money will be handed out this week at Cheltenham Festival.

The Cheltenham Gold Cup is the most famous race of the festival and happens on the final day of the four-day event. The Gold Cup is the most prestigious of the most prestigious of all National Hunt events and it is sometimes referred to as the Blue Riband of horse jump-racing.

The race takes place over 3 miles 2½ furlongs (5,331 m) and includes 22 fences to be jumped.

The prize? 10 ounces of gold and £575,000. The prize for those who turn up to watch the world famous event? The chance to experience the excitement and fun of race day and likely lose a few bob – with a massive £600 million staked on the outcome of the races. The bookie always wins … well nearly always.

10 ounces of gold and over half-a-billion British pounds of cash surrounding one event. What does this say about the state of our economy today and how we award our sporting heroes?