Cheltenham Festival: Coral Cup

The Coral Cup is a Grade Three, Class One handicap hurdle race run in England at Cheltenham racecourse staged at the Cheltenham Festival in mid-March. The race is staged on the Wednesday of the four-day Festival at Prestbury Park, sandwiched between the Queen Mother Champion Chase and the later National Hunt Chase. It is run over two miles and five furlongs with ten hurdles set in the horses' path and has a total prize fund of £80,000, with around £45,000 going to the winner. The race was previously open to horses aged five years old and upwards but 2008 is the first year in which four-year-olds have been allowed to take part. The Coral Cup is a ferocious betting heat and is one of the first big handicaps of the Festival. Xenephon, in 2004, was the last favourite to win this prestigious handicap (the horse started the race as the 4-1 market leader) and winners priced up in double figures are common. This is mainly due to the huge number of entrants and field sizes of 25+ horses are a regular occurrence. Burntoakboy trained by Dr Richard Newland and ridden by Sam Jones, was the most recent winner in 2007, and the horse shared a similar profile to winners in the last ten years. Those who are successful tend to carry a light weight to victory and generally are aged between six and nine years old.