Did Desert Orchid ever start favourite for the Champion Hurdle?

No, contrary to the information supplied by a certain free, Internet-based encyclopaedia, Desert Orchid never started favourite for the Champion Hurdle. He did run in the Champion Hurdle, sponsored in those days by Waterford Crystal, twice, in 1984 and 1985, but the favourites in those renewals were Dawn Run, at 4/5, and Brown’s Gazette, at 4/6, respectively.

On the first occasion, after a successful season, which had included victory in the Grade One Tolworth Novices’ Hurdle at Sandown Park, Desert Orchid was actually sent off 7/1 second favourite behind Dawn Run. However, having disputed the lead with the favourite for most of the way, Desert Orchid came under pressure on the downhill run to the third-last flight and weakened out of contention to finish among the backmarkers.

On the second occasion, despite winning his preparatory race, the Oteley Hurdle – now the Contenders Hurdle – at Sandown, Desert Orchid was sent off as a largely unconsidered 20/1 chance in the Champion Hurdle. Once again, as was his customary style, he was always well to the fore, chasing the breakneck pace set by rank outsider Northern Trial. However, his early exertions took their toll and he weakened into last place before the field reached the top of the hill and was eventually pulled up in the race won by See You Then.

Has the Cheltenham Gold Cup ever produced a dead heat?

Since its inauguration, as a steeplechase, in 1924, 92 runnings of the Cheltenham Gold Cup have failed to produce a dead heat. That said, several horses have taken their place on the roll of honour by virtue of victories achieved by narrow margins. Indeed, the very first winner of the Cheltenham Gold Cup, Red Splash, only scraped home by a head and a neck but, since then, the ‘Blue Riband’ event has produced five even more thrilling finishes.

In 1951, in the days before photo-finish cameras, the 12-year-old Silver Fame justified favouritism, but only just, when edging out Greenogue by a short head. Two decades later, in 1973, the boot was on the other foot, so to speak, when The Dikler caught the odds-on Pendil in the shadow of the winning post to give Fulke Walwyn his fourth and final Gold Cup winner by the same margin. Fast forward another two decades and The Fellow, trained in France by François Doumen, had the dubious distinction of being beaten a short head not once, but twice, in consecutive years. In 1991, he failed, narrowly, to overhaul Garrison Savannah and, in 1992, just came off worst in a protracted duel with Cool Ground.

Last, but by no means least, the 2014 Cheltenham Gold Cup produced a controversial finish, with the main protagonists veering right on the run-in and Davy Russell, jockey of the eventual, short-head winner, Lord Windermere, suspended for a day for careless riding. However, after a 15-minute inquiry, the stewards decided that the result should stand.

Has any horse ever won the Cheltenham Gold Cup and the Grand National in a single season?

The Cheltenham Gold Cup and the Grand National are the two premier steeplechases run in Britain and, as such, are much-coverted prizes. Indeed, many owners, jockeys and trainers spend their entire lives dreaming of winning one or the other, never mind both.

The Cheltenham Gold Cup wasn’t run, as a steeplechase, until 1924, while the first ‘official’ Grand National was run in 1839 but, in the period that the races have co-existed, just two horses have won both. L’Escargot, trained by Dan Moore, recorded back-to-back victories in the Cheltenham Gold Cup in 1970 and 1971, before defeating none other than Red Rum, who was chasing an unprecedented hat-trick, in the 1975 renewal of the Grand National.

However, the legendary Golden Miller, trained by Basil Briscoe and, later, by Owen Anthony, remains the only horse ever to have won the Cheltenham Gold Cup and the Grand National in a single season. In fact, ‘The Miller’ won the Cheltenham Gold Cup five years running between 1932 and 1936, inclusive and following his third win, in 1934, cruised to victory in the Grand National, under 12st 2lb, and broke the course record in the process.

How many horses have won the Champion Hurdle more than once?

The two-mile hurdling championship, the Champion Hurdle, has been a fixture of the Cheltenham Festival since 1927 and, in the better part of a century, no horse has won the race more than three times. That said, the last three-time winner, Istabraq, was odds-on on to complete an unprecedented four-timer in 2001, only to be robbed of the opportunity by an outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease. Nevertheless, alongside Hatton’s Grace, Sir Ken, Persian War and See You Then, Istabraq is, jointly, the most successful horse in Champion Hurdle history.

Down the years, numerous horses, starting with Insurance, owned by Dorothy Paget, in 1931 and 1932, have won the Champion Hurdle twice. National Spirit, one of the best hurdlers of the post-war era, did so in 1947 and 1948, but it wasn’t until the ‘golden era’ of hurdling in the Seventies and early Eighties that Bula, Comedy Of Errors, Night Nurse, Monksfield and Sea Pigeon became dual winners. More recently, Hardy Eustace recorded back-to-back victories in 2004 and 2005, as did Buveir D’Air in 2017 and 2018, whil Hurricane Fly won in 2011 and 2013, having finished third, at odds-on, in 2012. So, at the time of writing, five horses have won the Champion Hurdle three times and ten have won it twice, making a total of fifteen to have won the race more than once.

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