Sadly, Exeter has lost its race against time to provide suitable ground following the dry summer, so its showpiece contest, the Haldon Gold Cup, will be staged at Aintree on Friday (3.00pm).
Even away from Devon, the race has still drawn in the trainers who have won nine of the last 10 runnings, a fitting tribute to a contest that has given racing fans some brilliant winners over the years. Here are five of the best.
Travado – Nicky Henderson
Travado is the only three-time winner of the Haldon Gold Cup, having won it in 1993, 1994 and 1995 for Nicky Henderson.
The Strong Gale gelding became Henderson’s second Arkle winner in 1993, after Remittance Man in 1991, following a near-flawless novice chase campaign. He reappeared in open company with a 20-length victory in the Haldon Gold Cup, and was beaten just a neck by Viking Flagship in the Champion Chase that season.
He would win the Haldon Gold Cup on his reappearance twice more, but was never quite able to land a blow in open Grade 1 company.
Best Mate – Henrietta Knight
Best Mate was one of the biggest success stories of the early 2000s. He cost just 2,500 as a yearling, but went on to earn over £1m in prize money under rules.
Second in the Grade 1 Tolworth and the Supreme as a novice hurdler, he subsequently won two Grade 1s as a novice chaser for Henrietta Knight and Jim Culloty, before a 20-length success in the Haldon Gold Cup on his seasonal debut in 2001.
Few could have foreseen what he would go on to achieve. He became the first three-time winner of the Cheltenham Gold Cup since Arkle in 1966, and added a King George and a Grade 1 at Leopardstown along the way. Sadly, he collapsed and died after being pulled up on his seasonal debut in the 2005 Haldon Gold Cup.
Azertyuiop – Paul Nicholls
Azertyuiop provided Paul Nicholls with the third of his record eight Haldon Gold Cup victories, and was arguably the most impressive of the lot.
The French import was a dual Grade 2 winner over hurdles, but he excelled over fences, producing an unblemished novice chase campaign in 2002-03 that was capped by the Arkle.
He unseated Mick Fitzgerald as the 5/4 favourite for the Haldon Gold Cup in 2003, but went on to land the Champion Chase that season, before redeeming himself in the 2004 Haldon Gold Cup under top weight, giving 18lb to the runner-up in a star-studded renewal.
Cue Card – Colin Tizzard
British steeplechasing was blessed with high-class horses in the early 2010s, among them Colin Tizzard’s King’s Theatre gelding Cue Card. He sprang a 40/1 surprise in the Champion Bumper, beating Paul Nicholls’ Al Ferof, who reversed that form in the Supreme a year later.
Cue Card’s novice chase campaign ended in defeat by Sprinter Sacre in the Arkle, but on his reappearance in 2012 he took the Haldon Gold Cup by 26 lengths.
Nine further victories over fences followed, including an Ascot Chase, a Ryanair Chase, a King George, a Betfair Chase, a Charlie Hall and a Bowl, along with several more placed efforts.
God’s Own – Tom George
In 2018, God’s Own became the first horse to regain the Haldon Gold Cup, four years after his first success in 2014. Tom George’s stable star went novice chasing late in the 2013-14 season, but still captured the Grade 1 Ryanair Novice Chase at Punchestown.
He confirmed that promise by winning the Haldon Gold Cup 187 days later, before bumping into some smart types later that season. He had to wait eight races for his next victory, which came in the Melling Chase at Aintree, before he caused a remarkable upset by beating Vautour in the Champion Chase at Punchestown.
He struggled to recapture that consistency, although he was often running into the top two-mile chasers of the day, but he was expertly delivered to win the 2018 Haldon Gold Cup, four years on from his first.