
Re: National Hunt League Race Charts Week 11
Can't say I take much of an interest in jumps racing. Flat's my game.
The Virginia Gold Cup is the nearest big race to me. I remember a horse named Saluter who was a local hero...
Quote:
Saluter – The All Time Gold Cup Champion
The undisputed greatest horse in the long history of the Virginia Gold and International Cup has been Mr. & Mrs. Henry Stern’s big bay gelding, Saluter. His race record includes six wins of the Virginia Gold Cup and two wins of the International Gold Cup.
Saluter’s win record also includes the Virginia Gold Cup race’s fastest time at 8:27 over the 4 mile course in 1995 and the honor of retiring the seventh Gold Cup trophy after his five consecutive Gold Cup win. Then returned shocking the crowds in 1999 at 11 years old, Saluter returned to win his sixth straight Virginia Gold Cup, making Jack Fisher the all time top winning rider with nine wins of the Virginia Gold Cup.
Along the way Saluter swept the 1997 first running of the World Timber Championship by winning both the Virginia Gold Cup and Marlborough Cup in England. Saluter’s course record for the Gold Cup stood for 11 years until 2006 when Kinross Farm’s Miles Ahead’s time of 8:19 shaved 8 seconds off of his previous record time.