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Unfortunately, the result of the 1981 Derby will forever be overshadowed by events at Ballmany Stud, Co. Kildare on February 8, 1983. However, while the winner, Shergar, was subsequently spirited away, in the dead of night, by a gang of masked gunmen and never seen alive again, his performance at Epsom still stirs the blood of many in the racing fraternity.

Having won the Sandown Classic Trial by ten lengths and the Chester Vase by twelve lengths, much lie someone aceing the highest payout online casino games, Shergar was sent off at 10/11 favourite at Epsom. In the absence of the Dante winner, Beldale Flutter, who had beaten Shergar in what is now the Vertem Futurity Trophy as a juvenile, the pick of the opposition was the Dante Stakes runner-up, Shotgun, ridden by Lester Piggott. However, once the race was underway, the opposition, which looked weak on paper beforehand, became almost irrelevant.

Rounding Tattenham Corner – the sharp, downhill bend that leads runners into the home straight at Epsom – Shergar easily moved upsides the leaders, Riberetto and Silver Season and as soon as he took up the running, with three furlongs to run, the race was all but over. Approaching the furlong marker, BBC Radio commentator Peter Bromley exclaimed, ‘There’s only one horse in it. You need a telescope to see the rest!”

Shergar sauntered home in splendid isolation, with jockey Walter Swinburn looking around for non-existent dangers, to win, eased down, by ten lengths. In fact, such was his margin of victory – still the widest in the history of the Derby – that John Matthias, who rode the second horse, Derby Italiano winner Glint Of Gold, actually that his horse has won. We can only hope luck would go the same way for us in a  newzealandcasinos environment. The race was later described by Timeform as ‘arguably the most one-sided Derby of modern times’; Shergar was awarded a Timeform Annual Rating of 140, placing him co-eighth in the all-time list of the Timeform era, alongside Dancing Brave and Sea The Stars, among others.

The 2011 Cheltenham Gold Cup was, arguably, the most competitive renewal of what is often referred to as the ‘Blue Riband’ event of British steeplechasing for many years, before or since. The field was by no means the largest ever assembled, but the thirteen runners included Kauto Star, winner in 2007 and 2009, Denman, winner in 2008, the defending champion Imperial Commander and Long Run, a comfortable, 12-length winner of the rearranged King George VI Chase at Kempton on his previous start.

Despite attempting to become the first six-year-old to win the Cheltenham Gold Cup since Mill House, in 1963, Long Run was promoted to 7/2 favourite, ahead of Imperial Commander at 4/1, Kauto Star at 5/1 and Denman at 8/1, with the other nine runners available at 9/1 and upwards. On the prevailing good going, confirmed front-runner Midnight Chase took the field along, but was headed by Kauto Star soon after halfway and, thereafter, the contest developed into a three-horse race between the market leaders, with the exception of Imperial Commander. Nigel Twiston-Davies’ ten-year-old weakened soon after a mistake at the fourth-last fence and was tailed off when pulled up lame, and in distress, before the final fence.

Meanwhile, Kauto Star and Denman duelled all the way up the home straight, but were joined at the second-last fence by Long Run who, despite jumping less than fluently on more than one occasion, had maintained a prominent position throughout the second circuit. Approaching the final fence, it soon became clear that the writing was on the wall for the ‘old guard’ and, on the run-in, Long Run drew clear to win, convincingly by 7 lengths. Denman stayed on gamely to finish second, with Kauto Star fading to finish third, a further 4 lengths away. Winning jockey Sam Waley-Cohen became the first amateur rider since Jim Wilson, thirty years earlier, to win the Cheltenham Gold Cup.

Generally accepted as the ‘Blue Riband’ event of the National hunt season, the Timico Cheltenham Gold Cup Chase (3.30) on Friday March 16th requires little introduction. Neither, hopefully, does Native River, who won the Hennessy Gold Cup, the Welsh National and the Denman Chase before finishing a close third in this race last year. Colin Tizzard’s 8-year-old has raced just once since, jumping well to win the Denman Chase for the second year running at Newbury last month. Interestingly, while has won on good going – in a maiden hurdle at Stratford three seasons ago – all his best form has come on good to soft or soft going. The going on the New Course at Cheltenham is currently soft and unsettled weather is forecast for the rest of the week so, while he probably doesn’t it bottomless, the chances are that he should have his favoured underfoot conditions, which wasn’t the case last year.

Officially, Native River has 3lb to find with Might Bite, but Nicky Henderson’s charge did his level best to throw away the RSA Novices’ Chase on his last visit to Cheltenham and, while he’s won both starts this season, including the King George VI Chase at Kempton on Boxing Day, his tendency to idle in front must be a worry. Might Bite has won his last six completed starts and is unlucky not to be chasing an eight-timer, having fallen heavily at the last, with the race at his mercy, in the Kauto Star Novices’ Chase at Kempton last season. Even so, he has yet to win beyond 3 miles 1 furlong, so he’s unlikely to relish a war of attrition against Native River on properly soft going. Native River, on the other hand, not only has stamina to burn, but is an honest, straightforward customer; he looks a decent bet to give Richard Johnson his first winner of the race since Looks Like Trouble 18 years ago.

Selection: Cheltenham 3.30 Native River to win