Cheltenham Top 5’s: Five of the Biggest Cheltenham Disasters
We relive the Cheltenham memories that many would prefer to forget
Updated: March 3, 2026 at 1:19 pm GMT+0
The Cheltenham Festival is synonymous with electrifying races, record-breaking wins, and the thrill of victory.
But stories of disappointment, heartbreak, and racing disasters lurk beneath the jubilant cheers and champagne showers.
We explore five of the biggest Cheltenham disasters that left punters gobsmacked, trainers distraught, and jockeys speechless.
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He may have been 10, but Golden Miller was arguably at the top of his game when seeking a sixth win in the showpiece National Hunt race.
Sadly, the weather had different ideas, and the entire meeting was abandoned as the racecourse was under a blanket of snow, which took weeks to melt.
2. Istabraq Denied
The 2001 Cheltenham Festival was also written off in its entirety, but this time, the weather was not to blame.
A countywide outbreak of foot and mouth disease initially saw the Festival put back a full month until April, but a further local case just five miles from the Gloucestershire course led to it being abandoned completely.
The Festival cancellation cost the betting industry an estimated £100m and the local economy £10m. More importantly, for racing fans, Istabraq was robbed of his opportunity to win an unprecedented fourth Champion Hurdle.
3. Ireland Draw a Blank in 1989
Ireland had enjoyed some amazing moments at the Cheltenham Festival during the mid-1990s – Cottage Rake won three Gold Cups in a row between 1948 and 1950, and Hatton’s Grace took the same number of Champion Hurdles between 1949 and 1951 for the Emerald Isle.
1968-1977 was a golden era for the country when their horses landed seven of the ten Gold Cups on offer, culminating in the unforgettable Cheltenham Festival of 1977 when there were a record seven Irish winners.
But a deep recession in the 1980s meant the best Irish bloodstock was quickly sold off, and by 1987, Ireland was reduced to just one winner during the meeting. Then 12 months later, the unthinkable – zero winners for the visiting contingent.
Admittedly, there was some serious bad luck involved with this barren visit, with many fancied runners falling or being brought down, but make no mistake, another whitewash anytime in the next 25 years must be considered massively improbable, verging on impossible.
4. Sad Demise
No one likes seeing a horse fall, so when a champion in waiting is killed during a championship race carrying a champion jockey and a monstrous national gamble, the sport itself comes under intense scrutiny.
This was the dreadful plight that befell Valiramix under jockey Tony McCoy in the 2002 Champion Hurdle, who broke a leg when cantering all over his rivals approaching the second last in the fabled two-mile contest.
There were no in-running prices at the time, but if there were, the 3/1 shot was likely to have been trading at 1/4 at the time of his sad and sickening demise.
5. Ruby Tuesday
But the biggest disaster in recent years from a punter perspective has to be Ruby Walsh being unshipped from Annie Power at the final flight of the Mares Hurdle during the 2015 Cheltenham Festival.
This was a day of high drama, with the day being labelled ‘Ruby Tuesday’ before a race had been run. Firstly, Douvan had scooted home for the rider (and trainer Willie Mullins) in the Supreme Novices’ Hurdle, followed by Un De Sceaux in the Arkle, and then Faugheen completed a treble for the duo in the Champion Hurdle.
The Cheltenham bookies were running for cover with Annie Power, the 1/2 favourite, set to complete the Lucky 15 and Yankees of punters on both sides of the Irish sea.
Sweeping four lengths clear and in total command, the mare fell at the last, saving the bookies millions and, in turn, costing punters the same amount.
