Legends of Racing

He may not have had the charisma of a Desert Orchid or even a Kauto Star, but of all the recent winners of the Cheltenham Gold Cup, Best Mate holds the most mystique.

He was a very, very popular horse with a tremendous following and now there is a big vacuum – Henrietta Knight, trainer of Best Mate, November 1 2005.

Us racing fans have been spoiled in recent years. At the very top end of National Hunt we have seen super horses like Kauto Star and Denman battle it out for not just the biggest prizes, but for the hearts and minds of the racing fan.

But before both of them hit the scene, there was Best Mate, who won three Gold Cups in a row before his premature death on the track at Exeter in 2005.

The arrival of racing’s dynamic duo - Kauto and Denman - eased the pain for fans but it also partially eclipsed how great Best Mate was. Only Arkle in the post-war era won three Gold Cups in succession. That’s all-time highest rated horse ever Arkle, in case you had forgotten.

Yet the critics of Best Mate still lurk out there, damaging his reputation. He is criticised for rarely running in handicaps but an illness as a foal prompted his owner, Jim Lewis, and Knight to be very careful with him.

He only raced 22 times, and never finished outside the top two, save for the race in which he collapsed and died in 2005. You can't argue with those numbers and you could argue that the limited times we saw him in action only added to his aura.

A winner at Cheltenham in his very first run in late 1999, he was in stunning form approaching the 2001 Festival but the foot and mouth outbreak delayed what may have been a first Festival win.

Always lightly raced through his career, by the 2001/02 Knight already had Mate in a pattern of two runs in the early season and then a stab at the big one in March. It was a wildly successful formula.

His second Gold Cup was the most impressive, having 10 lengths to spare over Truckers Tavern. The same road map saw him claim a historic third crown 12 months later, but only by half a length from Sir Rembrandt.

An incredible fourth Gold Cup was in Knight’s mind in 2005 but a burst blood vessel just eight days before the race saw him withdrawn and Kicking King took the prize.

Recovered, Best Mate went to Exeter on 1 November 2005 for a run just to assess his health. With regular jockey Jim Culloty retired, Paul Carberry took the ride but he pulled up the horse with two flights remaining. Best Mate collapsed and died of a heart attack on the track.

The racing world mourned, with front pages devoted to the great horse. His ashes are buried at Cheltenham’s winning post and a statue of him at the course is a sign of how deeply loved he was by the fans.

While Kauto Star and Denman may be the greatest one-on-one battle we have seen in recent years, we should never let their rivalry eclipse what a magnificent horse Best Mate was in his pomp.