Original 1924 Cheltenham Gold Cup found and will be presented next March

There could be a liitle bit of extra incentive, if any was needed, for Meath trainers to win the 2019 Cheltenham Gold Cup next March.

Last March both Noel Meade and Tony Martin went close to winning the race which went to Native River.

Martin's Anibale Fly was third and meade's Road To Respect was fourth while Robbie Power won it in 2017 with Sizing John and Gordon Elliott's brilliant Don Cossack won in 2016.

The owner of the 2019 winner will get their hands on the original 1924 trophy.

Today Cheltenham Racecourse revealed that the original Cheltenham Gold Cup trophy has been sourced, dating back to 1924, and it will be presented it to the winner of the 2019 Bulmers Cheltenham Gold Cup.
 
First awarded 94 years ago to five-year-old Red Splash, owned by Major Humphrey Wyndham, trained by Fred Withington and ridden by Dick Rees, it will now be re-introduced as a perpetual trophy, presented to the winning connections of next year's race on Friday 15th March 2019 and in future years.

Cheltenham Racecourse was recently approached by the previous owner of the original Cheltenham Gold Cup; it has been in a bank vault since the 1970s. 
 
It is the first time that the trophy for the Cheltenham Gold Cup has changed since 1972.
 
The 1924 Cheltenham Gold Cup weighs 644 grams of nine carat gold and is plated in 18 carat gold to give it a rich colour and will now be mounted on a plinth bearing the names of every horse to have ever won the great chase.
 
Commissioned and purchased from Simmons of Cheltenham, the 1924 trophy was created by S Blanckensee & Son Ltd of Birmingham. Its whereabouts over past decades are unclear, but it has been in private ownership in recent times.

The trophy is to be officially unveiled by Champion Jockey and Gold Cup winning rider Richard Johnson at the McCoys tonight.
 
Ian Renton, Regional Director, Cheltenham & The South West, The Jockey Club, said: "To bring the first ever Cheltenham Gold Cup trophy back to its rightful home and to use is as the perpetual trophy moving forwards really demonstrates the rich history and heritage of the Cheltenham Gold Cup.
 
"We are also delighted that it will now carry the names of all our previous winners on the plinth.
 
"It's a beautiful, decorative trophy, dating back almost 100 years and it will sit perfectly on the winner's podium come March next year, when we crown the next Bulmers Cheltenham Gold Cup champion."
 
The 2019 Bulmers Cheltenham Gold is staged on Friday 15th March, Gold Cup Day, the fourth and final day of The Festival™ Presented By Bulmers.
 
The 2019 winning owner will receive a replica of the original Cheltenham Gold Cup to keep, with the Cheltenham Gold Cup remaining at Cheltenham over the year.