Dawn Run is possibly the best mare to ever run under National Hunt rules. The list of races she won during her career is far too long to cover here, but it’s fair to say that she is best known for being the only race horse, let alone mare, ever to win both the Cheltenham Champion hurdle and the Cheltenham Gold Cup. At the time she won the Champion Hurdle, she was one of only two mares ever to have won the race, and in winning the Cheltenham Gold Cup became only the fourth mare to achieve that feat.
Her steeple chase career got off to a winning start, however injury kept her off the track for the remainder of the season. Dawn Run’s second season over the big fences saw her win first time out and followed that up by beating, the subsequent Champion 2 miler, Buck House. This victory propelled her to the head of the market for the 1986 Gold Cup, and despite her lack of experience and the fact she’d never run over the Cheltenham Gold Cup trip, the public latched on to her and made her a very warm favourite. It was a truely awe inspiring performance which saw this amazing mare battle back to beat both Forgive ‘n Forget and Wayward Lad in the final 100 yards, having looked totally beaten before 2 fences from home.
Our Signed Series photo shows Dawn Run and Jonjo O’Neil returning victorious to the winners enclosure following her win in the 1986 Gold Cup.
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