Cheltenham has a way of pulling stories out of horses that you don’t see anywhere else. The pressure, the noise, the hill – it all adds up to a place where things can go wrong very quickly, or every so often, go spectacularly right.
And that’s why a true Cheltenham comeback resonates so deeply. Whether you’re following the form or looking at early prices for the next big festival, these are the moments that remind you why anything can happen once they turn for home. When a horse returns from setbacks, doubts or outright disbelief to win at the Festival, it becomes part of racing folklore.
Here are some of the comebacks and unexpected wins that still give people goosebumps.
Sprinter Sacre
Few comebacks in racing history match this one. Sprinter Sacre, once the most dominant two-mile chaser of his generation, suffered heart problems and was written off by many as finished. His ratings had dipped, his confidence was questioned, and his aura seemed gone.
But on Champion Chase day in 2016, he rewrote the script. Travelling with his old swagger, he powered past Un De Sceaux to claim a historic victory.
It wasn’t just a win, but it was a redemption arc for the ages. A former superstar finding one more masterpiece.
Cavalero
Cavalero went into the 2000 Foxhunters’ Chase at Cheltenham Festival as a long shot. He wasn’t fancied – far from it in fact – and his recent record was modest at best.
But his run that day changed everything. Travelling smoothly, jumping cleanly and responding to every cue, he suddenly looked like the horse connections always believed he could be. Turning for home, instead of fading, he surged – digging in and outlasting more fancied rivals to win at 16/1.
For many fans, his win remains one of the Festival’s greatest comebacks: a horse dismissed by form, forgotten by punters, coming from nowhere to steal victory.
Norton's Coin
Norton’s Coin produced one of the most astonishing results the Festival has ever seen when he won the 1990 Gold Cup at 100/1 – still the biggest odds for any Gold Cup winner.
Most thought the big yards would dominate, but he travelled sweetly throughout, jumped like a seasoned pro and, incredibly, outlasted the great Toby Tobias and odds-on favourite Desert Orchid. It was a result that stunned the racing world and has never been matched.
Kilbricken Storm
Kilbricken Storm pulled off one of the biggest surprises of the 2018 Festival when winning the Albert Bartlett Novices’ Hurdle at 50/1. Not many gave him a chance, but he travelled strongly, jumped cleanly and stayed every yard of the gruelling three miles.
Turning for home, he found more than any of the fancied runners, charging forward to win decisively for Colin Tizzard and Harry Cobden. It was a classic Festival upset – a tough, underestimated horse producing a career-best performance on the day it mattered most.
Harness Racing Revival at the Missouri State Fair
Even after the 1974 shutdown, Missouri found a way to keep racing alive in a seasonal, fairground setting. In 1986, the Missouri Horse Racing Commission granted the Missouri State Fair its first pari-mutuel license for 15 days of Standardbred harness racing, running from August 12 to September 1, 1986.
The following year, 1987, the Sedalia Horse Racing Association received a license for 31 days of pari-mutuel harness racing from July 24 to September 7, 1987, again at the Missouri State Fairgrounds. Racing continued through 1988, the final year of that run, held from August 12 to October 16, 1988.
Golden Ace
Golden Ace’s Champion Hurdle victory this year was a pure Cheltenham twist. Constitution Hill and State Man – the two giants of the division – both came down, turning the race on its head and leaving the crowd stunned.
Into that chaos stepped Golden Ace, who kept her rhythm while everything around her fell apart. She stayed calm through the upheaval, and then quickened when it mattered, surging forward to claim a historic and unlikely win.
It’s these moments – the shocks, the comebacks, the horses who refuse to follow the script – that make Cheltenham what it is. You can study form all you like, but sometimes the Festival simply decides to surprise you.