At the time of writing, following the defeat of the odds-on favourite, Galopin Des Champs, in the 2025 Cheltenham Gold Cup, Best Mate remains the last horse to win the ‘Blue Riband’ event three years running, which he did in 2002, 2003 and 2004. Indeed, nearly two decades after his death, as a 10-year-old, on November 1, 2005, he remains the joint-twelfth highest-rated steeplechaser in the history of Timeform, albeit fully 30lb behind the eternal yardstick, Arkle.
Foaled on January 28, 1995, Best Mate was owned by the late Jim Lewis, in whose claret and blue colours he ran, and trained by Henrietta Knight in West Lockinge, Oxfordshire. All told, he won 14 of his 22 races under National Hunt Rules, including 11 of his 14 steeplechases, and just over £1 million in prize money. In fact, over fences, Best Mate finished outside the first two just once, when pulled up in the Haldon Gold Cup at Exeter on November 1, 2005.
On that fateful day, returning from a 308-break, having suffered a burst blood vessel during his preparation for the 2006 Cheltenham Gold Cup, he collapsed and died from a heart attack while being led back to the stables. He was subsequently cremated and his ashes were buried alongside the winning post at Cheltenham shortly afterwards.
In happier times, Best Mate was a top-class hurdler, good enough to finish second in the Tolworth Hurdle at Sandown and the Supreme Novices’ Hurdle at the Cheltenham Festival in 2000. Sent over fences in 2000/01, he won his first three starts, including the Scilly Isles’ Novices Chase at Sandown and, on Boxing Day 2001, was beaten just three-quarters of length by Florida Pearl in the King George VI Chase at Kempton, en route to his first success in the Cheltenham Gold Cup. The rest, as they say, is history.