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From the People's Champion to the Miracle Horse - the best of the Irish Gold Cup
Justin O'Hanlon looks at the horses and characters that made the race great
1. Playschool (1988)
Trained in Devon by the late David Barons, Playschool landed the second running of the race as the Vincent O'Brien Gold Cup.
The New Zealand-bred had already won the Hennessy Gold Cup at Newbury and the Welsh National at Chepstow en route to Leopardstown, and he certainly did it the hard way. Leading from early, the ten-year-old saw off the attention of 1987 winner Forgive 'N Forget turning into the straight and picked up again after a horrible blunder at the final fence to score by eight lengths.
Playschool was subsequently sent off favourite for the Cheltenham Gold Cup but was pulled up after dropping out on the final circuit, a performance his trainer suspected was due to foul play.
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