How Dawn Run made history at Cheltenham to the most rapturous crescendo

Voting has now closed for The Greatest Ever Race but you can still read our ten fantastic articles. Below, racing reporter of the year Chris Cook nominates Dawn Run's victory in the 1986 Cheltenham Gold Cup. The winner will be announced at racingpost.com at 6pm on Saturday, July 23.

Cheltenham is becoming busy with statues, some to great horses and one to a great jockey. In a new position high above the parade ring, observing every triumphant winner on their return from the fray, stands one that differs from the rest for it immortalises not only the athletes it depicts but a specific moment.

There is Dawn Run, in the act of throwing her head up, her ears swivelling to catch unfamiliar sounds, her nostrils flared. And there on her back is Jonjo O'Neill, never anything but calm, a soothing hand going to the great mare's neck. You only have to look at them to sense the surrounding tumult.

Younger visitors to Cheltenham possibly glance without much curiosity at Best Mate, Golden Miller or, may God forgive them, Arkle. An idle "Who's this, then?" is about the best we can hope for.

But that image of Dawn Run passing amid ballyhoos unseen elicits another response: "What's happening here?" And those of sufficient vintage are once more proud of the memory, which is fair compensation for being seen as old.

The statue comes to life and we are once more bathing in the glow of the 1986 Cheltenham Gold Cup, when the longed-for result has actually happened and thousands of hearts are full to bursting. "Thank you for this, Lord! This is enough, forever. I'll never ask again..."

The statue of Dawn Run and Jonjo O'Neill overlooks the Cheltenham winner's enclosureCredit: Matt Cardy (Getty Images)

Given she started at odds of 15-8, you might think there was little enough in a foreseeable victory to be getting excited about. But Dawn Run was a somewhat romantic choice of favourite because this was just her fifth race over fences and hadn't it all gone wrong when she was sent over for a Cheltenham test run two months before?

"Certainly her best performance of jumping so far," Julian Wilson had said, one second before she walked into the last open ditch and unseated Tony Mullins.

For all Jonjo's popularity, sticking with Mullins for the Gold Cup would have been a better-received decision. But evidently there was only room for so much romance in the heart of Charmian Hill, the 'Galloping Granny', whose red and black silks were carried by Dawn Run. She had practically had to be prised from the mare's back by the authorities after being aboard for her early successes at the age of 62. Having been through the pain of being taken off Dawn Run, perhaps she felt others should also be able to cope with that disappointment.

"It wasn't because she fell in Cheltenham," Hill said at the time. "I'd been thinking of it for quite a while. He let her jump too free all the way." So O'Neill was reunited with Dawn Run, on whom he had won the Champion Hurdle just two years earlier.

Ranged against them was a strong field, including the first three from the previous year's Gold Cup and the first three from that season's King George. There was also the progressive Run And Skip, who had won three handicaps on the bounce that winter, making all in the Welsh National and the Mildmay Cazalet Memorial.

Paddy Mullins, trainer of Dawn Run and father of Tony, was not worried about the mare's jumping ("She learned her lesson") as much as how the others might put pressure on it. "I'm sure they'll all try to cause her to make mistakes," he said, noting that she was terribly lacking in experience by comparison with the likes of Wayward Lad, Combs Ditch and Forgive 'N' Forget.

Nor was she a great traveller. "She's never really relaxed in a plane. She's cross and withdraws into herself all the time that she's in the air. It's unusual. She wouldn't munch a piece of hay or do anything that another horse would do."

Dawn Run: Cheltenham legend

Put the racecard for this Gold Cup in front of a modern-day tipster and they'll nap Dawn Run every time. "Only one Irish runner, you say? That'll do for me. I'll have the Mullins one."

But this was a time when the best staying chasers tended to end up in England. From Arkle to Davy Lad, the Irish had dominated Cheltenham's best race but they had been without a winner for nine years by this stage, and another blank decade was to follow.

So, for all Dawn Run's obvious talent, she faced significant adversity. You might ache for her to show how good she was and yet feel in your bones it was too good to come true.

There have been champions who needed a bit of minding in the early stages of a race, who had to be smuggled into it with an eye on the fuel gauge. But one of many brilliant aspects of this race was that the inexperienced Dawn Run went straight to the front and made it a proper test. Folk music fans around the world could tell you that, even if they've never clapped eyes on a horse. That's because this is one of very few races to have had a song written about it.

"She tried to run them off their feet but couldn't quite get free," chirped Foster and Allen in The Ballad Of Dawn Run. "For Run And Skip enjoyed the trip and kept her company..."

It is possibly not their most poetically mellifluous work. But it does manage to shoehorn in references to Goresbridge, Navan, Punchestown, Ballybeggan Park, the racing calendar and the words "maiden bumper", so few songs can rival it for racing-related detail.

Run And Skip wasn't just keeping her company, of course. This was a horse who had been running away from his rivals all season. The lead was his spot, only he couldn't seem to get ahead of this burly mare. He belted the fourth, trying to match strides with her.

She was already piling pressure on the rest, but could this be wise, Jonjo? Was this not in fact exactly the kind of free racing which got Tony Mullins the tin tack? Surely there would be a heavy price to pay in about a circuit's time for the horse who had been a champion at two miles just a couple of seasons back.

Alan Brown's leather broke and he had to pull up Cybrandian. As the horse was 20-1, it didn't seem a race-changer, more like one of those early incidents that ratchets up the tension. Given that he led over the final fence a year later, you could wonder what might have been.

The two pacesetters now had a handy lead of maybe six lengths and were clearly doing too much in front, especially Dawn Run, who threw in more big leaps at the fences in front of the stands. Wayward Lad and Forgive 'N' Forget moved up to the front of the chasing pack, the professionals at work, getting ready to reel in the tearaway heroine.

Now came a pause in the commentary of Sir Peter O'Sullevan as he considered the import of what he had just seen – the beginning of the end? "She just dropped her hind legs in the water there and lost a little bit of impetus but she's all right," he reported. Dawn Run hurled herself over the following ditch and was back in front. Earls Brig couldn't make the same leap.

Still, three potential challengers were gathering behind as they approached the fifth-last, not far from the spot of January's anticlimax. With O'Neill asking for everything, Dawn Run met it on a long, flat leap and bashed through it. "Ooh, she hit that very hard," regretted Sir Peter.

Hope was ebbing. It was hard for the mare to keep up with Run And Skip. Wayward Lad was working too but closing as they turned for home. Forgive 'N Forget seemed to have some cruise left in him. Righthand Man was dropping out.

It was nearly four in a line over the second-last and suddenly Run And Skip reached the end of his rope. Perhaps a stride later, so did Dawn Run. The other two big names pressed on. Either it was going to be a repeat win for Cheltenham Festival favourite Forgive 'N Forget or a first Gold Cup for the popular veteran Wayward Lad, winner of three King Georges.

He it was who led over the last and found just enough scamper on the landing side to go clear. But in doing so, he hung over to the far rail, crossing in front of Dawn Run as his stamina once more began to fail him. It was like opening a door, or waving her own red silks at the bull who was now charging up the hill behind him.

"And the mare's beginning to get up," yelled O'Sullevan. He was a little bit previous. She had more than a length to make when the words began to be said but it was happening. Dawn Run surfed forward on a crescendo of noise that swamped her two tough rivals from Yorkshire.

Everlasting glory belongs to the indomitable mare who could do anything. She broke the course record, became the jumper who had won most prize-money (overtaking Wayward Lad) and remains the only horse to win both the Champion Hurdle and the Gold Cup.

It is painful to think she had just months left to live. But this rapturous, unmatchable success of hers lives on.

'Holy Jesus, the place went mad'

Winning rider Jonjo O'Neill relives a magical day

She was a moody mare but when it came down to it she had so much ability and you never got to the bottom of her.

I went to school her one day at Punchestown and dropped her in behind a horse and she wouldn't go. She loved to be up there over fences and I always felt she would run sweeter for Tony Mullins than she would for me.

There was definitely pressure going out there in 1986. She wasn't a natural jumper of fences and that was the biggest fear. She was favourite but after schooling her a few times beforehand, you wouldn't think that she should be. The one thing you did know was that once you got her going in the race and got her blood up, she'd battle her heart out for you.

We went a hell of a gallop in the Gold Cup and it was tit-for-tat all the way with Run And Skip, which meant I could never get a breather into Dawn Run.

I jumped the second-last quite well but Forgive 'N Forget and Wayward Lad passed me like I was standing still. She took a heave and, for a few strides, I thought we were beat.

I gave her a chance to get her wind and I knew going down to the last she was starting to fill up again. She was motoring by the time she got there and let fly at it.

Never to be forgotten: Jonjo O'Neill and Dawn Run return to chaotic scenes in the winner's enclosure after the 1986 Gold CupCredit: Getty Images

She jumped it really well and by that stage Forgive 'N Forget had stopped and it was just Wayward Lad in front. He was hanging over to the left and I could see him stopping.

I thought I'd stay well away from him, came up the middle of the track and, once Dawn Run saw daylight, she was motoring home.

You're aware of the crowd but I was too involved in what I was doing to pay much attention at that stage but walking back in, holy Jesus, the place went mad.

Coming back into the parade ring was amazing. At that time there wasn't security and I've never seen a winner's enclosure like it before or since. It was wild. Dawn Run was being swept along by a sea of people and how she didn't kick out at anybody was amazing. People were jumping over rails and fences to get in there – it was a mad scene but that's probably what made it such a special day.

To be a part of it is fantastic because you'll never get a day like it again. It's a spur-of-the-moment thing and, when it happens, it's just magical. You can never repeat it.

Don't miss the rest of this fantastic series here:

Sir Mark Prescott on Mandarin's miracle in the 1962 Grand Steeple-Chase de Paris

Brough Scott on Arkle v Mill House in the 1964 Cheltenham Gold Cup

Richard Hoiles on Crisp v Red Rum in the 1973 Grand National

Nick Luck on Secretariat's stunning win in the 1973 Belmont Stakes

Jessica Harrington on Grundy v Bustino in the 1975 King George

Rishi Persad on Dancing Brave's victory in the 1986 Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe

Lee Mottershead on Desert Orchid's win in the 1989 Cheltenham Gold Cup

Richard Forristal on Fantastic Light v Galileo in the 2001 Irish Champion Stakes

Patrick Mullins on Hardy Eustace v Harchibald in the 2005 Champion Hurdle

Stay ahead of the field with 50 per cent off the ultimate racing subscription. Enjoy the Racing Post digital newspaper and award-winning journalism from the best writers in racing. Plus, make informed betting decisions with our expert tips and form study tools. Head to the subscription page and select 'Get Ultimate Monthly', then enter the code WELCOME22 to get 50 per cent off your first three months. First three payments will be charged at £17.48, subscription renews at full monthly price thereafter. Customers wishing to cancel will need to contact us at least seven days before their subscription is due to renew.