Limber Hill

Limber Hill (foaled 1947) was a British

In the following season Limber Hill made further progress and defeated Gay Donald at Manchester Racecourse in November^[8] before establishing himself as one of the best staying chasers in Britain in the King George VI Chase at Kempton Park. Starting at odds of 3/1 he won by a neck from Galloway Braes in what was described as "one of the most exciting steeplechases of recent years".^[9] In the month preceding the 1956 Cheltenham Festival many meetings were abandoned because of frozen ground and Dutton kept Limber Hill fit by galloping him on the beach at Filey.^[10] In the Cheltenham Gold Cup on 8 March he was ridden as at Kempton by Jimmy Power^[11] and started the 11/8 favourite against ten opponents. The best of his rivals appeared to be the 1954 winner Four Ten and Halloween who had finished second, third and second again in the last three runnings of the race.^[3] Limber Hill was not among the early leaders as Four Ten set a slow pace before the novice Cruachan took over on the second circuit. Power made a forward move approaching the third last and Limber Hill jumped past Cruachan at the next fence to take the lead before going clear. He stayed on up the run-in to win by four lengths from the French-bred outsider Vigor with Halloween finishing strongly to deprive Cruachan of third place.^[12] The victory made him the first horse trained in the North of England to win the Gold Cup.^[13]

In late 1956 Limber Hill was beaten on

In their book, A Century of Champions, based on the Timeform rating system, John Randall and Tony Morris rated Limber Hill a "superior" Gold Cup winner and the best British-trained winner of the race since Golden Miller.^[16] He is remembered in the name of Limber Hill, a residential street in Cheltenham.^[17]