It was billed as the decider, the build-up as intense as a grudge match between two gladiators, quite possibly the biggest rivalry ever in Horse Racing history. However, who said it was a two-horse race, yesterday saw proof that the underdog shall never be underestimated.
Stablemates Denman and Kauto Star were up against one another again, but they were outgunned, outshone and beaten fair and square by the 7-1 outsider, Imperial Commander, who won the Cheltenham Gold Cup in clinical fashion. Imperial Commander won by six lengths from Denman, giving jockey Paddy Brennan his finest hour in the sport. 4-1 shot Denman, with jockey legend Tony McCoy onboard, was always on top until the closing stages, when he seemed to run out of steam. However, he held on for 2nd, with last year’s shock Grand National winner Mon Mome, an unexpected 3rd as a 50-1 shot.
Kauto Star was the overwhelming favourite at the bookmakers, in the betting ring and with many expert pundits. With Ruby Walsh guiding him and Paul Nicholls training him, he was expecting to deliver a third Gold Cup in four years. However, the increasing rain and the consequenting soft ground went against him. After a bad mistake on the 8th fence, Kauto Star never seemed like he was able to recover, even with Walsh steering him. Four fences from home, the inevitable happened and he fell for good. It looked a nasty fall, one of those that could easily twist a horse’s neck, but fortunately, both horse and jockey were unhurt and Ruby was able to remount, steer him back to base and urge to come back and do battle next year.
For Imperial Commander’s trainer Nigel Twiston-Davies, it was an amazing day, capped off by his son, Sam, who won the Christie’s Foxhunter’s chase a mere thirty minutes later on Baby Run, the 9-2jf. Everyone loves an upset, and this was a local win, with Imperial Commander based just twelve miles down the road from Cheltenham, in Gloucestershire. Twiston-Davies has trained two Grand National winners before, but this is his first Cheltenham success. Imperial Commander had shown brief glimpses of form, having only been marginally beaten by Kauto Star in November at Kempton, but he was a disappointing 5th in Boxing Day’s King George VI. So, this was a major surprise.
For the punters, Cheltenham 2010 turned into a sorry show. Kauto Star’s fall cost the punters a reported £25million pounds. Only four favourites won this week, with Big Buck’s the only expected winner of the major races, in Thursday’s Ladbrokes World Hurdle. The bookmakers will be laughing to the bank, and though they must earn a living, some will get the feeling of giving them a decent slap! The bookies are anticipated to have made £60million this week. This was a case of the punters never winning.
Despite being bought down in the Gold Cup and seeing Masterminded soundly beaten in the Queen Mother Champion Chase on Wednesday, Ruby Walsh broke the jockey record at Cheltenham, with three wins at the meeting, though not as prolific as the dominance he showed last year. Barry Geraghty, the only other jockey to win three races at the festival, but lost the jockeys trophy, as Walsh claimed more 2nd places. It is the fifth time that Ruby has come out on top at the festival, as top jockey.
I claimed it was a two-horse race in my preview earlier in the week and got that horrifically wrong, this is great prove of never underestimating the underdog, as it will come back to bite you. Congratulations to the Twiston-Davies team and Imperial Commander for a stunning triumph, the remaining question is, has Cheltenham seen the last of the legend that is Kauto Star. I don’t think so…
No comments:
Post a Comment