Lord Windermere might not have won the best renewal of this feature event but never in the 90 year history of steeplechasing's greatest prize has there been a more dramatic one, on the track and in the steward's room – and the drama may not be over yet.
Jim Culloty knows all about quality Gold Cups. Ten years ago he rode Best Mate to a hat-trick of victories in the great race. And yesterday he became just the fourth man to ride and train a Gold Cup winner as Davy Russell steered the 20 to 1 blue-riband hero to an unlikely success over another Irish outsider, On His Own.
Just a short-head separated them at the line but another Gold Cup twist was to come in form of a lengthy stewards inquiry that left the placings unaltered and plenty believing justice was not done.
Champion trainer Willie Mullins’s frustration at finishing runner-up in this race for a fourth time was compounded by the stewards decision, despite Lord Windermere having hung right up the run in, carrying On His Own off his racing line, after which the Mullins horse ran on so strongly he looked to be in front a stride after the line.
Possible appeal
"Our horse certainly didn't appear to get a clear run to the line from the last fence even though he is entitled to that. I thought he was interfered with. But the stewards obviously feel he didn't deserve to get it," said Mullins who will consult with On His Own's owner, Graham Wylie, before considering an appeal. "I would like to talk to people more experienced than me at appeals in England. "
In the circumstances it was a composed response since he could have been forgiven for being a little dazed by a chain of events earlier in the day that led to third-choice jockey David Casey taking the On His Own ride.
Ruby Walsh broke his arm in a crashing fall in the Triumph Hurdle that saw Paul Townend brought down, hurting his shoulder to an extent he felt unable to substitute for Walsh on the Albert Bartlett favourite Briar Hill and On His Own.
Casey hardly got a confidence boost when Briar Hill fell yet he got up to give On His Own a dashing ride from the front that looked destined for honourable defeat when the two favourites Silviniaco Conti and Bobs Worth swept past in the straight.
However, this was a renewal that had its complexion change after the last, none more so than by the unlikely late appearance on the scene of Lord Windermere.
Fine horsemanship
Last year's RSA winner
looked detached at the rear in the early stages and Russell’s performance in smuggling him through the field to challenge at the last was a masterclass of subtle horsemanship. On His Own and The Giant Bolster challenged wide with him but although he didn’t bump his Irish rival, Lord Windereme’s drift carried him across the track.
“I felt all the way up the straight I was being impeded,” argued Casey. “With a straight run I would have won the race.” Russell disagreed, argued his horse shied from Silviniaco Conti on his inside, and said: “I’m always going to end up holding the second horse. I am on the best horse in the race.”
Culloty described the inquiry as “the worst few minutes of my life” and said: “I thought we were certain to lose it knowing my luck.” But the Kerry man also knows that stewards inquiries, in Britain and Ireland, often end up giving the benefit of the doubt to the horse that passes the post first. A steward’s spokesman admitted: “If we have any doubt, the doubt goes to the horse in front.”
The three-and-a-quarter-mile test over 22 fences came down to an interpretation by a panel that many didn’t find convincing and which may yet be parsed a long way removed from the thunder of the track.
This race was a career pinnacle for Russell, the two-time champion jockey, who lost his job with Michael O’Leary this year and enjoyed the best day of an already illustrious career with a hat-trick completed by Gigginstown horses.
“It’s seventh heaven. It’s a lesson for anybody who gets knocked through your life or career; you keep your mouth shut and move on,” he said.
