CHELTENHAM:WITH PERFECT synchronicity Kauto Star produced a perfect Gold Cup performance to crown a perfect Cheltenham festival week for his jockey Ruby Walsh.
In front of Queen Elizabeth, making a first visit to a jumps meeting in 50 years to watch her horse Barbers Shop finish seventh, the sport’s greatest equine talent again teamed up with many people’s idea of the best jockey of his generation to tack yesterday’s Gold Cup on to the 2007 edition in truly majestic style.
Certainly the historic nature of yesterday’s display was lost on no one in the sell-out crowd. Twenty-five other former Gold Cup heroes have attempted over the years to regain the blue riband title but none managed it. Kauto Star made it look easy.
However, the true significance of this 13 annihilation of his 2008 Gold Cup conqueror Denman was not that he has managed a piece of history that eluded even the likes of Mill House and Desert Orchid. It’s that he managed it while at the peak of his powers.
This was no gnarled veteran up for one last hurrah. If in 2007 Walsh had to nurse Kauto Star through the race to protect any suspect stamina doubts, yesterday’s rout was done with the sort of aplomb that allows the Paul Nicholls-trained star to look most Gold Cup legends in the eye and hold their gaze.
“He’s an incredible horse and I’m just glad that he showed today that he’s still the horse I’ve always believed him to be,” said Walsh. “He’s the greatest I’ve ever ridden. It’s a privilege to ride him. He just travelled and jumped so well today.”
Of course Ireland’s champion jockey has over the last four days convinced a lot of people that he could get even some of our larger-framed politicos to vacate Cheltenham’s bars and get them jumping and travelling pretty well too.
A Vincent O’Brien County Hurdle victory earlier in the day on American Trilogy helped bring his tally of winners for the week to seven, which is a modern-day record. But you got the feeling that he would have gladly swapped at least at few of the others to get Kauto Star home in front.
“Coming into the week this was the one I wanted,” he admitted. “Last year he was never travelling or jumping as well as he can and Denman was brilliant. This season Paul made a big call and changed things, keeping him fresh. It’s great that it has worked out.”
Work out it definitely did. Another of the Nicholls famous-three from 2008, Neptune Collonges, cut out the pace but could never escape from his stalking stable companions. Good jumps at the fourth-last and third-last got Kauto Star quicker to the front than Walsh wanted, and there was also the unlikely presence of Denman to briefly ruffle that famous cool.
“Denman has run an amazing race for a horse that two weeks ago was only 50-50 to run,” Walsh said. “I saw him and thought, ‘he’ll do me again’. But then my horse just powered on and met the last two perfectly.”
Afterwards Nicholls, who saddled four of the first five home in another remarkable piece of Gold Cup dominance, seemed almost as chuffed about Denman’s performance as Kauto Star’s.
He confirmed Denman is unlikely to run again this season, but didn’t rule out one more appearance for Kauto Star, maybe at Punchestown.
Even if that doesn’t happen, the great horse will return to Ireland in October.
“Next year we will be looking at Down Royal again because it fits perfectly for us, followed by the King George and back here,” said the champion trainer. “I was quite happy he would win today because, believe me, he is as good as he has ever been.”
The same could hardly be said for Denman whose season has been compromised by a fibrillating heart problem and a poor warm-up race at Kempton. In the circumstances the second of the Nicholls heavyweights ran an extraordinary race.
“He jumped so well,” said his jockey Sam Thomas. “And he’ll win next year!”
That would be typical: wait decades for a piece of history and then it happens again. Mind you, the wonderful thought remains that Kauto Star will still be just a 10-year-old in 2010: more than young enough to remain a great champion at the peak of his powers.
ACROSS THE LINE
Winning jockeys on day four:
R Walsh2 (7 overall)
BJ Geraghty1( 3)
D N Russell1 (1)
Mr R Burton1 (1)
Felix de Giles1 (1)
W Hutchinson1 (1)
From day one:BJ Geraghty 2, P Carberry, AP McCoy, Miss N Carberry, R Walsh.
From day two:R Walsh 3, S Waley-Cohen, PW Flood, TJ O'Brien, BT O'Connell.
From day three:R Walsh, T J Murphy, A Coleman, P J Brennan, W Biddick, JJ Codd.
Winning trainers on day four:
N Henderson2 (3)
P Nicholls2 (5)
C Byrnes1 (1)
E Crow1 (1)
A King1 (1)
From day one:N Meade, T Cooper,
J O’Neill, N Henderson, E Bolger; 1.
From day two:WP Mullins 2, N Twiston-Davis, P Nicholls, TJ Taffe, M Quinlan, P Fenton.
From day three:N Twiston-Davies, P Nicholls 2, Miss V Williams 2, JJ Quinn.
Irish winners yesterday:1
Irish winners for festival:9
Irish record:10 (2006)
