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Big Buck’s heads to Cheltenham Festival in pursuit of all-time record

January 29, 2012 By Chris Cook

• Gelding wins 15th race in a row in Cleeve Hurdle
• Ruby Walsh to appeal against careless riding ban

Big Buck's once more toyed with the faith of his supporters here on Saturday, hitting his notorious flat spot and seeming to be in trouble as those in front made a dash for home, but the Cleeve Hurdle ended with him in front, just like every other race in which he has taken part for the past three years. His winning run now extends to 15 and he is long odds-on to make it 16 in the World Hurdle at the Cheltenham Festival in March.

It has been a remarkable turnaround for the nine-year-old, who seemed no more than a failed chaser at the end of 2008. Since then, he has become one of those handful of horses who can make people cheer just by entering or leaving a paddock.

"You see the crowd and this is what's so great about jump racing sometimes, when you get these horses that keep coming back," said his trainer, Paul Nicholls. "It makes me nervous, because it is a lot of pressure with him. He's just a brilliant horse."

Nicholls would not admit any additional anxiety during the race, even when Dynaste had poached a clear lead by the home turn and Ruby Walsh had begun to make visible efforts on Big Buck's, pushing at his neck and shaking the reins.

"We could have ridden him a lot handier on the pace if we'd wanted," Nicholls said. "We were mindful that we wanted to save some petrol for [the Festival], we didn't want to be too hard on him." He had asked Walsh to hold the horse up for longer than when the pair won at Ascot last month, when they hit the front too soon in the trainer's view.

Nor were there serious nerves on Betfair, where those plucky souls who trade bets in mid-race never offered Big Buck's at bigger than 4-6. They are, by now, well aware that his powers of acceleration are somewhat less than electric. There may come a day when he lets his backers down but it seems no nearer now than it has been for years.

William Hill claimed to have been clobbered by a bet of £230,000 and no firm will offer more than 8-13 for the World Hurdle about Big Buck's, who would set a record for the Festival race if he can land it for the fourth time. Sixteen consecutive hurdles wins would also match the mark set by Champion Hurdle winner Sir Ken in the 1950s.

Asked how long Big Buck's could keep on winning, Nicholls said: "As long as I can keep him in one piece. We're lucky with Kauto Star and him that they stay sound. We've just got to look after them at home, work out their right training regime and run them in the right races."

"He's incredible," Walsh said. "Never looks flashy but keeps running for you. You like grafters. The flashy ones never last."

Asked how close he had come to the almost unthinkable act of using his whip on the horse, Walsh replied that it had never seemed necessary. "You only use your whip when you have to. That's the killing part of those stupid rules," he said, an allusion to the strict new whip rules, which he has always opposed.

This victory meant Walsh could leave the track with his smile in place, having been demoted after winning the opening juvenile hurdle on Pearl Swan, a ride that earned him a three-day ban for careless riding. The stewards took the view that his horse had interfered with Grumeti and, as the winning margin was a short-head, the result had been affected.

Walsh does not dispute the decision to reverse the placings but was put out by the ban and will consider an appeal. "I haven't been suspended for careless riding since I don't know when. You ride for so long without getting suspended and then your first offence is three days.

"I'll have to go home and have a look. My instinct is I'll have to appeal it." If the ban remains, he will miss Betfair day at Newbury in a fortnight's time, when he would probably have ridden What A Friend in the Denman Chase among other rides. Walsh should still be able to ride in the Irish Hennessy the next day, as jockeys can apply to defer short bans on days when there is top-class racing.

Kauto Star and Long Run appear to have the Gold Cup to themselves after several of their most likely challengers managed a collective belly flop in the Argento Chase. The race was won by Midnight Chase, a distant fifth in the last Gold Cup, while Time For Rupert and Diamond Harry faded tamely to be beaten a dozen lengths and more. Captain Chris baffled his connections by jumping wildly out to the right and was pulled up before halfway.

Chris Cook

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Richard Johnson says Captain Chris can stake Cheltenham Gold Cup claim

January 28, 2012 By Greg Wood

Jockey rides favourite for Saturday's Festival Trials day feature

Richard Johnson's professional life became just a little more difficult at Warwick on Thursday, when Tony McCoy returned to race-riding after nearly a month on the sidelines, but the second-most successful jockey in National Hunt history is not one to complain.

"I'm sure some people think that I think it's good when he's not around," Johnson said, "but you never want to see people have to be off through injury and it's great to have him back. He's fantastic for racing, and for me it's a pleasure to ride with him. He's a good friend, and I sit next to him in the weighing room almost every day."

Johnson was not only pleased to have McCoy back in opposition, but seemed galvanised too. He recorded a front-running double on the day, and his performance on Inga Bird in the second race of the afternoon was an outstanding example of judgment and race-riding, as he kept just enough in reserve and then held his mount together in the straight to get home by a short-head.

McCoy failed to return with a winner at Warwick, but as so often over the last decade and a half, the title race is over already. Johnson has 115 winners this season, 20 more than Jason Maguire, the next rider on the list, but he was still 59 adrift of McCoy morning. Johnson seems booked for second place in the championship for the seventh season running, and the 14th time in 15 years.

Johnson was the leading conditional rider in 1995-96, when McCoy was winning the first of his 16 senior titles, and despite a career total of winners that puts him well head of riders like Peter Scudamore, who won eight championships, and John Francome (six), it remains the only title on his record.

But Johnson has won all four of the Cheltenham Festival's feature races – the World Hurdle still eludes McCoy – and hopes to emerge from Saturday's Argento Chase at Cheltenham with a serious contender for the Gold Cup in March.

Johnson will ride Captain Chris, last year's Arkle Trophy winner, who is likely to start favourite having finished third behind Kauto Star and Long Run in the King George VI Chase on Boxing Day. That run seems to give him something to find to be a plausible Gold Cup winner, but Johnson is confident that Captain Chris was not at his best at Kempton.

"I think it's the ideal race for him on Saturday," Johnson said between winners at Warwick. "We need to find out whether three miles around Cheltenham is his trip, and he needs to put up a good performance or realistically, he's not a Gold Cup horse. He's got two options at Cheltenham, the Ryanair Chase and the Gold Cup, so we'll be a lot wiser after the event.

"He just didn't travel and jump at Kempton as nicely as he can do. He didn't struggle, but he didn't give me the feel that I know he could. Maybe he just not good enough to beat Kauto Star and Long Run, but for me, a horse that wins an Arkle should be able to travel very easily for two to two and half miles in the King George, and if he doesn't stay over the last four fences, then fair enough.

"The way he appeared that day, yes, he looked like a slow horse, but he's far from that and in my eyes, there's more to come.

"I think that is an encouragement. If I didn't think there was any more to come, I'd be thinking that maybe Kauto Star and Long Run will need to run below their best if he's going to have a chance in the Gold Cup."

McCoy will be riding at Doncaster this afternoon rather than Cheltenham, while Grands Crus, who had been expected to start favourite for the Argento, was ruled out by David Pipe, his trainer, on Thursday.

Grands Crus, the season's best staying novice, could yet be a rival for Captain Chris at the Festival, but even in his absence, there is still quality in depth in today's race, with opponents including Time For Rupert, Diamond Harry and Midnight Chase.

"If we think he's a Gold Cup horse, we shouldn't be worried about any of the others," Johnson says. "For me, he's as nice a horse as I've ever had to deal with, and his attitude is fantastic too. Grahame and Diana Whateley [his owners] have been very patient with him as well, they bought him as a three-year-old and he didn't run until he was six.

"He's the one we're all looking forward to, the one that we still probably haven't seen the best of yet. I wouldn't say he's a forgotten horse, but hopefully he's going to surprise a few people on Saturday and in March."

Greg Wood

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Richard Johnson says Captain Chris can stake Cheltenham Gold Cup claim

January 27, 2012 By Greg Wood

Jockey rides favourite for Saturday's Festival Trials day feature

Richard Johnson's professional life became just a little more difficult at Warwick on Thursday, when Tony McCoy returned to race-riding after nearly a month on the sidelines, but the second-most successful jockey in National Hunt history is not one to complain.

"I'm sure some people think that I think it's good when he's not around," Johnson said, "but you never want to see people have to be off through injury and it's great to have him back. He's fantastic for racing, and for me it's a pleasure to ride with him. He's a good friend, and I sit next to him in the weighing room almost every day."

Johnson was not only pleased to have McCoy back in opposition, but seemed galvanised too. He recorded a front-running double on the day, and his performance on Inga Bird in the second race of the afternoon was an outstanding example of judgment and race-riding, as he kept just enough in reserve and then held his mount together in the straight to get home by a short-head.

McCoy failed to return with a winner at Warwick, but as so often over the last decade and a half, the title race is over already. Johnson has 115 winners this season, 20 more than Jason Maguire, the next rider on the list, but he was still 59 adrift of McCoy morning. Johnson seems booked for second place in the championship for the seventh season running, and the 14th time in 15 years.

Johnson was the leading conditional rider in 1995-96, when McCoy was winning the first of his 16 senior titles, and despite a career total of winners that puts him well head of riders like Peter Scudamore, who won eight championships, and John Francome (six), it remains the only title on his record.

But Johnson has won all four of the Cheltenham Festival's feature races – the World Hurdle still eludes McCoy – and hopes to emerge from Saturday's Argento Chase at Cheltenham with a serious contender for the Gold Cup in March.

Johnson will ride Captain Chris, last year's Arkle Trophy winner, who is likely to start favourite having finished third behind Kauto Star and Long Run in the King George VI Chase on Boxing Day. That run seems to give him something to find to be a plausible Gold Cup winner, but Johnson is confident that Captain Chris was not at his best at Kempton.

"I think it's the ideal race for him on Saturday," Johnson said between winners at Warwick. "We need to find out whether three miles around Cheltenham is his trip, and he needs to put up a good performance or realistically, he's not a Gold Cup horse. He's got two options at Cheltenham, the Ryanair Chase and the Gold Cup, so we'll be a lot wiser after the event.

"He just didn't travel and jump at Kempton as nicely as he can do. He didn't struggle, but he didn't give me the feel that I know he could. Maybe he just not good enough to beat Kauto Star and Long Run, but for me, a horse that wins an Arkle should be able to travel very easily for two to two and half miles in the King George, and if he doesn't stay over the last four fences, then fair enough.

"The way he appeared that day, yes, he looked like a slow horse, but he's far from that and in my eyes, there's more to come.

"I think that is an encouragement. If I didn't think there was any more to come, I'd be thinking that maybe Kauto Star and Long Run will need to run below their best if he's going to have a chance in the Gold Cup."

McCoy will be riding at Doncaster this afternoon rather than Cheltenham, while Grands Crus, who had been expected to start favourite for the Argento, was ruled out by David Pipe, his trainer, on Thursday.

Grands Crus, the season's best staying novice, could yet be a rival for Captain Chris at the Festival, but even in his absence, there is still quality in depth in today's race, with opponents including Time For Rupert, Diamond Harry and Midnight Chase.

"If we think he's a Gold Cup horse, we shouldn't be worried about any of the others," Johnson says. "For me, he's as nice a horse as I've ever had to deal with, and his attitude is fantastic too. Grahame and Diana Whateley [his owners] have been very patient with him as well, they bought him as a three-year-old and he didn't run until he was six.

"He's the one we're all looking forward to, the one that we still probably haven't seen the best of yet. I wouldn't say he's a forgotten horse, but hopefully he's going to surprise a few people on Saturday and in March."

Greg Wood

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Cheltenham Festival hopeful Grands Crus is favourite for Argento Chase

January 24, 2012 By Greg Wood

• David Pipe-trained runner bids to secure Gold Cup place
• Big Buck's set to take step nearer record in Cleeve Hurdle

Grands Crus, one of just three horses quoted at single-figure odds for the Gold Cup in March, is the early favourite for the Argento Chase on Saturday after a potential field of 13 was entered on Monday for the feature race on the last afternoon of action at Cheltenham before the Festival.

Saturday's race is likely to decide whether Grands Crus, who is 5-2 favourite with Paddy Power, will even line up against Long Run and Kauto Star, as it will be his first race in open company after just three outings against novices.

David Pipe, Grands Crus's trainer, stressed on Monday that he has yet to decide whether the grey will travel to the Cotswolds this weekend, though there could be no better place to assess whether Grands Crus is ready for the toughest test of all.

"We'll decide in the week whether he runs or not, after we've seen how he is and thought about whether we want to run," Pipe said. "I'd expect we'll decide on Wednesday.

"It's a pre-Gold Cup trial, so it was always going to be a tough field, but we thought it would be interesting to give him an entry. It's possibly his next stepping stone towards the Cheltenham Festival, whatever race that might be.

"Even if he wins on Saturday, that wouldn't confirm him in the Gold Cup in my eyes. If it was down to me, I'd leave everything until much nearer to the time to be cautious, just like I am with any horse."

The depth of the competition that could line up against Grands Crus is underlined by the betting, which lists four of his possible opponents – Captain Chris, Diamond Harry, Time For Rupert and Midnight Chase – at 8-1 or below.

Saturday's meeting is the final chance for Festival hopefuls to get a feel for the demands and contours of Cheltenham, and prominent contenders for several major events are spread throughout the card. Big Buck's, however, needs no introduction to Prestbury Park, having won there five times, but his appearance in the Cleeve Hurdle should set him up for an attempt to equal the record for consecutive wins by a hurdler when he returns to Cheltenham for the World Hurdle.

Big Buck's is a 2-7 chance with Paddy Power for the Cleeve, which attracted an impressive entry of 11 possible runners given the likelihood that the winner of the last three World Hurdles would be in the field.

Mourad, who finished 4½ lengths behind Big Buck's when third in last year's World Hurdle, is a 6-1 chance to stop the favourite's winning streak at 14, and Dynaste, from the Pipe yard, is 7-1.

"Dynaste is also not a certain runner and again we'll probably decide on Wednesday," Pipe said, "but he will have to take on Big Buck's, which is probably all you need to say."

The Irish Champion Hurdle at Leopardstown on Sunday has attracted 12 entries, including last year's winner Hurricane Fly, who went on to win the Champion Hurdle at Cheltenham in March. At least two significant names are likely to be missing from the final field, however.

Voler La Vedette is likely to contest the Galmoy Hurdle at Gowran Park on Thursday as the ground at Leopardstown is expected to be faster than Colm Murphy's mare would prefer, and Binocular, the 2010 Champion Hurdler, is being aimed towards the Contenders Hurdle at Sandown on 4 February, a race he has won for the past two years.

"It's worked for us in the past so I think we'll stick to it," Frank Berry, JP McManus's racing manager, said on Monday.

"We'll get Sandown out of the way first before we start thinking about Cheltenham. He's back in good form, though. We've been very pleased with him since [he won the Christmas Hurdle at] Kempton."

Greg Wood

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Synchronised justifies decision to run in Lexus Chase at Leopardstown

December 29, 2011 By Greg Wood

• Tony McCoy's mount had been entered for the Welsh National
• Gold Cup and Grand National on the agenda for Synchronised

The Christmas meeting at Leopardstown is when Irish racing starts to sort out its contenders, and bets, for Cheltenham in March, and three very credible Festival contenders emerged from the card on Wednesday in Make Your Mark, Last Instalment and Voler La Vedette. The search for the next Irish-trained Gold Cup winner, though, took a significant step backwards, as Sychronised became the fifth British-trained winner of the Grade One Lexus Chase in the last six years, and made some of Ireland's best staying chasers look very ordinary in the process.

Sychronised has deep reserves of stamina, as he demonstrated when winning the Welsh Grand National last season, but he had more than enough speed in the closing stages to see off Rubi Light and Quito De La Roque by eight-and-a-half lengths and two-and-a-half. He was not a certain runner in the Lexus until last week, when it was decided by Jonjo O'Neill and JP McManus, his trainer and owner, that the burden of top weight in this year's Welsh National would ask too much of him, but he is now a more credible contender for the Gold Cup than any of the horses who followed him home.

O'Neill's eight-year-old is one of just four possible runners quoted at less than 25-1 for the Gold Cup following Wednesdayyesterday's success, his first at Grade One level. The other three are the first-year chaser Grands Crus, who could well run in one of the Festival's novice events instead, and, of course, Kauto Star and Long Run, first and second in the King George VI Chase at Kempton on Boxing Day. Quito De La Roque and Rubi Light, who were both on offer at about 14-1 on Wednesday morning, can now be backed at 33-1, and this season's Gold Cup seems to look more like a straight head-to-head by the day.

"He had 11st 11lb in the Welsh National and it looked like being a slog," Frank Berry, racing manager to JP McManus, said. "This gives us an idea of where we are going with him, and we can look at some of the good races. He gets the trip and he jumps, and he'll get an entry in the Gold Cup. He had a hard enough race here and more than likely we will go straight there [and] he'll also get an entry in the English Grand National."

Ireland's Festival prospects look much brighter in the novice events after Wednesday's card, on which Last Instalment, making only his third start over fences, was a clear-cut winner of the Grade One Fort Leney Novice Chase.

"When we were schooling him, we said that if he was useless he could be an event horse, because he was that accurate over the jumps," Philip Fenton, his trainer, said. "If he has one more run [before the Cheltenham Festival] I'd say it would be the [JP] Moriarty [back at Leopardstown in February]."

Last Instalment is top-priced at 10-1 for the RSA Chase at Cheltenham, in a market headed by Grands Crus at 9-4. Should David Pipe's grey be sent to the Gold Cup instead, Last Instalment would be a fair candidate to replace him as favourite.

Make Your Mark also looks Festival material, despite his emphatic success in the opening race being recorded in nothing more than a maiden hurdle. He made much of the running before striding clear of his field in the straight, and the ease of his win was matched later in the afternoon by Voler La Vedette, who won a Grade Two hurdle over three miles in the style of a mare who is still improving rapidly. She is a 4-1 chance for the David Nicholson Mares' Hurdle on the opening day at Cheltenham.

Greg Wood

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Stewards are failing to punish non-triers, according to Timeform

October 17, 2011 By Tony Paley

The much-loved Chasers & Hurdlers annual says that jockeys and regulators are guilty of letting the sport down

The contentious issue of non-triers in racing will get a full airing over the next few weeks, with the opening on Thursday of the corruption case involving five jockeys who were riding on the all-weather Flat circuit in 2009. Non-triers are widely reckoned to be rare in racing but is the British Horseracing Authority, already under scrutiny for the mess it made of introducing new whip rules last week, effective at spotting and dealing with them on Britain's racecourses?

Timeform, the respected ratings organisation, does not think so. In a conclusion which is likely to both shock and concern the sport's insiders as well as punters, it states that, over jumps, "the rules requiring horses to be ridden on their merits are regularly flouted".

The organisation, which has reporters at every meeting and would be as well placed as any to gauge how effective the sport is being policed, concludes that "non-triers are as widespread now as they have been for a long time".

It lays the blame at the door of the BHA and the stewards it has in place at Britain's racecourses, stating: "The main responsibility for seeing that punters are not short-changed rests with the stewards, who must be seen to be imposing the rules with firmness and consistency. At times nowadays, at some of the more far-flung outposts of jump racing, it seems as if they are hardly applying them at all."

The damning indictment appears in the essay on the Champion Hurdle-runner up Peddlers Cross in the newly published Chasers & Hurdlers annual covering all the action on the track over the 2010–11 season.

The most significant moment in the latest National Hunt campaign came at Aintree in April and the furore surrounding the punishment meted out to the Grand National-winning rider Jason Maguire for his misuse of the whip. The incident led directly to the BHA's latest whip review and all the controversy which followed its over-hasty introduction of the new whip rules a week ago, just five days before Champions Day at Ascot.

While warning that the issue of the whip is a knotty one and that "no solution will be found that satisfies everyone", Timeform, in its entry on the National winner Ballabriggs, suggests "the whip rules should be framed around incorrect use of the whip with the specifying of a 'norm' for excessive use (which triggers most of the inquiries) being dropped, the worst cases of excessive use being dealt with – as they can be equally effectively – under other existing parts of the whip rules."

It concludes: "This was the biggest race of the year and the Aintree stewards had to follow the BHA's rules to the letter. Maguire could hardly complain about his lot but the resulting suspension, as so often when such suspensions involve top jockeys at big meetings, served inadvertently only to feed the widespread misconception that the Grand National is a cruel race."

Jump racing's golden era continues to throw up outstanding performers. The champion staying hurdler Big Buck's, which Timeform does not envisage having his colours lowered this season, is close to equalling the 50s' great Sir Ken, who won 16 straight races in a row, while this year's Gold Cup hero, Long Run, became the sixth winner of the modern era to break the ratings specialist's mark of 180.

Neither, a little surprisingly, are accorded the honour of Timeform Horse of the Year, which has gone to Hurricane Fly who, on 172, is 12lb below Long Run's rating. "Perhaps at last a true heir to Istrabaq has emerged" begins its account of a season in which the Champion Hurdle winner won five Grade One races.

"Like Big Buck's and Long Run, he is the undisputed champion in his sphere, and the style of his successes in an unbeaten campaign at the highest level, that lasted longer and took in more races than their corresponding campaigns, combined to just tip the balance in Hurricane Fly's favour when it came to deciding the Horse of the Year."

Hurricane Fly had Binocular, the previous season's champion hurdler, back in third when winning at Punchestown a month after his Cheltenham triumph and Timeform's musings on Binocular's late withdrawal from the Festival highlight will not make pleasant reading for his trainer, Nicky Henderson, or the BHA.

"The collusion between those involved at [Henderson's yard] and the authorities who sat on the news [of Binocular's positive drug test] for three days – until further samples had been tested – was misguided … it begged the question of how the BHA thought it was protecting the integrity of the sport by keeping quiet about the fact that considerable doubt seemed to have arisen over the favourite's participation in the Champion Hurdle."

Timeform's Chasers and Hurdlers is published by Portway Press at £75.

Tony Paley

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Cheltenham considers series option for Gold Cup as Tote contract ends

September 6, 2011 By Chris Cook

• Pool betting firm have backed race since 1980
• Feature expected to be under Betfred banner in 2012

Potential sponsors are being sounded out about the possibility of backing the Cheltenham Gold Cup from 2013 and the racecourse is considering the option of selling the race as part of a series, as has been successfully achieved with the Champion Hurdle. The famous steeplechase has been backed for more than 30 years by the Tote, a run that is likely to end in March, when it is expected to be staged under the banner of Betfred, new owners of the Tote.

The Tote has been associated with the Gold Cup since 1980 but the pool betting firm's final contract to back the race will expire after the next running. No formal discussion has yet taken place between course officials and Betfred as to the naming rights of the 2012 race but it is expected that it will be run with the Betfred prefix, in line with other high-profile Tote-sponsored races like the Ebor, the Cambridgeshire and the Cesarewitch.

Cheltenham officials are also upbeat about the possibility that Fred Done, co-founder of Betfred, may be persuaded to sign another deal to back the race when they sit down to discuss the issue at a meeting planned to take place before the track's next fixture in mid-October. Nevertheless, it is believed that other firms have been approached.

The track's spokesman, Andy Clifton, did not confirm that explicitly but said: "We'd be neglecting our responsibilities if we didn't examine the market. Whenever something like this comes up for renewal, it makes sense to put feelers out to see what interest there is.

"One thing that we're interested in pursuing is the 'road to Cheltenham' concept, as with the Champion Hurdle. Where possible, we'd like to offer continuity through the season, so that it's not just a one-off proposition." The Champion Hurdle is backed by Stan James, who also signed up last year to sponsor key trials for the Festival race at Newcastle, Haydock and Cheltenham.

Clifton spoke of the benefits of offering a potential sponsor "a compelling narrative to the season" and of "racecourses working together so that racing as a whole benefits".

"If joining two or three races, forming a kind of three-miles-plus chase pattern, is possible then maybe that becomes a more attractive proposition to sponsors than just one race. There are all sorts of hurdles in the way, not least existing sponsorship agreements. All that goes into the pot and no doubt that'll be part of the discussion. Yes, the race is technically up for grabs and, with the changes at the Tote, no doubt there will be plenty of discussion about what route the race should take."

George Primarolo, a Tote spokesman, said that there would be no saving for Betfred if the firm chose to end the sponsorship. As part of the Tote's purchase, Betfred committed to paying an expected £9m per year in commercial payments to the sport. "I would be very surprised if we didn't continue with the same level of sponsorship, partly because it's a fair way for Betfred to get a commercial return on their money," Primarolo said. "It may not be the same races, of course."

The Gold Cup is understood to be an expensive race to sponsor, with its backer unlikely to get much change out of £500,000 per year from 2013, but Primarolo said the Tote had always regarded the money as well spent. "Pictures of the Gold Cup are not just used in the days after the race but pretty much all year round and, OK, the caption may not say 'Tote Cheltenham Gold Cup' but it's difficult to miss the Tote name on the saddlecloths and on the board under the fence."

Chris Cook

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Sam Waley-Cohen and jumping’s old guard combine to fire up Cheltenham

March 20, 2011 By Will Hayler

Four-day festival in the Cotswolds proves the allure and excitement of National Hunt racing is as great as ever

In the spectrum of sporting achievements by amateurs, Sam Waley-Cohen's victory aboard Long Run in the Gold Cup is no rags-to-riches story. Asked in a recent interview if he was a millionaire, Waley-Cohen replied: "It depends how you count it."

But despite having the advantages of a wealthy father to buy him a top-class horse to ride and a career that allows him to spend some of his time at the stables and plenty more in the gym, the 28-year-old's performance in the saddle should not be underestimated and the race must go down as one of the great Gold Cups.

It was certainly a fitting finale for a Cheltenham Festival long on highlights to entertain the 223,748 who packed the stands over the four days, queued for the toilets and relished the drama.

Yes, Waley-Cohen is no CB Fry, the ultimate amateur sportsman, who represented England at football and cricket and equalled the world long jump record, but the level of skill, fitness and judgement required to win a Gold Cup does not come without hours, days, weeks, months and years of hard work.

Sport's shift towards professionalism in recent years makes the achievement even worthier of celebration. Amateur golfers cannot wait to turn pro and start cashing cheques. Rugby players aren't solicitors or army majors. Even the referees are not schoolteachers or dentists any more.

Waley-Cohen travelled on Saturday to see Long Run at Nicky Henderson's stables, having been let off his one booked ride at Ffos Las. Victory came at the end of a difficult week for Henderson, for whom the win puts him in with a fine chance of a third trainers' title and the opportunity to break the recent dominance of Paul Nicholls, particularly if Long Run goes on to run at Aintree next month.

The controversial withdrawal of Binocular from the Champion Hurdle, combined with the British Horseracing Authority's decision to apply extra testing to his horses and not being able buy a winner for the first three days of the meeting, meant Henderson was pushed to the hilt.

As well as being one of the outstanding jumps trainers of the past three decades and more, Henderson is a highly likable and articulate character who gives generously of his time and always wears his heart on his sleeve. Perhaps that is why, when attempting to ask a legitimate if unsettling question about his stable medical procedures at the post-Gold-Cup press conference, our own Greg Wood was shouted down by another writer.

Racing must not be afraid of looking below its waterline for fear of finding a leak, or it may be too late to repair the damage.

Having already met censure from the BHA over the quality of his medical bookkeeping, and with the prospect of further action hanging over him, Long Run's victory will hopefully mark a watershed for Henderson, who kept faith in the horse when others – myself included – still held doubts.

The appointment of a public relations advisor might help. Although Henderson probably did not see the harm in telling one and all after his first winner that he had backed himself at 16-1 to draw a blank at the meeting "as an insurance policy", one wonders how England fans might have reacted had Wayne Rooney returned from last year's World Cup to cash in a bet that he would fail to score a goal at the tournament.

Despite ultimately playing only supporting roles in the Gold Cup, for many it was the performance of the previous champions Denman and Kauto Star that made the race so special. Denman stays in training next season, to the delight of his owner, Paul Barber, who declared after the race: "I feel like pushing the wife to one side of the bed and having him in the middle."

Decisions are still to be taken on Kauto Star, but the choice to go against the widely held belief that he would be ridden very conservatively and push him up to challenge for the lead at the halfway stage saw him spark back to life. He jumped as well as ever and thoroughly deserved to hold on for third place from What A Friend.

Not that Denman and Kauto Star were the only former champions to find that the unique Cheltenham challenge reignited the fire. Denman was running at the Festival for the sixth time, but it was a seventh consecutive visit for the David Pipe-trained Buena Vista, who landed the Pertemps Final under an inspired ride from Conor O'Farrell, and Big Buck's, Quevega and Albertas Run all won at the meeting for the third time.

Albertas Run's performance in the Ryanair Chase was reminiscent of Monty Python's Black Knight. One by one, they came to him and tried to tear off a strip, but he responded to each challenge by pulling out more, mirroring the determination of Tony McCoy not to be passed.

In contrast, Quevega was serene in her third consecutive victory in the David Nicholson Mares' Hurdle, part of the record band of 13 Irish-trained winners over the course of the week.

Willie Mullins is thinking of the two-and-a-half-mile Aintree Hurdle for Thousand Stars, a game fourth in the Champion Hurdle behind hugely talented stablemate Hurricane Fly. Perhaps Nicholls and owner Andy Stewart could be persuaded to drop the outstanding Big Buck's down in trip for the same race, rather than mopping up another race over three miles-plus. It would be a sporting challenge and, as we know, racing just loves them.

Will Hayler

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Paul Nicholls full of pride in Cheltenham heroes Denman and Kauto Star

March 19, 2011 By Sport: Cheltenham festival | guardian.co.uk

• Retirement not on agenda for brave pair
• Trainer also sent out What A Friend in fourth

If this was the final flourish, the memory will always be magnificent. Kauto Star and Denman offered no hint of their age as they duelled on the final circuit in the Gold Cup and finished well ahead of most of their younger opponents.

In the end, though, their contribution to the great 2011 Gold Cup spectacle was that of an honour guard that eventually gave way to a new champion, and the question now is how many more times they will return to the fray. For all concerned with the horses, there was a huge sense of pride in their performance afterwards.

"I wasn't expecting very much today but you have to hand it to them, that was an awesome horse race," Paul Nicholls, right, who trains both horses, said. "The best horse on the day won and these three [his third contender, What A Friend, was fourth] have run amazing races. It's just unbelievable.

"Both Kauto Star and Denman are 11 now and Kauto has just lost that little kick coming off the bend but we were committed. All of those people who said he should be retired can eat their words now. We didn't win it but we weren't expecting to. We thought they'd run well and they have done. We were just beaten by a younger set of legs but all credit to the horses to come back and run so well. We wouldn't have run them if we didn't think they could give a good account of themselves and I'm mighty proud of them."

This was Denman's sixth consecutive run at the Festival. He finished second in a novice hurdle in 2006, won the RSA Chase the following year and then the Gold Cup before finishing runner-up in the same race three years running.

"That was lovely," Paul Barber, his owner, said. "I have a dry throat, a dry mouth. He ran another great race but was just beaten by a younger horse. That's six visits here and he's never been out of the first two. He heard that cheer when he came in and he thought it was for him. Mind you, he got almost as loud a cheer as the winner."

Clive Smith, the owner of Kauto Star, was equally delighted with the performance of his long-time favourite, who was also having his sixth start at the meeting.

"What a run," Smith said. "Ruby [Walsh] was able to dictate the pace and he had every chance coming around the turn. He's 11 now but that was still a wonderful performance and I'm so proud of him."

There was no immediate indication of whether either horse will run again this season or indeed at all. There are major meetings at both Aintree and Punchestown on the horizon but both horses have suffered upset defeats at the Liverpool track in the past while Denman looked horribly ill at ease on Punchestown's right-handed circuit last April.

Both are clearly still close to the top of the chasing pyramid but whether either will ever again have the necessary speed to win a race as competitive as the Gold Cup is another matter. Eleven-year-olds have a poor record in the race as it is but in the modern era 12-year-old winners are almost unheard of. Unless fate, in the shape of a fall for the favourite, intervenes, another 12 months is unlikely to bring much improvement in their prospects.

Few bookmakers were willing to put a price against either for next year's Gold Cup yesterday, though Kauto Star in particular may well be aimed at one more run in the King George VI Chase, in which he was beaten this year by Long Run.

Whatever decision is made about their futures, it seems inevitable that both horses will return to Cheltenham on Gold Cup day at some stage. Whether that is for the race itself or the parade of great champions beforehand is another matter.


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Gold Cup victory puts Nicky Henderson in running for trainers’ title

March 19, 2011 By Greg Wood

The Lambourn man has not been champion for 24 years but his luck turned just in time at the Cheltenham Festival

There have been few races, even at Cheltenham, quite as thrilling as the 2011 Gold Cup and few Festival weeks as tumultuous as the one just experienced by Nicky Henderson. Mired in controversy on Sunday morning, when Binocular was ruled out of the Champion Hurdle by an excess of steroids in his system, by Friday afternoon he was celebrating the greatest victory of his 33-year career as Long Run took the Gold Cup. Even the wildest of the West Country's gamblers may not have had such a white-knuckle ride.

While the adrenaline is still pumping and the horses are on their way back past the stands, it is easy to get carried away and mark a race down as one for the ages, only to find that, 24 hours later, the glow begins to subside. But this was a special Gold Cup, a contest that gripped the attention from the start and built by the minute until Kauto Star and Denman, the winners of three Gold Cups and placed in three more, turned down the hill side by side at the head of the field.

They have been two of the most popular Cheltenham horses that anyone can remember and the penultimate act in the drama was the moving sight of the pair of them thundering down towards the home turn one more time. But Long Run was tracking them, with five years in hand on both, and Sam Waley-Cohen, his amateur rider, ready to make the final move. On the run to the final fence, the new generation swept past the old and, with seven lengths and four back to Denman and Kauto Star, the Long Run era began.

There were other horses in this field who could have claimed to be part of chasing's new guard, but Long Run, officially a six-year-old, was at least two years younger than all of them and will not pass his actual sixth birthday until May. The last six-year-old to win the Gold Cup was the great Mill House in 1963 and he might well have won several more had a horse called Arkle not appeared on the scene. Unless misfortune intervenes, Long Run will surely be a Gold Cup contender for years to come.

For Henderson, too, this promises to be a new golden age. He has been champion trainer just twice before, most recently in 1987, but Long Run's victory in the first £500,000 Gold Cup leaves him close behind Paul Nicholls in this season's championship. It was always a mystery why a man who barely looks at a horse unless it is built to jump fences should have enjoyed much more success in the Champion Hurdle than the Gold Cup. Now, the balance may be about to turn.

Henderson could saddle nothing but runners-up on Tuesday and could not match even that on the following two days of the meeting. Long Run, though, was completing a double on the afternoon after the easy success of Bobs Worth in the Albert Bartlett Hurdle and it is that sort of resilience that has seen the 60-year-old Henderson, rather than one of Nicholls's contemporaries, emerge as the champion's principal rival.

The constant attention that has followed Nicholls in his time training Kauto Star and Denman may now be directed at Henderson. How he may cope with that remains to be seen. He refused to discuss Binocular's problems in any detail after this race, or to answer questions about the medication procedures at his yard. As winners at the Festival, incidentally, both Bobs Worth and Long Run will be subject to automatic dope tests.

"The Gold Cup and the Grand National are the two races we have been missing and it is nice to get one of them in the bag," Henderson said. "It has taken us a few years and this race has eluded us a bit, but we haven't really had any chances. This is a very good horse and he has proved it."

Long Run was a useful prospect in France before being bought to race in Britain by Robert Waley-Cohen, his jockey's father, and could return there to race at Auteuil later this season if a potential issue over his rider can be resolved.

"There are two races, including the Grand Steeplechase de Paris [French Gold Cup], to consider and I would love to go there," Waley-Cohen Sr said. "There is an issue that France won't let amateurs ride in Tiercé [important betting] races. If that's their attitude, he won't run."

Beyond that, Long Run is already just 3-1 for next year's Gold Cup. In six and a half compelling minutes, the next chapter at Cheltenham has begun.

Greg Wood

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