2012 Cheltenham Gold Cup

The 2012 Cheltenham Gold Cup featured the defending champion, Long Run, who was sent off 7/4 favourite, and two-time winner Kauto Star, by now a twelve-year-old and making what turned out to be his final racecourse appearance, who was sent off 3/1 second favourite. Kauto Star, though, ran no sort of race on his fourth and final attempt to win a third Gold Cup, weakening after a mistake at the eighth fence and being pulled up before halfway in the 3 mile 2½-furlong contest.

Long Run, on the other hand, made a bold bid to retain his title. Despite hitting the third-last and second-last fences, the seven-year-old was driven to challenge at the final obstacle and, although he could on keep on at one pace under pressure in the closing stages, finished an honourable third, beaten a total of just 3 lengths.

Victory went to the Lexus Chase winner, Synchronised, trained by Jonjo O’Neill and ridden by A.P. McCoy, at 8/1. O’Neill later admitted that, ‘Our big worry was keeping him in the race’ but, despite several jumping errors, the nine-year-old rallied from an unpromising position turning for home to emerge as a potent threat at the final fence. Under a vintage McCoy drive, Synchronised tackled the leader, The Giant Bolster, early on the run-in and kept on gamely to win by 2¼ lengths. The Giant Bolster, trained by David Bridgwater and ridden by Tom Scudamore, belied odds of 50/1 to finish a rallying second, three-quarters of a length ahead of Long Run.

Less than a month later, Synchronised attempted to become the first horse since the legendary Golden Miller, in 1934, to win the Cheltenham Gold Cup and the Grand National in the same season. Sadly there was no fairytale ending; Synchronised initially fell at Becher’s Brook on the first circuit, but took another, fatal, fall at the eleventh fences when running loose.

2011 Cheltenham Gold Cup

The 2011 Cheltenham Gold Cup was the most competitive renewal of the prestigious steeplechase for many a year, with the winners from the three previous years, Imperial Commander, Kauto Star and Denman once again in opposition. That trio, though, were only second, third and fourth choice in the betting market, behind favourite Long Run, who arrived at Prestbury Park fresh from a comfortable 12-length victory over stable companion Riverside Theatre in the rearranged King George VI Chase at Kempton two months earlier.

Still only a six-year-old, Long Run was ridden by accomplished amateur Sam Waley-Cohen, as he had been when beaten, but not disgraced, in the RSA Chase on his first attempt at the Cheltenham Festival in 2010. On that occasion he had made series of mistakes and his jumping was, once again, less than foot-perfect in what was, far and away, his toughest test to date.

From the fourth-last fence, soon after the turn at the top of the hill, Imperial Commander blundered and soon weakened out of contention, leaving Kauto Star and Denman to make the best of their way home. The two former winners were involved in a protracted duel from the home turn, but on the approach to the final fence it became clear that Long Run had the measure of both of them. On the long, stamina-sapping climb to the winning line, the ‘young pretender’ quickly put daylight between himself an his rivals, passing the post 7 lengths ahead of Denman, with Kauto Star a fading third, 4 lengths further behind.

Victory for Long Run was a first in the Cheltenham Gold Cup for Nicky Henderson and the first for a six-year-old since Mill House – who was, at the time, widely considered the best steeplechaser since Golden Miller in the Thirties – in 1963.Winning jockey Sam Waley-Cohen became the first amateur jockey since Jim Wilson on Little Owl, in 1981, to win the Cheltenham Gold Cup.

2010 Cheltenham Gold Cup

With their head-to-head score tied at one apiece, the 2010 Cheltenham Gold Cup was billed as the latest rematch between Kauto Star and Denman, who had won the last three renewals of the ‘Blue Riband’ event between them. Although in different ownership the two main protagonists were saddled by reigning champion trainer Paul Nicholls and, unsurprisingly, were sent off 8/11 favourite and 4/1 favourite, respectively. Third choice in the betting market, at 7/1, was Imperial Commander, who had been involved in a sustained duel with Kauto Star when beaten by the minimum margin in the Betfair Chase at Haydock the previous November, but had finished 64 lengths behind the same horse in the King George VI Chase at Kempton on Boxing Day, after failing to recover from a mistake at the second fence.

By contrast, in the Cheltenham Gold Cup, it was the reigning champion, Kauto Star, who suffered from jumping frailties. What jockey Ruby Walsh described as ‘a bad mistake’ before halfway knocked Kauto Star out of position and thereafter he was always fighting a losing battle, finally parting company with Walsh at the infamous fourth-last fence on the New Course when struggling in fifth place. Stable companion Denman, ridden by A.P. McCoy, raced prominently throughout and was still in the lead on the approach to second-last fence. However, even ‘The Tank’, as Denman was affectionately known, had no answer when tackled by Imperial Commander at the penultimate obstacle.

Ridden by Paddy Brennan, the Nigel Twiston-Davies-trained nine-year-old was driven clear in the closing stages to win by 7 lengths, going away from his nearest pursuer, Denman, who finished tired, but remained well clear of the third horse. Mon Mome, winner of the Grand National in 2009, was tailed off at one stage, but made relentless progress from the second-last fence to snatch the minor placing in the dying strides at odds of 50/1.

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