Cheltenham Gold Cup 2011

The late Alistair Down once wrote of the 2011 Cheltenham Gold Cup, “…never have I known a Gold Cup winners’ enclosure where connections of the second, third and fourth all behaved as if they had won the race. And so sincerely meant it.” Indeed, the second, third and fourth, Denman, Kauto Star and What A Friend, were all trained by Paul Nicholls and ridden by Sam Thomas, Ruby Walsh and Daryl Jacob, respectively. Also present in the 13-strong field, in what was an outstanding renewal of the ‘Blue Riband’ event, were the defending champion Imperial Commander and the future Grand National winner Neptune Collonges, who completed the Nicholls-trained quartet.

Victory, though, went to a six-year-old – the first of his age group to prevail since Mill House in 1963 – in the form of Long Run, trained by Nicky Henderson and ridden by Sam Waley-Cohen. A comfortable, 12-length winner of the rearranged King George VI Chase on Boxing Day, Long Run was sent off 7/2 favourite at Cheltenham, despite facing the winner of the last four Gold Cups.

Denman and Kauto Star, both 11-year-olds, led over the third-last, at which point Imperial Commnder weakened out of contention and was eventually pulled up, having gone lame. They continued to duel for the lead but, between the final two fences, were joined, and passed, by Long Run, who stayed on strongly to beat Denman by 7 lengths. Kauto Star just held third, 4 lengths further back, and just a nose ahead of his stable companion What A Friend. Thus, Waley-Cohen became the first amateur jockey to win the Cheltenham Gold Cup since the late Jim Wilson, on Little Owl, in 1981