Sporting Life - Racing | Result, Cheltenham 12-03-2009 Ryanair Chase

Thursday March 12 2009

Cheltenham 14:40 - Result

Ryanair Chase

£220000 added, 5yo plus, 2m 5f, Class 1, £125422 penalty, 10 ran

Going: Good to Soft

Race Report » Watch Full Race» Watch Closing Stages»

Winning Time: 5m 18.3s

Pos.	Draw	Dist.	Horse	Wt	Jockey	Trainer	Age	SP
1			Imperial Commander (IRE)	11-10	P J Brennan	N A Twiston-Davies	8	6/1
		jumped well, always prominent, led 9th, ridden after 3 out, stayed on gamely, driven out opened 6/1 touched 13/2 £13000-£2000 (x2) £3000-£500
2		2	Voy Por Ustedes (FR)	11-10	R Thornton	A King	8	4/5 f
		close up, disputing close 2nd when blundered 4 out, every chance briefly 3 out, soon ridden, stayed on final 100 yards to regain 2nd opened 10/11 touched 1/1 £20000-£20000 £10000-£10000 (x4) £8000-£8000 £5000-£5000 (x14) £4000-£4000 £3000-£3000 (x2) £2000-£2000 (x2) £1200-£1200 (x2) £1000-£1000 (x10) £10000-£11000 (x2) £5000-£5500 (x4) £3000-£3300 (x6) £2000-£2200 £1818-£2000 £1000-£1100 (x4) £9000-£10000 £5000-£6000 (x2) £2000-£2400
3		¾	Schindlers Hunt (IRE)	11-10	P W Flood	D T Hughes	9	22/1
		held up, headway 13th, challenged 3 out until 2 out, held by winner approaching last, no extra and lost 2nd towards finish opened 22/1 touched 22/1
4		4½	Tidal Bay (IRE)	11-10	D F O'Regan	J Howard Johnson	8	13/2
		in touch until lost place 8th, struggling and lot to do under pressure 4 out, ran on approaching last, went 4th near finish opened 6/1 touched 13/2 £3500-£500 £6500-£1000
5		1½	Gwanako (FR)	11-10	R Walsh	P F Nicholls	6	16/1
		tracked leaders, ridden after 3 out, soon one pace opened 16/1 touched 16/1
6		6	Monet's Garden (IRE)	11-10	D J Condon	N G Richards	11	20/1
		held up, headway 11th, hit 3 out, soon ridden, weakened before 2 out opened 20/1 touched 20/1
7		3	Mister McGoldrick	11-10	D Elsworth	Mrs S J Smith	12	40/1
		prominent early, chased leaders from 5th, ridden after 4 out, weakened after next opened 50/1 touched 50/1
8		17	Knight Legend (IRE)	11-10	A D Leigh	Mrs J Harrington	10	100/1
		held up, hit 8th and 13th, effort when hit 3 out, soon weakened opened 100/1 touched 100/1
PU			L'Antartique (FR)	11-10	G Lee	Ferdy Murphy	9	33/1
		always struggling to go pace, never fluent, tailed off and pulled up before 4 out opened 33/1 touched 33/1
PU			Our Vic (IRE)	11-10	T J Murphy	D Pipe	11	9/1
		led, not fluent and headed 9th, ridden 12th, soon beaten, tailed off and pulled up after 3 out opened 8/1 touched 9/1

Tote Win: Ł7.80 Tote Place: Ł2.20,Ł1.10,Ł4.10
Straight Forecast: Ł11.12 Tricast: Ł98.96 Exacta: Ł13.50 Trifecta: Ł201.40
Swingers:1&2:Ł1.80, 2&3:Ł5.00, 1&3:Ł17.30

Jackpot: £60,012.58 carried forward to Cheltenham, 13th Mar Placepot: £537.00 Pool:£863,109.00 1,173.15 winning tickets Quadpot: £41.40 Pool:£35,912.47 640.50 winning tickets

Analysis: IMPERIAL COMMANDER continued his love affair with Cheltenham after a career-best effort ensured he put his King George flop well behind him. He tracked Our Vic in the early stages but took over as last year's winner floundered, and kept himself in front there on in with a brilliant display of jumping. When challenged firstly by Schindlers Hunt and finally by Voy Por Ustedes he found more in reserve and justified Paddy Brennan's faith in him in style. Voy Por Ustedes looked a threat coming around the final turn despite making mistakes, but he couldn't get to the winner up the hill. Those jumping mistakes could have taken their toll and he wasn't done for lack of stamina. He will probably go to Aintree a hot-favourite for a repeat win in the Melling Chase.