Sporting Life - Racing | Result, Cheltenham 19-03-2010 Totesport Cheltenham Gold Cup (grade 1)

Friday March 19 2010

Cheltenham 15:20 - Result

Totesport Cheltenham Gold Cup (grade 1)

£475000 added, 5yo plus, 3m 2f 110y, Class 1, £270798 penalty, 11 ran

Going: Good, Good to Soft in places

Race Report » Watch Full Race» Watch Closing Stages»

Winning Time: 6m 43.8s

Pos.	Draw	Dist.	Horse	Wt	Jockey	Trainer	Age	SP
1			Imperial Commander (IRE)	11-10	P J Brennan	N A Twiston-Davies	9	7/1
		tracked leaders, went 2nd 4 out, challenged next, driven to lead before 2 out, ridden and stayed on well flat opened 8/1 touched 8/1 £40000-£4800 £16000-£2000 £7500-£1000 Each Way
2		7	Denman (IRE)	11-10	A P McCoy	P F Nicholls	10	4/1
		tracked leader, disputed lead 11th, went on 5 out, hard pressed 3 out, ridden and headed before 2 out, edged right and no extra under pressure flat opened 4/1 touched 9/2 £7500-£1500 £5000-£1000 £9000-£2000 Each Way (x2) £9000-£2000 £4500-£1000 £4000-£1000 (x2)
3		23	Mon Mome (FR)	11-10	A Coleman	Miss V Williams	10	50/1
		held up in touch, reminder 16th, outpaced 4 out, stayed on from next, rallied flat to take 3rd near finish, no chance with leading pair opened 66/1 touched 66/1
4		s.h	Carruthers	11-10	Matthew Batchelor	M Bradstock	7	33/1
		led, joined 11th, not fluent 14th (water), headed 5 out, soon lost place, 4th and outpaced when blundered 3 out, soon ridden and no impression, stayed on under pressure from last, just failed for 3rd opened 40/1 touched 40/1 £33000-£1000 Each Way
5		¾	Cooldine (IRE)	11-10	Paul Townend	W P Mullins	8	10/1
		tracked leaders, outpaced in 3rd 3 out, soon ridden and no impression with leading pair, kept on same pace, lost 2 places towards finish opened 9/1 touched 10/1 £18000-£2000
6		8	Calgary Bay (IRE)	11-10	G Lee	Miss H C Knight	7	50/1
		keen early, held up behind, took closer order 12th, blundered next, outpaced 5 out, left 5th next, no impression from 3 out opened 50/1 touched 50/1
7		12	My Will (FR)	11-10	Nick Scholfield	P F Nicholls	10	80/1
		held up behind, struggling 15th, never dangerous opened 100/1 touched 100/1
8		10	Cerium (FR)	11-10	D N Russell	Paul Murphy	9	200/1
		always in rear, struggling from halfway opened 200/1 touched 200/1
9		dist	Tricky Trickster (IRE)	11-10	B J Geraghty	P F Nicholls	7	12/1
		held up in touch, struggling 24th, soon lost touch, tailed off opened 14/1 touched 14/1 £10000-£600 £5000-£300 Each Way £10000-£700 Each Way (x3) £5000-£350 Each Way (x2)
10		dist	Mr Pointment (IRE)	11-10	K Whelan	Paul Murphy	11	250/1
		always behind, tailed off opened 200/1 touched 250/1
F			Kauto Star (FR)	11-10	R Walsh	P F Nicholls	10	8/11 f
		tracked leaders on inside, blundered and lost place 8th, remained in touch, reminder 15th, disputing close up 4th when fell 4 out opened 4/5 touched 4/5 £833-£1000 £16000-£20000 £8000-£10000 (x3) £4800-£6000 £4400-£5500 £4000-£5000 (x12) £2400-£3000 £2000-£2500 (x6) £1600-£2000 (x2) £1000-£1250 (x2) £800-£1000 (x8) £8727-£12000 £8000-£11000 (x2) £4000-£5500 (x2) £1600-£2200 (x6)

Tote Win: Ł8.20 Tote Place: Ł1.70,Ł1.60,Ł7.90
Straight Forecast: Ł34.81 Tricast: Ł1304.21 Exacta: Ł36.60 Trifecta: Ł2281.20
Swingers:1&2:Ł3.90, 2&3:Ł18.80, 1&3:Ł30.30

Jackpot: £387,500.94 carried forward to Uttoxeter, 20th Mar Placepot: £41,288.40 Pool:£938,888.56 16.60 winning tickets Quadpot: £848.40 Pool:£54,177.50 47.25 winning tickets

Analysis: Billed as 'The Decider' between Kauto Star and Denman with the Gold Cup score 1-1, the finish was not quite the one expected but there was drama applenty nonetheless. It started on the first circuit with reigning champion Kauto Star making a shuddering error which Ruby Walsh did well to survive. It knocked them back from a prominent position just off the pace and Walsh had to spend the next few fences getting his mount back on an even keel. Up front, Carruthers and Denman were forcing the issue with IMPERIAL COMMANDER nicely placed just in behind. Kauto managed to work himself back into the contest but his jumping was far from faultless and it was always going to take a toll once the race began in earnest. In fact, he was feeling the pinch approaching four out and he took a pearling fall which he fortunately managed to get up from with Walsh riding him back to unsaddle. Carruthers gave best from three out as the prize was going to be decided between Imperial Commander and Denman. It was clear at the last fence that the former had the upper hand and a decent jump settled things as he powered clear on the run-in. The runner-up had a fair question mark over him going into the race after his Newbury mishap in the Aon Chase but this was a tremendous effort and he just found his year-younger rival too good on the day. Grand National winner Mon Mome emerged from the remaining runners to take third and this looked an excellent trial but fellow Aintree hope Tricky Trickster was a big disappointment and finished well in arrears. Cooldine did better than his finishing place suggested as he was always near the pace while Carruthers may not be the biggest but he is all guts and was unlucky to have third place pinched from his grasp.