8:40am Saturday 19th March 2011
NICKY Henderson basked in the joy of his first totesport Cheltenham Gold Cup after Long Run belied his tender years on an epic afternoon in Gloucestershire.
The Lambourn handler has scooped virtually all of the major prizes in the National Hunt game, but the most prestigious race in the calendar had eluded him.
But that all changed within a handful of glorious minutes as the 7-2 favourite, ridden by amateur Sam Waley-Cohen, jumped impeccably to follow up his similarly accomplished success in the King George VI Chase at Kempton in January.
Denman ran another gallant race to finish runner-up while Kauto Star just held off stablemate What A Friend for third.
The one major disappointment was last year's winner Imperial Commander, who was pulled up along the straight.
Henderson said: "It was a great race because all the horses have run great races - there's no disputing it.
"Kauto Star was probably at his best today, but Long Run is a very good young horse.
"The big horses were all there and he had to get through them, and he did. It was a wonderful ride.
"This horse is still only six, so there is a lot to look forward to with him yet."
Looking back over the four Cheltenham Festival days, local trainer Alan King got off to a good start by winning the Stewart Family Spinal Research Handicap Chase with Bensalem on the opening day of the meeting.
The eight-year-old, ridden by Robert Thornton, had to dig deep to hold off the challenge of the Henderson-trained Carole’s Legacy, gaining the upper hand in the last few strides to win by half a length.
The Barbury Castle trainer said: “That was very special.
“The horse was very sick shortly after last season’s Festival, he was at the vet’s for weeks.
“ I must say a thank you to my vet Jeremy Swan, one or two wanted to pull the plug and have the horse put down but he said he had still got a chance.”
Bensalem’s victory made up for the slightly disappointing run of the yard’s favourite for the Arkle Chase, Medermit, who finished fourth.
King admitted he made a mess of it choosing the Arkle instead of the Jewson Novices chase, adding: “I probably should have run Medermit in the other race - he was in top gear from the word go, I thought I was doing the right thing going for the Arkle but it didn’t work out that way.”
Jockey Ruby Walsh took the honours on the first day riding three winners including the Champion Hurdle on Hurricane Fly for Irish trainer Willie Mullins.
Walsh had only been back in the saddle for 10 days after a leg injury had seen him on the sidelines for a lengthy period.
The second day belonged to the Irish who cheered home the first six winners, the run broken by west country trainer Philip Hobbs, who won the Weatherbys Bumper with Cheltenian.
King almost had a second winner when his charge Kumbeshwar was just touched off by What A Charm in the Fred Winter Juvenile Handicap Hurdle.
Champion Jockey AP McCoy posted a couple of winners on Noble Prince and Albertas Run on day three before the Paul Nicholls-trained Big Buck’s won the Ladbroke World Hurdle for the third successive year, beating young pretender Grand Crus in an exciting finish.
Today’s fixtures are scheduled for Uttoxeter, Ffos Las and Newcastle over the jumps with all-weather action at Lingfield and Wolverhampton.
Top jockey Kieran Fallon is back in action at Lingfield and has some decent rides.
In the battle for the all-weather jockeys championship, Luke Morris has taken over the pole position from local pilot George Baker and leads the table by four winners with just a couple of weeks to go.
Baker has a chance of pulling a couple back at Lingfield with Fitz, for Lambourn trainer Matt Salaman and Timpanist for Simon Dow.
After his successful exploits at the Festival, Ruby Walsh could go close on board Tricky Trickster for trainer Paul Nicholls in the totesport.com Midlands Grand National Handicap Chase at Uttoxeter.
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