Gold Cup glory raises Kauto to superstar status
It was only released when Kauto Star and Ruby Walsh passed the finish line to secure a famous and unequivocal victory in the most important steeplechase in the world.
The horse answered all the questions which had pursued him throughout a hugely successful but flawed campaign and the relief among the connections, the fans, the racing public and even the doubters was palpable. Indeed he is a superstar.
That Kauto is now king of the three-milers and Walsh is unquestionably challenging Tony McCoy for the title “King of the Weighroom” mattered little in the wake of the Gold Cup victory. Already the talk was about Kauto being challenged for his title by stable-mate and fellow festival victor Denman in next year’s renewal.
But there was no doubt Walsh was enjoying the moment for as long as it lasted, savouring along with all those punters who he helped to clean out the bookies for the first time this week.
He had said after their victory in the King George at Kempton on St Stephen’s Day that he finally believed he had a horse capable of winning a Gold Cup. But the months since then have been the most pressurised of his and trainer Paul Nicholl’s careers.
Two bad blunders at Kempton that day had sparked the first questions about the horse’s ultimate ability and, despite a faultless display in the Tingle Creek over the minimum two mile trip, he then blundered in winning the Aon Chase at Haydock to further fuel the doubters.
Yesterday, after a faultless display of jumping over 21 of the Gold Cup’s 22 fences, he did it again. Having been “switched off” by Ruby from the outset, the jockey found himself being “ganged-up on” as the field hit the top of the hill for the final time and began the race to the line.
“I switched him to the outer to get some clear air and he pinged the second last. He wasn’t great at the last and fiddled it, but he got over it and the only thing on my mind then was getting him to the finish line,” the jockey said.
His description of the horse having “fiddled” the last could be excused on the basis of the excitement of victory, but the truth was rather different. In racing parlance he “parted the birch” in no uncertain terms, but yet again the horse found the requisite balance to maintain his stride.
“I wasn’t listening for the noise of the crowd,” Walsh revealed, “I was listening for the horses behind, but there was nothing there; there was nothing coming at me.”
Exotic Dancer ended up just two-and-a-half lengths back at the post with the 30/1 shot Turpin Green the same distance again behind him. The exultation was understandable.
“It’s been a pressure cooker for the last couple of months,” Walsh allowed. “But this is good for racing. Everyone has an opinion and that’s good.
“We didn’t necessarily agree with the opinions of many people, but it was great that everyone was talking about it. Sure there was pressure on us for a while, but that’s what this is all about.
“We’ve won it now and we can celebrate that, but already people are talking about next year and that’s good for racing too.”
Brough Scott had said beforehand that “all Ruby has to do is lob around and make sure the horse gets over the fences”, adding that the majority of the field were nowhere near in class to Kauto Star.
Nicholls, his voice cracking with emotion afterwards, was prepared to pour a little scorn on the naysayers.
“Today was the day that mattered. Not Haydock, not Kempton. I get annoyed when I read some of the criticism and even this morning they were giving him stick. But he has won six races on the trot, so what more do they want?
“Everyone had their doubts about Denman and Kauto Star.
“Denman put the doubters right on Wednesday and now Kauto Star has put them in their box.”
However, following on from successive years in which the defending champions — Kicking King and War Of Attrition — were unable to defend their titles because of injury, he is dismissing all the talk of back-to-back Gold Cups.
“We all know what can go wrong in racing and there’s a long time between now and next year. We’ll just enjoy this one for now,” he said.
