Little Josh strikes gold

Little Josh (20-1) put in a spectacular round of jumping to lead from pillar to post in the Paddy Power Gold Cup at Cheltenham.

All the pre-race talk surrounded Nicky Henderson’s Long Run and he was sent off the 2-1 favourite under his amateur jockey Sam Waley-Cohen.

Despite a few minor errors, Long Run appeared to have every chance, but Little Josh was not for pegging back.

The gambled-on Dancing Tornado stayed on from the rear to claim second, two and three-quarter lengths away, with Long Run third and his stablemate Mad Max fourth.

Successful trainer Nigel Twiston-Davies, winning the race for the third time, was left bursting with pride at the ride his son gave the eight-year-old.

Twiston-Davies snr said: "He was superb - I'm so proud of him.''

Stable jockey Paddy Brennan chose to ride bottom weight Pigeon Island, which probably had something to do with the winner’s starting price.

Little Josh had dead-heated with Weird Al on his seasonal reappearance at Carlisle and that rival is now likely to have plenty of supporters in the Hennessy Gold Cup.

Second-favourite Great Endeavour was prominent but dropped away from the third-last, while Tchico Polos took a crashing fall.