The hype which preceded the 2009 Cheltenham Gold Cup was extraordinary, comparable only to, well, last year’s. Then, just like this time, stable mates Kauto Star and Denman were the talk of the track. The pair, who are both products of the Paul Nicholls yard, headed the betting once again, with Kauto Star a strong favourite to avenge his 2008 defeat and become the first horse to regain the Gold Cup.
My interest in the race lay outside of the top two. I had been excitedly following the progress of another Nicholls’ contender, Neptune Collonges, who had displayed some impressive form since his third place in the 2008 Gold Cup, twice winning out of high quality fields in Punchestown and Leopardstown. In his only other recent race, last December, Neptune had been comfortably leading until an unfortunate fall two fences out handed the race to the Jonjo O’Neill-trained Exotic Dancer.
Such impressive form had been enough to see Neptune vying with Denman for second favouritism (behind Kauto Star) for the renewal of the most prestigious race on the jumps calendar. However, in the hours leading up to the Gold Cup, Neptune was friendless, drifting out to a starting price of 15/2, only marginally ahead of his old and, in my view, inferior rival, Exotic Dancer, who had come into 8/1.
Spread betting gives you so many different ways of getting with a horse, instead of simply backing it to win. I could have bought Neptune at 10 on one spread betting firm’s race index, which, in the case of the Gold Cup, would pay 4 places, 50-30-20-10. Instead, I chose to back him in a matchbet and so BOUGHT NEPTUNE COLLONGES / EXOTIC DANCER AT 1.5.
In effect I was giving Exotic Dancer a one and a half-length start over my horse: for every length over this by which Neptune defeated his old adversary, I would (hopefully) win one point, with a maximum make-up of +/- 15.
DURING THE RACE
If only the Gold Cup lasted two miles instead of just over three! Christian Williams sent Neptune Collonges out to the front of the pack, where he stayed for much of the race, while Tony McCoy gave Exotic Dancer such a patient ride that he propped up the rear of the field, behind even the rank outsiders. As we approached the last third of the race, all that was to change.
Neptune continued to plod along at his own pace, even while Kauto Star and Denman noticeably quickened. McCoy, meanwhile, had also found more from Exotic Dancer. And so followed an agonising process in which the two horses appeared to be moving through space and time in opposite directions. Neptune’s lead dwindled from 10 to five lengths, and then to parity. At this stage, there was only sadly one winner, as Exotic Dancer forced his way into third place, leaving a tired-looking Neptune some six lengths back, and me with a 7.5-point loser.
Neptune’s owner, John Hales, later blamed the jockey for not thrashing his horse out aggressively enough at the start and running the likes of Exotic Dancer out of the race early on. In my view, it was the good-to-soft ground that proved his undoing; on anything heavier, his staying stamina would have told over Exotic Dancer, as it had done previously. On this occasion, though, it was sadly not to be.
JW
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