Bobs Worth wins the Cheltenham Gold Cup
Trainer Nicky Henderson picks up landmark 50th Festival win as his two horses finish in the places in centrepiece race.
Favourite Bobs Worth won the Cheltenham Gold Cup on Friday to give trainer Nicky Henderson his second win in three years in the blue riband of jump racing.
Bobs Worth, ridden by Barry Geraghty, beat home Irish challenger Sir Des Champs while Henderson’s 2011 champion Long Run had to settle for third for the second successive year.
It was Henderson’s 50th winner at the Festival to boot.
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“It was brilliant. He is such a great little horse who just loves the job” Jockey Barry Geraghty |
“It has been a long old week. Both boys gave them great rides and both horses were brave to the line,” said 62-year-old Henderson.
“It is dreams, isn’t it? Barry Geraghty gave that a lovely pace.
“It has been a long wait as neither horse has run for a long old time.
“He is such an honest horse, he always gallops up the hill.”
For Geraghty it was an even greater triumph as he had bought the horse originally as a yearling for almost $21,000 and sold him to Henderson for $32,000 as a four-year-old.
“It was brilliant. He is such a great little horse who just loves the job,” said Geraghty, whose previous Gold Cup success came in 2005.
“We had faith in the horse. Nicky Henderson knew he would have him fit enough, he knows how to get them ready for Cheltenham,” added Geraghty, who can look forward to 10% of the $455,000 first prize cheque.
Five from five
Long Run’s rider Sam Waley-Cohen had no complaints.
“Long Run ran a cracker. He made one or two mistakes for a lack of concentration but I could not ask any more of him. He is a star,” said Waley-Cohen, who started the week on a high as his wife gave birth to son Max.
Bobs Worth had looked to be out of the running going over the third from home, where the fancied Paul Nicholls-trained Silivaco Conti came to grief, and the prize looked to be between the pacesetting Long Run and Sir Des Champs.
However, Geraghty, who had combined along with Henderson for the 19 length win of Sprinter Sacre in Wednesday’s Queen Mother Champion Chase, had plenty left in the tank.
He had Bobs Worth alongside the leading duo at the penultimate fence and pulled clear before the last.
Sir Des Champs, though, rallied after the last under Tony McCoy and 33-year-old Geraghty had to pull out the stops to repel the challenge and take the honours, denying the Irish their first win since 2006.
It was Bobs Worth’s fifth win from five races at the course, and his third at the Festival in as many years, but testament to Henderson’s training ability was only his first race in over 100 days.