2009 Kauto Star

Run on good to soft going on Friday, March 13, 2009, the 2009 Cheltenham Gold Cup featured 16 runners, including the first five horses home in the 2008 renewal, namely Denman, Kauto Star, Neptune Collonges, Halcon Genelardais and Exotic Dancer. Of that quintet, Halcon Genelardais was never travelling or jumping with fluency and was tailed off when pulled up towards the end of the first circuit. The other four, though, filled the first four places.

Fresh from his third consecutive victory in the King George VI Chase at Kempton on Boxing Day, Kauto Star was sent off 7/4 favourite to avenge his seven-length defeat by stable companion Denman in the 2008 Cheltenham Gold Cup and, in so doing, become the first horse in the history of the race to regain his title. Denman, who had undergone successful treatment for an irregular heartbeat, but raced just once since the 2008 Gold Cup, was marginal second-favourite at 7/1, just ahead of Neptune Collonges at 15/2 and Exotic Dancer at 8/1.

As he had done the previous year, Neptune Collonges, this time ridden by Christian Williams, made the running, but was tackled by Kauto Star and Denman at the third-last and outpaced soon after. A similar comment applied to Denman, who had no answer when Kauto Star surged clear on the home turn and romped home for an impressive, 13-length win. His winning margin was, in fact, the widest since Master Oats beat Dubacilla by 15 lengths in 1995. Denman held second place, two-and-a-half lengths ahead of Exotic Dancer in third, with another six lengths back to Neptune Collonges in fourth.

Winning trainer Nicholls said, succinctly, “He’s fit, he’s fresh and he was never going to get beat today.” Winning jockey Ruby Walsh was rather more glowing in his praise of Kauto Star, saying, “He’s the greatest horse I have ever ridden – two miles, three miles, now two Gold Cups – he’s a wonderful horse.”