Big-Race Perspective: The Cheltenham Gold Cup
A Festival which produced a succession of unexpected results and at which plenty of the star names underperformed had one last trick up its sleeve in the eclipse of Kauto Star, the best chaser in more than forty years, whose bid for a third Gold Cup ended on the floor, but that failed to stop this being a race of rare quality, a tremendous duel between two top-notch horses resulting in one of the best-ever performances in this great race, the first two drawing a long way clear after three out. The early pace wasn’t so strong as anticipated but it had picked up by halfway and ensured this was a proper test of stamina, a test worthy of the Blue Riband of steeplechasing.



