Storyline takes unexpected turn at Cheltenham

To the accompaniment of modified rapture from the Cheltenham stands, the race that was expected to mark the coronation of the greatest steeplechaser for half a century ended in triumph on Friday . . . for one of the pageboys.

The Cheltenham Gold Cup was won, not by the odds-on favourite Kauto Star, nor even his stablemate and rival Denman, but the third-favourite Imperial Commander at 7 to 1.

The horse is trained close to the racecourse by Nigel Twiston-Davies and owned – judging from the crowd on the podium – by half the population of the north of England. This helped prevent the result being received in total silence, broken only by the chortling of the bookmakers.

Some good judges have been sweet on Imperial Commander’s chances ever since he was nosed out of victory by Kauto Star at Haydock Park last November. But their voices did not fit with the narrative. Horse racing, which has spent decades talking largely to itself, has suddenly become aware that its position as Britain’s prime betting medium is under threat.

And its administrators were desperate to talk up the clash between Kauto Star (winner in 2007 and 2009, and widely regarded as the best chaser since Arkle in the 1960s) and Denman (winner in 2008). They were helped by their trainer Paul Nicholls, a paragon of transparency in a sport of secretive mumblers. The authorities encouraged the sale of hats, scarves and rosettes in the two competing colours – a move that appalled Ian Robinson, one of the winning co-owners: “This is turning it into a football match,” he moaned in advance. “It’s totally against the spirit of racing.”

Well, on Friday he had his revenge. It was indeed a two-horse race, but not the expected one. Kauto Star and his jockey Ruby Walsh, travelling easily on the first circuit, pitched on landing at the eighth of the 22 fences. Walsh recovered but his mount had the stuffing knocked out of him and took a weary tumble at the fourth-last.

Denman kept the flag flying but Imperial Commander, ridden by Paddy Brennan, was always going more confidently, and won by seven lengths. The rest were strung out all over Gloucestershire.

Mr Twiston-Davies said: “It’s been difficult for me hearing about those two all the time. We were always going to bloody win it.” His day was made when his son Sam rode the next winner, Baby Run, and Brennan won the last race for him on a 16-to-1 shot, Pigeon Island. Poor devils: the only way is down.

Pigeon Island put the tin lid on the festival for the punters after a week in which favourites won just four races out of 26. “It’s been a bloodbath,” one bookmaker said. Not his blood, though. William Hill and Ladbrokes shares kept rising all week.

But the markets are no longer the only guide to equine popularity. The Imperial Commander Appreciation Society had just 186 friends on Facebook on Friday morning: Kauto Star and Denman had more than 10,000 between them. Those numbers will change – and racing’s PRs will have to think up a new storyline.