Best Mate wins third Gold Cup
Best Mate jumped into racing history with a third successive victory in the totesport Cheltenham Gold Cup today.
Henrietta Knight’s brilliant nine-year-old emulated the feat of the legendary Arkle – but he had to dig very deep to hold off Sir Rembrandt and Harbour Pilot.
In a pulsating finish, Jim Culloty asked him for everything and he was not found wanting. Sir Rembrandt edged out Harbour Pilot for second.
Culloty enjoyed an armchair ride on the champion as he pinged every fence up the inside rail with French raider First Gold blazing a trail up front under Thierry Doumen.
Best Mate looked to be cantering turning for home, but was very short of room and was squeezed up as the race started in earnest.
He jumped to the front two out but Harbour Pilot, third last year and who had been up with the pace from the off, would not go away and looked for a moment as if he might peg back the 8-11 favourite.
Sir Rembrandt found more for Andrew Thornton as well and it was a battle royal up the hill.
But Best Mate was just too strong and finished half a length ahead of Sir Rembrandt (33-1), with Harbour Pilot (20-1) one and a quarter lengths away in third.
“We said beforehand that the only safe way was down the inside, because down the middle was cut up last year and there was no grass on it,” Culloty told Channel 4.
“We had to take the gamble, and at times I wasn’t getting the best of runs. Everybody was saying it was a steering job, but it was a Gold Cup and there is no quarter given.”
With the crowd going wild on Best Mate’s return, a jubilant Ms Knight said: “Just listen to them! I thought we were beat coming to the last, but he’s tough, too. He was brilliantly ridden.
“It is just the most enormous relief. The pressure has been unimaginable.
“This is a horse who has been taken to the heart of the country and I could not bear the thought of letting them down.”
Owner Jim Lewis said: “Henrietta is the most dedicated, wonderful person. I know she is thinking about her late mum now, like I am thinking about my mum and dad. You look upstairs and think ‘stay with me, help me’ and they do.
“But I really was ready to lose because the dream has to come to an end one day. It was tight in the end, but it’s not the greatest ground for him. But what we saw today is that he is an amazing jumper.”
Best Mate’s stable lass Jackie Jenner said: “It was so nerve-wracking. There was so much pressure and it is such a relief. The run up the hill was never ending. It is a dream result.”
Delighted trainer Robert Alner said of Sir Rembrandt: “That’s by far and away his best performance. To finish within half a length of Best Mate in a truly-run race was far more than I expected.”
And the runner-up’s jockey Andrew Thornton added: “I gave the last just a bit too much daylight. I met the fence on a long, long stride and he just came up for me.
“I never really got there. It was a length and a half, then it was a length, then it was half a length, but he just had a tendency to drift to his right.
“I said all along that he was back to his best.”
Noel Meade, trainer of Harbour Pilot, said: “I am disappointed that we have been beaten, but I am very happy with him.
“He made a mistake at the second, but I think it did him good because he jumped a lot better after that.
“Paul (Carberry) said he thought he might win going to the last, but the winner is obviously a very good horse.
“It is a great atmosphere and we are just pleased to be in here (in second spot).”
When asked when Harbour Pilot would run again, Meade added: “I would just like to win a race with him! He has had only two chases this season and he is better than last season.
“We will go to Punchestown as long as the ground is not too firm there. We will also give him an entry in the Irish National, but it is unlikely he will run in it.
“Even at home he has been working better than ever this year and hopefully there is more to come.”
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