Ireland's best-ever Cheltenham festival ended as it began, in triumph, when Kicking King justified favouritism yesterday to win the Gold Cup.
Defying doubts about his stamina, the Tom Taaffe-trained horse clinched the £203,000 first prize in a race from which he was temporarily withdrawn two weeks ago because of health worries.
He was completing a triple crown for Irish horses here, after the victories of Hardy Eustace in the Champion Hurdle and Moscow Flyer in the Queen Mother Champion Chase. Ireland finished with a total of nine winners, a festival record.
The other main Irish contender in the Gold Cup, Beef or Salmon, struggled from the start and was eventually pulled up. But Kicking King was going well and was eased to the front by jockey Barry Geraghty after the last fence.
Instead of struggling up the Cheltenham Hill, he stretched away, finishing five lengths ahead of Take The Stand, with Sir Rembrandt a further eight lengths back in third.
The result produced wild celebrations in the winner's enclosure, where owner Conor Clarkson received the cup from Britain's Princess Anne. But it was also a personal triumph for the trainer, whose father Pat partnered Arkle to three Gold Cups. "I'm delighted for my parents that the Taaffe name is back here," he said.
This was the first time the festival had been extended to a fourth day, and the jury is still out on the success of that experiment. Crowds were down earlier this week, although a last day sell-out of 67,000 pushed the total for the four days to a record 231,000.