RACING/GOLD CUP PREVIEW:IT'S QUITE simple. If Kauto Star wins the Cheltenham Gold Cup today, then work can begin on the script for War Horse II – with Spielberg dolloping on double the usual dose of schmaltz: because if the greatest chaser since Arkle can muster one last glorious hurrah, there won't be a dry eye in the house.
Racing may be a self-consciously tough sport but it’s also hugely sentimental and there is enough sugary sentiment floating about the Kauto Star story to make diabetics very wary indeed.
Each of the 15 starters for steeplechasing’s blue riband will have their hard-nosed supporters come 3.20pm this afternoon, including those pinning their hopes to the three Irish hopes. But everyone will have at least one eye on the great veteran with the white blaze. Kauto Story might not win but win or lose he will remain the story.
Already assured of his place among the pantheon of chasing’s greats, what Kauto Star has done this season puts him on to another level again. One of the oldest adages in the game is that “they never come back”.
But the horse that looked a busted flush at the end of last season when pulled up at Punchestown has been rejuvenated to such effect that he goes into today’s clash against the Gold Cup holder Long Run with a 2-0 record for the term.
A win at Haydock in November was just a prelude to a fifth King George success where the outpouring of spontaneous Christmas goodwill will seem Amishly restrained compared to what will happen if Kauto Star can win a third Gold Cup.
And as if the plot pot hadn’t enough brewing in it already, there is also the element of the unknown provoked by last week’s “will he-won’t run” drama after a schooling fall at home.
But Kauto Star was always going to run. It’s almost impossible to imagine a Gold Cup without him. The winner in 2007 and 2009, placed in both 2008 and 2011, and lucky to escape intact after a dramatic 2010 fall, his Cheltenham story has previously been inextricably linked to his stable companion Denman who is now retired.
Kauto Star, however, keeps going, maybe not as good as at his career peak at the end of 2009 when rated the best since the days of Arkle and Flyingbolt, but a lot better than last year when third to Long Run. And sentiment aside, it’s that which makes him a real player today.
Kauto Star has 11 lengths to make on Long Run from last year’s Gold Cup. Remarkably he seems better now, while there are plenty willing to believe Long Run may have regressed. The veteran had over a length in hand of the young buck in the King George. The difference now, though, is the extra two and a half furlongs and the famous final hill.
It’s hard to forget how Long Run appeared to attack the climb to the line with a relish that even in his pomp Kauto Star never quite managed. The Gold Cup stretches Kauto’s stamina to the limit. Long Run looks to thrive on the challenge.
The scintillating form enjoyed by the Nicky Henderson team this week is also a major plus for Long Run, and logically, also for his stable companion Burton Port who chased him home at Newbury last month. Burton Port might well have won that day if Barry Geraghty had been harder on him but that would have increased the ‘bounce’ element around his chance today.
Quel Esprit looks the Irish number one but his jumping could be tested to the limit around here and while Midnight Chase has won five of his seven starts around Cheltenham, he looked to be found out in the highest class here last year.
Boil it down and it really does look destined to be a clash of the ‘big two’.
“Kauto Star thumped us two times so we’ve got to get back and beat him,” Nicky Henderson said yesterday with the confidence of a successful week already under his best, something reflected by Ruby Walsh who reported: “We’ve beaten Long Run twice this season but Long Run is a very strong stayer. We’ve seen what form the Henderson horses are in so he’s going to be very hard to beat.”
To employ the old cliché, the heart says Kauto Star but the head Long Run. Let’s hope romance isn’t dead.
BRIAN'S TRIO
First
LONG RUN
Second
KAUTO STAR
Third
MIDNIGHT CHASE
