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Cheltenham Festival: Don Cossack rules in thrilling Gold Cup

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Don Cossack (Brian Cooper) wins the Gold Cup

Bryan Cooper celebrates winning the Gold Cup on Don Cossack

  PICTURE: Edward Whitaker (racingpost.com/photos)  

 By Stuart Riley 3:37PM 18 MAR 2016 

Report: Cheltenham, Friday

Timico Cheltenham Gold Cup Chase (Grade 1) 3m2½f, 5yo+

DON COSSACK came into the Cheltenham Gold Cup with questions to answer, but he did so in magnificent style to win comfortably from Djakadam and Don Poli.

It could have been an entirely different finish as the £1 million bonus chasing Cue Card was travelling powerfully when coming down at the third last fence.

Don Cossack fell when Cue Card landed the King George VI Chase at Christmas, and the Gordon Elliott-trained 9-4 favourite made sure the result was mirrored by producing two fantastic leaps before powering up the famous hill.

The Gigginstown House Stud-owned nine-year-old started the season as the highest-rated horse in Britain or Ireland and produced the greatest performance of his exceptional career, to come home four and a half lengths clear of Djakadam – who filled the runners-up spot for the second successive year.

Don Cossack (Brian Cooper) wins the Gold Cup

Bryan Cooper: “I can’t thank the O’Leary’s enough”

  PICTURE: Edward Whitaker (racingpost.com/photos)  

Winning rider Bryan Cooper had a difficult choice to make and the young jockey got it right, with Don Poli a further ten lengths adrift as the class horses came to the fore.

“Thank God. It’s unbelievable,” said Cooper. “Fair play to Gordon, he stuck by this horse and it was a hard decision [to pick between them] but Gordon had him right for the day and he never missed a beat. I’m only in this position because of that man in the sky Dessie Hughes. He always stood by me.

“I can’t thank them enough [the O’Leary’s]. From when I broke my leg here they’ve always supported me and told me the job was here and kept my head up. We’ve had a tough week but we got up and won when it mattered. He’s the best I have sat on anyway. “

Elliott added: “I can’t believe it. I want to thank the whole team at Gigginstown and they’ve supported me from the start. I can’t believe it. I’ve never been so nervous in my life but I’m delighted for the whole team.

“It’s something you dream of. I won the Grand National when I was younger and I probably didn’t appreciate it as much as I should. I will appreciate this. I want to thank all my staff, Michael and Anita [O’Leary], my mother and father.

“I did think about cheekpieces until I worked him a few days ago on good ground. He’s so much better on the good ground. He’s the best horse I’ve ever trained.”

Don Cossack (Brian Cooper) wins the Gold Cup

Gordon Elliott: “He’s the best horse I’ve ever trained”

  PICTURE: Edward Whitaker (racingpost.com/photos)  

Cue Card ‘absolutely fine’

On faller Cue Card, Colin Tizzard added: “He’s absolutely fine. Thank God he got up. He walked back with a bit of grass between his ears but apart from that he doesn’t have a care in the world.

“He was upsides but he just put down, hit the top of the fence and went over. When he got upsides, I thought ‘here we go’ but that’s racing. It’s the first time he’s fallen in four years of chasing but that’s championship racing.”

Mullins second and third

On the second and third, Mullins said: “We have no excuses – he [Djakadam] had every chance from the fifth-last and jumped as cleanly as he could. He was beaten by a better horse on the day so congratulations to all the connections of the winner.

“I would imagine the ground was just too fast for Don Poli – he wasn’t able to go the pace. He just stayed on and on and is possibly a Grand National horse.

“It’s tough to finish second twice with Djakadam, and it is going to be tough now for him to win one. We’ll see, but I would imagine he would stay on this road in a bid to come back here next year.”

 

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