The Nicky Henderson-trained Long Run has won the Cheltenham Gold Cup in thrilling fashion by seeing off the challenge of previous winners Denman and Kauto Star.
It was a historic day for Henderson who trained his first Gold Cup winner and the first time in 30 years an amateur jockey rode the winner, as Sam Whaley-Cohen steered the favourite past the Paul Nicholls’ pair on the run-in.
Midway through the race there was a scare for Long Run when he made an error at a fence but there was no getting away from the immense burst of speed of the six-year-old rounding the home turn.
Long Run, the youngest winner of a Gold Cup since Golden Miller, returned the 7/2 favourite, followed by Denman at 8/1 and Kauto Star at 5/1. Sir Alex Ferguson’s What A Friend finished in a credible fourth place.
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