Little Josh takes the Paddy Power glory
Little Josh ran the field ragged to win the Paddy Power Gold Cup at Cheltenham.
Having led from the start Little Josh, ridden by Sam Twiston-Davies, was still in front jumping the third-last pursued by the Nicky Henderson-trained pair, Mad Max and Long Run.
However Mad Max did not last home and Long Run made another of what had been a series of errors at the second-last. The leader was tiring in the final furlong but still had enough to hold the late run of Dancing Tornado.
Paddy Brennan, stable jockey to Nigel Twiston-Davies, elected to ride old favourite Pigeon Island who finished out of the places and Twiston-Davies showed the pride of both trainer and father as his 18-year-old son rode a front-running race that was beyond his years in terms of pace judgement.
“It’s not easy to make all round there but he did and he did it beautifully,” Twiston-Davies said, who was winning the race for the third time after Tipping Tim (1992) and Imperial Commander (2008). “He jumped from fence to fence and there were some pretty impressive leaps he was asking for. A good front-running ride, he gave him a little bit of a breather down the back, then kicked on again and everybody was always struggling.”
Little Josh would hardly be the most complicated ride, he is simply at his best when in front. But that is a bit less simple than it sounds unless you are prepared for his race to be run passing the winning post for the first time. Twiston-Davies needed to balance the twin needs of keeping the horse happy and making sure that he still had something in reserve for the business end of the race. It might not quite require the wisdom of Solomon but it not a bad trick to learn on a racehorse at full gallop at a age when many young men are still getting to grips with getting a car into first gear.
Having settled into a four-length lead after the first three fences, Twiston-Davies put his hands on the horse’s withers as he tried settle the nerves of the pair of them.
The nerves of Mr Sam Waley-Cohen, who was riding Long Run, were dome little good when he made the first of a series of mistakes at the fence in front of stands on before the field galloped on for the final circuit.
Down the back straight Twiston-Davies did not panic as the field caught him, rather allowed his horse to take a breather before the steady rise to the top of the hill, from where the race would begin for real. Little Josh was making ground at most of his fences – despite a slight mistake at the fifth last - which was more than could be said for Long Run, but he was still in contention on the run down to the to the third from home.
Little Josh was seven lengths in front, with Mad Max, Long Run, Great Endeavour and Poquelin all chasing. By the home turn it appeared that the Henderson pair were the only dangers other than whether the leader’s stamina would survive the final, punishing climb to the winning post. Mad Max was the first to crack and Long Run then hit the penultimate fence which left Dancing Tornado, Michael Hourigan’s challenger from Ireland, as the only one in with a shout coming to the last.
He collared Long Run up the hill but was never going to catch Little Josh, who won by two-and-three-quarter lengths.
“The jockey was superb,” his father said, and with not much of a hint of the bias he had every right to feel. “That was really, really good and I’m so proud of him. Strong men don’t do emotions.”
The slightly watery eyes told a different story but then Twiston-Davies has had to get used to wrestling with his conscience over whether his son has been quite ready for some of the rides he has been getting. This proved that he is.
And he takes victory with a bit of style. “I have to thank this fella here,” he said, looking at Little Josh. “He was class. You can trust him with your life and he will try his best for you. He’s a great horse and hopefully he’ll progress further.”
The jockey might be going places too.
http://www.senore.com/Midnight-Chase-a-timely-winner-for-Dougie-Costello-a40976
http://www.senore.com/Sam-Winner-takes-preliminary-triumph-at-Cheltenham-a40953
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