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Who would come out on top? Or would Beef Or Salmon eclipse them all.
For my money, all at their peak, on what we have seen so far, I might make Kauto the selection.
How many Gold Cups did Beef Or Salmon win, was it more than Arkle, Cottage Rake, Easter Hero or L’Escargot?
Giant Squid v Whale is easier, it’s on Nat Geo now…
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I am going to be really controversial and say Jodami,,,if only he been trained by Paul Nicholls he would have had 3 or 4 crowns and be an all time top of the charts…no matter he was still a great!
Beef or Salmon was tongue in cheek really. But I am sure there are some Irishmen who would put him up there in the frame with those 4 on his day.
The 2009 GC/2009 KG winning version of Kauto Star beats them all. 2008 Denman a close second. Best Mate and Long Run to fight out third place, 10 lengths back.
Kauto by at least 10 lengths, then Denman just edging out Best Mate, then Long Run, but he’s the horse with the Timeform P.
BlueSky @pghenn.bsky.social
So don't run, just like the others always do
Depends on the ground. If it’s good ground I’d say Kauto Star would win. If the word ‘soft’ is in the going description I think Denman would gallop them all into submission like he in the 2008 Gold Cup.
Denman by a long way, but then if that happened everyone would say the others had an ‘off day’.
By some way the finest chaser I’ve ever seen; he’d have been the next Arkle but for the heart problems that disrupted him at the peak of his career.
To run the race he did on Friday on ground much to fast surely cements his place as one of the very best in chasing history.
And Friday’s race also demonstrates just what a fine group of chasers those from the late 2000s were. Exotic Dancer, for example, would have picked the likes of Best Mate up and carried him in my opinion!
All depends on the ground and on which course.
Denman would always have been in the mix around Cheltenham. In saying that – and although I did champion his cause to beat KS in the 2008 Gold Cup – I still think that Kauto Star, bringing all things into consideration was the more talented and more versatile of the pair. Around Kempton, for example, he would have made Denman look silly.
Best Mate was very good horse, and despite the naysayers opinions that he was overrated ( I disagree ), I am of the considered opinion that at he would definitely have given both a real fright at Cheltenham.
As for Long Run – a horse I earmarked to beat Kauto following his Feltham win the previous year at the same course – and whom I deserted for this year’s Gold Cup due to my doubts about his stamina and his ability to act round Cheltenham.
Those doubts were well and truly dispelled by a remarkable performance from the horse, and dare I say, his amateur jockey, Sam Waley-Cohen, who held his nerve to see off two ex-winning Gold Cup combibations in Kauto Star/Ruby Walsh and Denman/Sam Thomas – and in a record Gold Cup winning time.
For a 6 year old to complete such a double is in itself an astonishing feat. Not since 1963 has a 6 year old ( Mill House ) completed the double. Unlike Mill House, Long Run does not have an Arkle to compete with, and who can say with any certainty that Nicky Henderson’s fine young chaser will not repeat that feat next time round. He could well turn out to be the best of the bunch –
apart from "Himself" of course.
Gambling Only Pays When You're Winning
Denman by a long way, but then if that happened everyone would say the others had an ‘off day’.
By some way the finest chaser I’ve ever seen; he’d have been the next Arkle but for the heart problems that disrupted him at the peak of his career.
To run the race he did on Friday on ground much to fast surely cements his place as one of the very best in chasing history.
This – at Cheltenham, Denman every time.
I reckon he got a bigger reception than even the winner on Friday; everyone knew what an immense performance that was given the ground. He could well have been a 3-time Hennessy winner without his heart problem, and he’s never been out of the first two at Cheltenham. Outstanding.
Around Kempton it would be Kauto of the two, but a primed Kauto v Long Run would be fascinating. Suspect Kauto’s generally excellent jumping would just be enough, but Long Run finished both King George and Gold Cup pricking his ears, and might have found just enough in between the fences to stay in contention.
Beef or Salmon was tongue in cheek really. But I am sure there are some Irishmen who would put him up there in the frame with those 4 on his day.
Well, if they’d taken him on "at home" then I think he would have been up there. He’s a grand horse who didn’t like Cheltenham much, and he wouldn’t be the first top horse to feel that way!
Just because I can, here’s my ten best 3m+ chasers since the abandoned festival
1) Kauto Star
2) Denman
3) Best Mate
4) Beef Or Salmon
5) Imperial Commander
6) Kicking King
7) Exotic Dancer
Long Run
9) War Of Attrition
10) Neptune CollongesBlueSky @pghenn.bsky.social
So don't run, just like the others always do
Wondering how the last few Gold Cups would have panned out if Kauto and Denman had, in each year, been in the fantastic condition that they were on Friday. Pity that year had to be when they were both just beyond the point of equilibrium. I think Best Mate will always be underrated; now he was produced at his best for each of his Gold Cup wins. Blimey; how lucky are we to be having this discussion?
has to be denman for me if the ground wasnt to firm the year he won his gold cup i dont think any horse would of beaten him imho on the other hand if they ran the gold cup at leopardstown on soft ground it would be beef or salmon everytime lol
Whilst Best Mate and Denman were / are two very special horses, Desert Orchid and Kauto are on an entirely different level.
Their versatility, consistency and longevity make them arguably the most talented performers to ever grace the National scene, but Kauto just shades it, in my opinion.
Both could compete at the highest level over a range of distances and that is what seperates them from the rest.
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Kauto Star was competing in his thirty-seventh race on Friday. That’s fourteen more than Denman, who has, despite being six years the senior of Long Run, raced only five times more.
Quite interesting, I think.
At what level would Denman be operating at if he went into Friday’s race with fourteen more races behind him?
Do you think Long Run will be competing with such distiction in a Cheltenham Gold Cup another nineteen races and five years down the line?
At the same stage of his career as Denman (twenty third start), Kauto was beating Exotic Dancer to win his second Betfair Chase. This was at the same time Denman was making his debut against senior horses when landing his first Hennessy. This was before Kauto would win three more King Georges and another Gold Cup
Kauto made his debut against senior rivals when runner-up in the Haldon Gold Cup, Novemeber 2005. Denman made his senior debut in December 2007. Should Kauto return next season, he will have been competing at the highest senior level for six years. His record in the King George and Gold Cup reads:
1112111F33 – in completed starts, he has never been out of the first three and broken three records in the process:
*first / only horse to regain the Gold Cup
*first / only horse to win four consecutive King Georges
*first / only horse to complete the King George / Gold Cup double on more than one occasion.In my opinion, that is an incredible display of consistency and longevity. He won his first Grade One in Decemeber 2005 over two miles, winning the Tingle Creek, and his latest in November 2010 over three miles, in the Down Royal Champion Chase.
Long Run was competing in his eighteenth race on Friday. At the same stage of his career, Kauto was winning his second Tingle Creek over two miles, beating future Champion Chaser, Voy Por Ustedes. He had won his second Grade One on his previous visit to the racecourse, with victory in the Betfair Chase over three miles.
He would remain unbeaten that season – crowned Champion two miler and three miler.
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It’s impossible for the aforementioned trio to even come close to this. Best Mate and Denman could never beat the best over two miles and, from what we’ve seen this far, neither could Long Run – it took him the best part of an extended three miles-two to get the better of two eleven year olds! Or as Alistair Down put it – two irresponsible old men!
Kauto Star is the most talented performer I’ve ever seen and his record is testament to this.
Long Run
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