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As good as Denman was in 2008. The 09 version of Kauto was even better imo.
As Glad, myself and many others have said, Kauto wasn’t himself in the 08 Gold Cup. He jumped with nowhere near his usual fluency and looked laboured most of the race. The same can be said for Denman in 09.
Denman beat Neptune Collonges by 7L in 2008 and again finished 9L ahead of him in 2009.
Kauto almost dead heated with Neptune in 2008 and then walloped him 21L in 2009.
Rapidly becoming my favourite horse this century. Only dessie ahead of him in my affection. Loved him from the day he tumbled at Cheltenham. Just a monster. We all have our own views on horses but the dissing of him is ridiculous. Yes he’s vulnerable in his first start of the season and over 20f but over 3 miles plus he’s fantastic. I think he would have ground most top horses down and he’s up there as one of the best ever. Not as good as himself but what a horse. The surge of power at the end of his races is exhilarating. I’m sure he’ll get his third gold cup barring a mishap and maybe a 4th if he avoids injury. If you can’t get giddy with this horse I pity you. The roar of the crowd yesterday said it all. We sometimes dont see greatness till long after they retire.
What I can’t understand is the racing media attitude. Racing Post headline ITV presenters parroting the lie that GDS has failed to capture the public imagination like Constitution Hill. CH is a very good hurdler. May turn out to one of the all time greats. His public appeal is largely based on ITV Racing (and maybe others) obsession though.
GDS has already achieved enough for him to be compared to Kauto Star on this forum and he’s only 9 (Kauto, Desert Orchid etc retired at 12… ).
“I don’t know if people realise how long it takes to make a horse like this, a three-mile chaser, it is the pinnacle of our game. It takes ages. People go on about hurdlers, like, and I’m a bit confused by the Gold Cup here being on the Saturday and not the feature race on the Sunday. It’s only a hurdle race that’s on tomorrow. You see how long it takes to make these sort of horses – they deserve the top billing.”
Willie Mullins may been responding to the Racing Post headlineJudging by the reception he got coming back in with the several chants of Ole Ole Ole and (during the race) the audible gasps heard over the live commentary from the crowd when he launched out of Townend’s hands at the last ditch (which the jockey said he could actually hear even that far out) and when he saw a long stride two out…..he certainly has captured the Irish public’s imagination.
Maybe because he is an Irish horse that is only seen once in the flesh by English fans at Cheltenham in March and/or because he doesn’t seem fragile with health issue or get seen underperforming in very public gallops it is very possible that the wider UK audience haven’t been able to latch onto him in quite the same way.
I do believe that the true racing fans fully appreciate his rare talent and iron constitution in coming back year on year racing regularly to the point where (strangely) some are questioning whether he is being overraced on his quest for a hat-rick of Cheltenham Gold Cups.
Regardless of what your own markers are that define greatness and the position you have him historically in comparison to the other names mentioned on this thread (Arkle & Flyingbolt aside), you can’t deny that he has fully earned the right to at the very least be in the conversation.
I believe we should just enjoy these good horses for what they are. Comparisons between the generations is a bit of a waste of time. Maybe GDC would have defeated Denman – but does it really matter?
The only thing I would say is someone mentioned Golden Miller as being greater than GDC. Golden Miller was clearly the great chaser of his era – but he raced at a time when National Hunt racing was threadbare compared to what it is now. It was so long ago that any comparison is meaningless.
He won his last Gold Cup nearly 90 years ago. Someone would need to be nearly 100 years old to have any sort of clear memory of him. The truth is none of us really know how good he was.
I don’t think that the Gold Cup was quite the race it went on to become when Golden Miller reeled off his 5 wins from 1932-36 although to be fair his first win was as a 5 yr old off the back of just 4 runs over fences.
There was a good chance that he may have ended up adding a 6th Gold Cup win to his CV had the race been run in 1937 but he was back again the following year (as a 12 yr old) and only failed by 2L to get that 6th win, so he clearly had the longevity boxed ticked.
He also ticked the weight carrying box too as his 1934 National win (which broke the 72 year old track record) saw him carry 12-2lbs (which wasn’t even top weight as 2 of his rivals that day carried 12-4lbs and 12-7lbs respectively) and in 1933 he had successfully carried 12st 10lbs to win (believe it or not) the Troytown Chase at Lingfield.
Obviously very hard to equate just how good he was but he was clearly the standout star of his time and (give how Gold Cup horses are campaigned now) he will most likely go down in history as the only horse to do the Gold Cup/National double in the same season.
GDC chilling out in his stable after his latest win…
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