Denman the new Mill House

For those of you old enough to remember, Denman reminds me so much of Mill House who won the Cheltenham Gold Cup in 1963 when only a six year old. Denman was mighty impressive last Friday when he won the Cheltenham Gold Cup and proved that he is a real stayer. On the softened going and with the strong gallop that Denman set, the rest of the field would have needed to be able to stay three and a half miles. Kauto Star is a super horse over three miles. He was fortunate in the Gold Cup last year that his stable companion Neptune Collonges set a steady pace which allowed about eight horses still to be in contention when they turned into the straight. Kauto Star was able to use his turn of foot to win the race and beat Exotic Dancer by two and a half lengths. Neither of those horses were able to get anywhere near Denman this year. I doubt if we will see a re-match. On soft ground at Cheltenham and if he stays fit and free from injury Denman will always beat Kauto Star over the Gold Cup distance. However Clive Smith has another super horse in Master Minded. It will be very interesting to see how he is campaigned as a six year old.

For all the runners and riders with the jockey's colours go to Paddy Power and click on "Horse Racing".