Kauto Star won a record fifth King George VI Chase on Monday to cement his standing as the best chaser of his generation.
Ridden by Ruby Walsh, and trained by Paul Nicholls, Kauto Star jumped brilliantly to upstage Long Run, the even money favourite and the winner of the mid-winter showpiece last season.
In arguably his finest performance in the Boxing Day feature Kauto Star proved that just days short of his 12th birthday he was still the king of national hunt racing.
“You can say what you want about the best steeplechasers of all time, but he’s outlasted them all,” Walsh said.
“He’s lasted longer than any other horse and that’s what makes him so brilliant.”
Long Run, five years his junior, stole Kauto Star’s thunder last season in this Grade One and again in the Gold Cup at Cheltenham but the signs were ominous for Nicky Henderson’s chaser when he was soundly put in his place by Kauto Star at Haydock last month.
Despite that reverse all the money was for Long Run as he hardened from 5-4 to evens with Kauto Star sent off an easy to back 3-1 second favourite.
From the start Walsh had Kauto Star in a commanding position, the pair receiving a rousing cheer when they hit the lead in front of the packed Kempton grandstand on the first circuit.
Down the back straight Sam Waley Cohen was tracking Kauto Star on Long Run who began to fiddle at his fences and was struggling to keep tabs on the leader rounding the home bend.
But to his credit, as Kauto Star roared up the straight to rewrite jump racing history, Long Run never gave up the fight, going down by an honourable length and a quarter with Captain Chris third.
“The score is two-all and the decider will be played out in the Cotswolds,” Henderson said of Long Run.
“To be positive we have improved seven lengths from Haydock and need to find another one or two, and have three months to do that in.
“I felt we were getting back to him a bit and Sam (Waley-Cohen) said that if he had really winged the last it could have been close.”
Kauto Star added the 2011 edition to his triumphs between 2006-09, the only blip coming last season when he ran flat to finish a tame third.
He is the only horse to ever regain a Gold Cup, and now has a remarkable third Gold Cup firmly in his sights at Cheltenham in March although Long Run still shades him in the pre-post betting.
Nicholls paid tribute to his jockey.
“It was a massive plus having Ruby (Walsh) here today and it’s just unbelievable,” he said.
“It’s amazing. He’s just the best. If he gets to Cheltenham in that form he’ll be the one to beat (in the Gold Cup).”
The French-bred Kauto Star took his career earnings up to a record haul of STG2.5 million ($A3.89 million) and while he still has a chance to swell his bank balance further the curtain appears to have fallen on stablemate Master Minded’s career.
Nicholl’s two mile specialist (3200m), tackling the three mile trip for the first time, was struck into during the race and was later despatched to Newmarket for treatment.
Owner Clive Smith said it was the biggest day of his almost quarter century in racing.
“It’s unbelievable and I’m so proud. He’s such a magnificent animal,” Smith said.
“He’s got such a heart. He wants to go on. He’s a lion.”
AFP AAP TURF
