Denman
Denman ready to roll at his home barn. Photo by Sara Waterson (copyright)
And then there is Denman.
What does one say about a force of nature?
He is a chaser who can jump any fence with perfect grace no matter how high and wear down all competitors over the longest distances and barely break a sweat.
The nine-year old son of Presenting recovered from heart arrhythmia to win his second Hennessy Gold Cup Chase (Handicap), Grade 3, over 3m2-1/2f on good/soft/heavy/testy ground at Newbury Racecourse.
He joins iconic Arkle and Mandarin as the only horses to have won two Hennessys.
He joins best buddy Kauto Star FR as 2.1 joint favourites for the Cheltenham Gold Cup guaranteeing their fans a frenzied renewal of the competition between these two outstanding chasers and their partisans.
To Imperial Commander's credit in the Haydock Betfair Chase where he almost defeated Kauto Star, experts see him as the only horse who has a shot at beating these two.
Kauto Star needed the race, looking a bit rusty, and Imperial Commander improved.
IC and KS may confront each other again in Kempton's King George on Boxing Day.
From the looks of Denman IRE at the Hennessy, he could beat the two of them with hobbled hooves.
He ran down a really fine field including the second, stablemate What A Friend ridden by his former jockey Sam Thomas, Niche Market and The Queen's Barbers Shop.
Thomas drove his What A Friend from Denman's far right to challenge only WAF turned to his friend Denman, briefly lost concentration, and was ignored by the Pro who never took his eyes off the winning post.
That incident explains something about Denman. He wants to be out in front at the right time, seems to know when that time is and lets nothing stop him from showing how good he is and winning.
For example, he ran a sleepy first turn until he got to the big water jump in front of the stands where he made one of his life-defying leaps into the beyond to thunderous applause. He is a real Showman.
People underrate horse's intelligence and, in his early chasing days, they underestimated Denman's.
Sam Thomas did not and formed a loving partnership with the massive gelding; they grew up together professionally.
Ruby Walsh has not had such an easy relationship with the fussy Boss horse, but he showed his experience in grabbing the super-relaxed Denman's attention by moving him all over the pack until they jelled near the end.
At that point, Denman would never be thwarted even with his beloved Thomas on board a challenging stablemate.
Thomas, who rode Sir Alex Ferguson's What A Friend brilliantly, took his double loss philosophically and has reason to hope he and Denman will be reunited at Cheltenham with Walsh riding Kauto Star.
The two pairs have beaten each other once in the Gold Cup so they will rematch for two out of three.
Their trainer who also has Big Buck's, Paul Nicholls, was so choked up at Denman's victory in front of a record Newbury crowd that he could barely speak, but co-owner Harry Findley admitted that he babbled on like a star-struck teenager.
Others claimed near heart attacks or screamed-out voices for the horse they feared might not make it.
They and Walsh could have trusted his cool, moseying gait. This is a powerhouse of a horse who knows when to run down the opposition and, like all the greats, does just enough to dominate.
Before he beat Kauto Star in the Cheltenham Gold Cup, he looked so forlorn. No one paid any attention to him with the charismatic KC around including Nicholls.
No one will fail to pay attention to him anymore.
For he is Denman.
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