Sir Des Champs successful in Gold Cup thriller
Sir Des Champs landed successful in the Bet Online With The Tote.com Punchestown Gold Cup in Ireland on Wednesday, April 24, 2013. He was given a tough time by rival Long Run, but managed to stay ahead in the end by a small margin.
The seven-year-old gelding was rated as the favourite to succeed in the race and was priced 2 to 1 by the bookmakers. However, the punters were reluctant to risk all of their money on him, as he was up against some very good runners and there was every chance
of an upset in the 3 mile 1 furlong encounter.
Moreover, the conditions were not easy, as rain had affected the ground badly, which meant that all of the runners needed to push harder for glory.
After starting the race nicely, Sir Des Champs fell back to some extent, as he knew that the distance to cover was a long one and stamina would make a huge difference at the end of the day. He kept on running smoothly and was very good over the fences too,
which kept him in contention of a victory.
However, the pressure began increasing on him, as soon as the finish line approached. He was unable to take a huge lead over his rivals and was running out of gas too. Despite that, he got into lead towards the final few yards and ended up winning the race
by three quarters.
The victory proved to be quite pleasing for the entire team of the French runner and his fans were also delighted.
His trainer Willie Mullins stated, “That's fantastic, this, the Hennessy and the Lexus are the top three chases in Ireland and he's won two of them. There's no compensation for not winning the Gold Cup but he ran his heart out at Cheltenham and we'll be
back next year.”
He went onto say, “I was disappointed that he didn't get to the top of the hill in the Gold Cup and we might adjust things next year. I think we'll change things for the better but I won't be telling what - it might not work!”
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