Inothewayurthinkin claims Gold Cup to deny Galopin Des Champs treble

As one tilt at racing immortality came up short here on Friday, another, even more elusive achievement suddenly came into sharp focus as Inothewayurthinkin, in the famous green and gold colours of JP McManus, powered away from Galopin Des Champs, the defending two-times champion, to win the Cheltenham Gold Cup by six lengths.

There are still just four horses with three Gold Cup victories to their name, and there is still just one – Golden Miller, who features on both lists – who has won both the Gold Cup and Grand National in the same season, 91 years ago in 1934. Within a month, though, there could be two if McManus and Gavin Cromwell, Inothewayurthinkin’s trainer, decide that the seven-year-old has come out of Friday’s race well enough to take his place in the 34-strong field at Aintree on 5 April.

McManus was understandably cautious about the possibility of Inothewayurthinkin going to Liverpool as he savoured his latest Gold Cup success, and referenced the fact that Synchronised, his only previous winner of this race, suffered a fatal injury while galloping loose in the National in 2012, a few weeks after his Gold Cup success. He also suffered the painful loss of Corbetts Cross in Friday’s race, in a fall at the second last. “We have to be fair to the horse,” McManus said. “The Gold Cup is a tough race. I’ll see what Gavin says but don’t expect a decision in the next week.”

Aintree is a very different challenge these days – there were no fallers at all in last season’s National – and McManus is also the greatest enthusiast for jump racing that the sport has seen in recent decades. He will need no reminding of the historic achievement that is now within Inothewayurthinkin’s grasp, nor of the fact that his horse, already the 7-1 favourite for the Grand National before Friday’s race, is now around 3-1 to complete jumping’s most elusive double at Aintree.

McManus, whose tilts at the betting have long been the stuff of festival legend, told an interviewer recently that he does not gamble as much these days, not least because it is ever more difficult to get his money down. He enjoyed the return from a different kind of gamble here on Friday, though, as Inothewayurthinkin, a handicap chase winner at this meeting last year, was not among the original entries for the Gold Cup. He only joined the field thanks to a £25,000 supplementary entry after Cromwell advised the owner his horse was flying on the gallops and it might be a good idea.

McManus backed Cromwell’s judgement and welcomed back his second Gold Cup winner as a result, thanks to a confident ride by Mark Walsh and, perhaps, a slightly below-par run by Galopin Des Champs. The odds-on favourite had finished around seven lengths in front of Inothewayurthinkin in the Irish Gold Cup at Leopardstown in February, but was rarely travelling or jumping with his usual fluency and could not respond as Walsh sent the winner into the lead between the final two fences. A good jump at the last sealed his success, and Inothewayurthinkin crossed the line as a ready winner with something left in the tank.

There is, of course, no such thing as an easy race in the Gold Cup, and Inothewayurthinking will be the subject of the closest scrutiny at Cromwell’s yard in the days ahead, looking for any hint that he has done enough for now. “Galopin Des Champs was a dual Gold Cup winner, but we were coming here to try and win the race,” Cromwell said. “We weren’t coming to pick up the pieces and get place money.”

“Probably it was my fault that he wasn’t entered in the race because I thought it was going to come too soon in his career and we’d be better waiting for next year,” Cromwell added. “He went to the Dublin Racing Festival [in February] and ran such a big race, and he’s come forward since that.”

“I think we’ll all catch our breath and get the horse home, and we’ll be having the conversation [about the Grand National] later on, but I suppose you certainly can’t rule it out and it is tempting. It’s certainly something to think about.”

McManus, meanwhile, was able to reflect on an unlikely sequence of events that had taken him to the Gold Cup winner’s enclosure once again. “He’s by Walk In The Park,” McManus said, “and as a yearling, Charles O’Brien bought him [Walk In The Park] for ourselves and he failed the [vet’s] test afterwards.

“Then he went on to be second in the Derby [at Epsom] for someone else, and if I’d got him, he’d have been gelded and I’d have no Gold Cup winner, so the Lord works in mysterious ways.”

Tanganyika can pay National debt

It was tough going for all but a handful of British trainers at Cheltenham this week and Venetia Williams could not muster even a place in the frame from her 11 runners, but she will head to Uttoxeter for the Midlands Grand National on Saturday with high hopes for a much better showing from her young staying chaser, Tanganyika (3.00).

The seven-year-old has shown the steady improvement typical of chasers from the Williams yard in four starts over fences, having finished within 10 lengths of Jagwar, the Plate winner at Cheltenham on Thursday, on his chasing debut in November.

Tanganyika got his head in front at the third attempt and then followed up in very impressive style in a stronger race at Carlisle, so much so that Charlie Deutsch was able to ease him down in the closing stages. The step up in trip on Saturday should see further improvement and he is well worth an interest at around 10-1 to get his yard back into the winning groove.

Uttoxeter 1.50 Dan Skelton is looking for a third win in this race in five years and Hidden History, a recent recruit from Chris Gordon, looks weighted to make a successful debut for the yard.

Kempton 2.10 Teddy Blue was a late convert to chasing but has made a very promising start over fences and remains on a fair mark after a win at Huntingdon last time.

Uttoxeter 2.25 A valuable prize and Margaret Mullins’s Blaze The Way is an interesting contender from Ireland as he attempts to follow up an improved performance when second in a warm race at Navan in January.

Kempton 2.45 Little went to plan for Double Powerful in his pursuit of a seven-timer last time but he showed enough to suggest he is still not weighted out of things on his current mark.

Kempton 3.20 Ben Pauling’s Bad showed improved form to win decisively over track and trip last time and faces a similar challenge here as he bids to follow up.

Uttoxeter 3.35 Plenty with chances but Walk On Quest has been progressing by the race and a modest 4lb rise in the weights for her latest success in unlikely to stop her completing a five-timer.