Timeform's Phil Turner reacts to Paddy Power Gold Cup day as Meetmebythesea and Harry Cobden stole the show.
The Black Power salute by 400m runners Tommie Smith and John Carlos during their medal ceremony was the abiding image of the 1968 Summer Olympics, though the longest-lasting sporting impact from those Games was provided by another pair of Americans in the two main field events.
Bob Beamon’s first attempt in the Long Jump Final blew the competition away, leaping so far he went beyond the limit of the measuring equipment – a manual tape eventually revealed Beamon had jumped 8.90 metres, a staggering 55cm more than the existing World Record, which none of his rivals even came close to (Beamon finished 71cm clear of the silver medallist). Over 58 years later, it remains the longest jump in Olympics history.
By contrast, Dick Fosbury’s gold medal-winning clearance of 2.24 metres in the High Jump is nothing to write home about – it has been bettered by countless others since and is fully 21cm shy of current world record holder Javier Sotomayor. However, his legacy is even more seismic as he revolutionised the sport by persisting with his unfashionable backward-over-the-bar “Fosbury Flop”, which was soon adopted by every other competitor (including Sotomayor) instead of the straddle technique used until then.
It’s doubtful Martin Pipe would have ever troubled an athletics judge, particularly as the legendary trainer was forced to get around his yard on a BMX bike due to mobility issues from injuries as a point-to-point rider. However, in many ways Pipe was jump racing’s answer to both Beamon and Fosbury – posting records which would last for decades whilst also revolutionising the sport with his methods.
Pipe, of course, has been back in the news of late due to a pair of his records being chased down by two of his successors as Champion Trainer. Reigning title-holder Dan Skelton is nearly two-thirds of his way into Pipe’s record seasonal tally of 243 wins in 1999/00, which was one of eight times Pipe achieved a double century – Skelton is the only other trainer to breach the 200-win barrier and has managed it only once so far (205 wins in 2018/19).
Meanwhile, Fasol’s win in the 3.10 at Windsor this afternoon means Paul Nicholls has finally joined Pipe as winningmost trainer in British jumps history, over 20 years since Pipe retired – a record which lasted nearly as long as Beamon’s 8.90m benchmark, which final went at the 1991 World Championships (Mike Powell jumped to gold with 8.95m), though remains the second longest jump in history.
Pipe’s legacy is far more than just statistical records, though. Like Fosbury, he radically changed how his competitors approached the sport, challenging conventional wisdom on how horses should be campaigned and ridden – front-running tactics (which tended to be frowned upon in the mid-1980s) soon exploited the fact his horses were much fitter than their rivals. He also thought outside of the box as to how horses should look or be sourced, being one of the first to exploit the French market.
As a rule, French imports tended to be of a smaller physique with much lighter frames than the archetypal jumping stores or recruits from the pointing ranks, but the French horses tended to be quicker developers and soon started wiping the floor with most of their slower-maturing rivals – it also wasn’t lost on Pipe that they were significantly cheaper at first too!
This French revolution has continued at pace in the four decades since, with French-breds winning 14 of the last 30 renewals of today’s big race, the Paddy Power Gold Cup. Naturally, Pipe holds the record for the most wins in that race’s history, the first of his eight wins in what began life as the Mackeson Gold Cup coming in 1987 via the top-class Beau Ranger, who romped home by 15 lengths and provided an early example of Pipe’s reputation for transforming horses he inherited from other yards.
Timeform reported that underfoot conditions in the 1987 Mackeson Gold Cup “were right for most of the fourteen runners”. Oh, if only the same could be said for this year’s renewal, which saw five of the intended 15 runners withdrawn.
It resulted in the smallest field since Fondmort beat just eight rivals in 2003, though what the field lacked in quantity shouldn’t detract from a taking display by the progressive Meetmebythesea (c159p), who ran to a Timeform rating that has been bettered only five times since the turn of the century. In fact, it’s unlikely he’ll be seen again in a handicap for some time as he looks a graded performer in the making, with the Peterborough Chase at Huntingdon and Silviniaco Conti Chase at Kempton appealing as possible short-term targets.
The fact both Meetmebythesea and runner-up Blueking d’Oroux (c154) were fit to do themselves justice on their reappearances is another legacy of Pipe, who demonstrated that top yards should be able to get their charges race-fit at home. Blueking d’Oroux might have fluffed the last but essentially held every chance on his debut for Skelton (from Nicholls) and lost little in going down by two and a half lengths to such an exciting prospect.
Last-time-out winner Torneo (c136) added further solidity to the form in third, a view which is backed up by the stopwatch, and the chances are this will prove one of the strongest Paddy Power renewals in recent history.
Similar comments apply to the Grade 2 JCB Triumph Hurdle Trial earlier in the afternoon, which was just about the only race on the card not decimated by significant non runners and saw last-time-out winners account for four of the first five home.
In a field of classy Flat recruits, Irish raider Atomic City (h128p) was impressive in seeing off Charles Darnay (h123p) by four lengths, particularly as the latter’s connections have targeted this race with significant success in recent years.
Joseph O’Brien has enjoyed an excellent record in the Fred Winter Juvenile Handicap Hurdle at the Festival, winning three of the last eight renewals, but Atomic City has made such a promising start to his hurdling career that the Triumph Hurdle seems the obvious route for him – O’Brien hasn’t officially won the Triumph yet, though he reportedly did all the training for his father’s 2016 winner Ivanovich Gorbatov before taking out a licence in his own name.
Arguably the main story from today’s card, though, is those horses who didn’t race. There were 29 non runners in total, the vast majority of which were due to “unsuitable ground”, which followed on from several unsatisfactory races yesterday featuring low sun issues and horses repeatedly slipping on bends.
It caps a challenging year for Cheltenham, which saw Trials Day end in farce after a sizeable hole emerged on the racing line in the home straight and then its final three meetings of the season being cancelled due to ground repair.
The plethora of jump meetings being abandoned elsewhere this autumn due to the prolonged dry spell illustrates the immense challenges currently being faced by ground staff and clerks of the course. That said, a Beamonesque leap of faith was required to believe yesterday afternoon’s initial official going description of “good (good to soft in places)”, when the times immediately revealed that conditions were a good deal quicker than that on the chase course (Timeform called it good to firm).
In addition, Cheltenham members will have good reason to have felt short-changed of late, losing out on those final three meetings of 2025/26 and presented with a rather threadbare card today due to that mammoth haul of non runners. In addition, racegoers also had to contend with Wifi issues today.
Indeed, many more Saturdays like this and somebody could be for the high jump….
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