SANDOWN REPORT: TONY McCOY has long been acknowledged as a phenomenon. That view was simply reinforced on Saturday as the 14-time champion produced a ride that had to be seen to be believed.
He had been urging the Carl Llewellyn-trained Hennessy along from some way out in the Gold Cup – once the Whitbread – but it looked a lost cause as long-time leader Briery Fox came with a strong challenge to former winner Sandown Lacdoudal.
But McCoy has made rescuing lost causes his business from the saddle and simply would not be denied as he got up to deny Briery Fox by a neck in a pulsating finish, one to rival Special Cargo some 25 years ago.
His mount traded at 99 to 1 in-running on Betfair, which more or less says it all.
“With a lazy horse you have to find a happy medium with how much you make them do and how much you leave to the end,” McCoy said, “but at the second-last I knew he was going to stay on.”
While Paul Nicholls’s top two-miler, Master Minded, was not risked on the fast ground in the Grade Two Celebration Chase, it was left to his quirky stablemate Twist Magic (7 to 2) to turn in an impressive performance.
“He bolted up here in a Tingle Creek and I thought he was going to win an Arkle before he fell at the second-last,” jockey Ruby Walsh said.
“He’s won a couple of Grade Ones for me and is a good horse.”
Kalahari King, the 6 to 5 favourite, was beaten 10 lengths in second.
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