DAY TWO GOLD CUP:IT WAS unfair to the shock winner Follow The Plan but there was a piquancy to Kauto Star's eclipse in the Guinness Gold Cup at Punchestown yesterday that guaranteed the great horse would dominate attention in defeat as much as he used to in victory.

Pulled up by Ruby Walsh when trailing the field before the fourth last fence, pleasant relief that Kauto Star was physically unscathed mixed with tart disappointment that the dual-Gold Cup and four-time King George winner appears to be such a shadow of the horse he was.

Such was the apparent lack of depth among his opposition, Kauto Star was made an odds-on favourite to win despite evidence that his form was on the slide. It provided echoes of Istabraq’s final throw of the dice at Cheltenham nine years ago. He, too, started favourite, and he, too, was pulled up after jumping just too flights.

What differed then was the immediate decision to retire the legendary hurdler. Punchestown’s Gold Cup was also the scene of an emotional retirement party last year for the 2006 Gold Cup hero War Of Attrition. But the Kauto Star team are not rushing to any decision. “What you guys have to remember is that he will be a long time retired. There will be no rash decision,” pointed out Paul Nicholls when the inevitable “R” word was thrown at him.

“It’s very hard to work out how they are at this time of year. He has never run before in May and it can be difficult with this horse to figure out how he is. He was working with young horses last week and looked like he was back to his best,” the trainer said. “But you could run a six-year-old at this time of year and they could do that. We will discuss things with Clive (Smith) and see what we do. He was beaten there after three or four fences. It was obvious. It is very hard to gauge on just one run, but if he comes back in the autumn and runs another race like that then obviously we would retire him,” Nicholls added.

Kauto Star was examined by vets afterwards and found to be post-race-normal while Ruby Walsh reported: “It’s very disappointing but they’re not machines. He clearly didn’t come out of Cheltenham as well as we thought. If we knew that he obviously wouldn’t have run. He was never on the bridle.”

Kauto Star’s eclipse deflected from an incident-packed finish that saw Roberto Goldback leading Follow The Plan into the last only to make a horrendous mistake and unseat Robbie Power.

It allowed the 20 to 1 Follow The Plan in for an 11-length defeat of the 40 to 1 Vic Venturi and provide trainer Oliver McKiernan with the biggest success of his career. “We were running more for place money, we thought, but if Kauto Star didn’t run his usual raced we thought we’d have a better chance,” said McKiernan.

Jockey Tom Doyle had tasted Grade One success before on Trafford Lad and was unsure what the outcome might have been had Roberto Goldback not exited. “I still thought I had every chance. We were staying on. But I can’t say for definite if we would or wouldn’t have won,” Doyle said.

A similar uncertainty surrounds Kauto Star’s immediate future. However, what appears unarguable now is that the great horse’s best days are firmly behind him.

* The day two festival crowd at Punchestown was up 204 on last year’s corresponding meeting to 17,261. Tote turnover was also up to €1,064,839 from 2010’s tally of €818,476. Bookmakers turnover was €1,799,050, up more than €70,000 on last year.