Under various names, the Gold Cup has been pulling big crowds here for more than 50 years, but even in that long history, there can have been few renewals as memorableon Saturday. It was not just thanks to the drama of the last-second charge up the hill that got Caid Du Berlais home by a head from last year’s winner Johns Spirit, but for its significance, too, for the man in the saddle, as Sam Twiston-Davies completed a double on the day and secured his first major win as Paul Nicholls’s stable jockey.
Already it looks like a partnership that is built to last, and perhaps even become as familiar in the winners’ enclosure one day as the alliance between Nicholls and Ruby Walsh when the trainer established himself as National Hunt’s dominant force.
“There’s been a bit of pressure with it being Sam’s first time in the job,” Nicholls said, “but it’s an investment for the future, and a really good one. This is when you want to be winning races, and I’ve never been in any doubt. They were two different rides and both out of the top drawer. It’s a big, big day for Sam.”
Twiston-Davies’s first success of the day was on Sam Winner, a Grand National candidate who took plenty of coaxing to carry top weight to victory in a valuable handicap chase. His win in the feature race, meanwhile, required patience above all, as Twiston-Davies refused to be frustrated as a gap did not appear on the run down the hill. When he did launch his challenge in the home straight, it was a little later than planned, but Caid Du Berlais still had enough running left to stay on relentlessly up the hill after Johns Spirit had looked the certain winner jumping the last fence.
“If it wasn’t for my dad [Nigel Twiston-Davies] and Dr [Richard] Newland I wouldn’t be where I am now,” said Twiston-Davies, who was 22 last month. “Riding for them has taught me how to handle this big-race pressure. I wasn’t really going great three out and it just helped me to sit there and think, if it doesn’t work out, it doesn’t work out. That’s the kind of confidence you need to be riding for Mr Nicholls.
“I wrote a column recently and people were writing on there: he’s got a lot to learn, he’s still a kid, he doesn’t know what he’s doing. Days like today make it seem that I am learning and I am starting to realise what’s going on around me, and days like today you do really start to believe in yourself, and it does wonders for your confidence.
“It makes me want to prove them wrong. The more people are rude to me and abuse me, I welcome it, because it makes me want to do that little bit better.”
Nicholls considered withdrawing Caid Du Berlais due to the soft ground 10 minutes before the horses left the paddock, but trusted his instinct that his horse was ready to run a big race. Caid Du Berlais is a 25-1 chance to follow up this victory in the Ryanair Chase in March, while Johns Spirit, who was giving 13lb to the winner and clearly comes alive over this track and trip, is 12-1 for the same race.
Kings Palace was the only runner in the card’s novice chase without previous experience over fences, but jumped quickly and accurately throughout the three-mile contest to beat Sausalito Sunrise by four lengths. He is 12-1 (from 20-1) for the RSA Chase at the 2015 Cheltenham Festival, and could run next in the Grade One Feltham Novice Chase at Kempton Park on Boxing Day, while Golden Doyen, the winner of the Triumph Hurdle Trial, is a 20-1 chance to follow up in the juvenile hurdling championship.
