Imperial Commander The Hero On Day 4 At Cheltenham

We have seen a classic Gold Cup today with a new winner in Imperial Commander bolting up the hill to begin a new era with Denman back in second, and Kauto Star falling four from home. All the focus before the big race was on Denman and Kauto Star but the Twiston-Davies yard have been confident all along that Imperial Commander had the ability to take out both of them and they were proved right.

Kauto Star never looked comfortable during the race as he made a shuddering error around the back straight and he never recovered before falling when under pressure as they came up to the home straight. AP McCoy on board Denman ran a blinder and looked in good shape throughout and jumped like a dream to enhance talk of a Grand National run in 2011. Denman though could not handle the turn of foot of Imperial Commander up the hill as the younger horse showed his speed and to be honest he looked the winner a long way out. It was a great Cheltenham Festival day for Nigel Twiston-Davies who picked up the Foxhunter Chase straight after the Gold Cup with Baby Run leading the whole way. It was a glorious double for the yard but there is no doubt they have a star in Imperial Commander who seems to love it around Cheltenham and will be back again in 2011 for another crack. Just when the Twiston-Davies yard thought the day could not get any better they picked up the Grand Annual with Pigeon Island to give them a simply stunning treble to round off the day in fine fashion.

Of the other races on the final day of the 2010 Cheltenham Festival the JCB Triumph produced an exciting race which was won by Soldatino with Barry Geraghty on board. Barizan should get a special mention as he made the running the whole way and looked to have the race in the bag before tying up after the last and was just caught by the fast finishing winner. The Albert Bartlett Novices Hurdle brought yet another long priced winner with Berties Dream coming home as a 33/1 shot as the bookmakers continued their great week. The well backed favourite in the race was Tell Massini who didn't run any sort of race and was pulled up well before the home straight to sum up the week of the favourites.

The 2010 Cheltenham Festival will be remembered for all sorts of reason with the image of Imperial Commander storming up the hill in the Gold Cup the enduring picture of the week. Three of the four odds-on favourites have been beaten this week with only Big Buck's coming in for the punters as the bookies cleaned up on Dunguib, Master Minded and Kauto Star.

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