- CHELTENHAM, England: Champion jockey Tony McCoy and trainer Jonjo O’Neill sprung a Cheltenham Gold Cup surprise on Friday when 8-1 chance Synchronized dug deep to hold off outsider The Giant Bolster (50-1) to win the blue riband steeplechase.
McCoy, winning his second Gold Cup after taking the spoils on Mr.Mulligan in 1997, finished strongly to win by two-and-a-quarter lengths ahead of The Giant Bolster with 2011 winner and 7-4 favorite Long Run back in third.
The much-anticipated showdown between Long Run and twice winner Kauto Star never materialized. Kauto Star, who had been declared fit by trainer Paul Nicholls after a fall on the gallops last month, struggled from the start and was pulled up by jockey Ruby Walsh on the first circuit.
It was a first Gold Cup triumph as a trainer for O’Neill, who memorably rode Dawn Run to victory in the race in 1986.
“Magic, this is a big team effort...everybody had done so much work on this horse,” O’Neill told Channel Four television.
Long Run’s amateur jockey Sam Waley-Cohen said: “There are no hard luck stories.”
