Diamond Harry sparkles in Hennessey Gold Cup

Diamond Harry

Nick Williams hit the big time in style when Diamond Harry won the 54th running of the Hennessy Gold Cup at Newbury.

Diamond Harry was up the front for most of the way and Darryl Jacob committed to the lead off the home turn as Denman did his best to throw down his challenge under a top weight of 11st 12lb. But that welter burden, which he had carried to victory twice before, proved just too much this time and it was left to Burton Point to try and catch the winner over the last two fences.

But he never quite got on terms as Diamond Harry won by one-and-a-quarter lengths, with Denman plugging on gallantly to hold off stable companion The Tother One for third.

Big Fella Thanks was an early casualty at the third and quickly followed by Madison du Berlais who fell at the next, bringing down Neptune Collonges in the process. Diamond Harry was clear of the mayhem as Jacob tracked the leader, Hey Big Spender, with Carruthers and Niche Market close to the pace. Sam Thomas had Denman just behind them and the cheers went up as the horse they nicknamed “The Tank” started to rumble down the back straight on the second circuit.

But Denman always looked to be struggling from early in the home straight, as the concession of 26lbs to Diamond Harry started to look like mission impossible. He finally cracked at the second-last and then it was Barry Geraghty who tried his luck. The Irishman had starved himself to get down to 10st 1lb and now he was looking for the payout as Burton Point started to close. But Burton Point was under a strong drive and Jacob had still to move on Diamond Harry coming to the last.

Diamond Harry’s jumping had not always been fluent – as when he pulled up in the RSA Chase at Cheltenham last March – and Jacob was not taking any chances this time. The jump was more up and over than one for the photographers but it was the winning post that Jacob was thinking about and now he pulled his whip through for a right-hand drive through the final furlong, but Diamond Harry always had too many guns.

Williams - who juggles training racehorses with running an accountancy business with his wife Jane – is not a man for the spotlight and even did his best to step out of its glare at the time of his greatest triumph. “The first thing to say is that I haven’t really trained him,” he said. “Jane does all the training programme. She gets the horses fit not me – so I do nothing apart from pick the races.”

Whatever the division of labour, Williams is obviously not in charge of the cheer-leading section. “I wasn’t particularly confident. I knew he has a fantastic record at the track, I thought the ground would be okay, his jumping’s good at home and I thought he had as good a chance as any. He’s changed a lot, physically, in the last six months and that’s helped his jumping.”

As befits a man who is used to dealing with balance sheets rather than flights of fancy, Williams was not about to rush into the next challenge. The King George VI Chase is already ruled and, although the Lexus Chase at Leopardstown at Christmas or the Argento Chase at Cheltenham in late January are under consideration, Williams would not be averse to waiting for the Cheltenham Gold Cup itself. That direct route will be taken by Denman whom Paul Nicholls greeted as though he had won the race – and had certainly lost nothing in defeat. “Brilliant run. Sam said ‘don’t run him before the Gold Cup’ so we’re going to let him have a holiday now and we’ll try to get him to Cheltenham in that form again.”

Williams still has some way to go to match the seven Hennessy winners that Fulke Walwyn trained, who is commemorated by the trophy given to the winner of the sportingbet.com Novices' Handicap Chase, which was the second half of a double for Kim Bailey when Regal Approach rallied in rousing style to win for Sean Quinlan.

Regal Approach looked beaten as both Vino Griego and Bai Zhu swept through. But, as both started to tire in the sticky ground, Regal Approach found deeper reserves to beat the fast-finishing In The Zone by a neck.

Earlier Sarde showed plenty of the same to win the sportingbet.com Amateur Riders' Handicap Chase for 7lb claimer Charlie Greene. This time it was the Bailey horse who appeared late on the scene, coming to the last two lengths down, Sarde plugged away gamely to lead at the elbow and then held the late run of Noun De La Thinte to win by a length.

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Paul Wheeler

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