Denman (29th Nov 2009)

Because I thought it was pretty impossible first time round, but to do it again two years later off a much higher rating in what looked a better race was one of those sporting moments you put up with wall-to-wall dross for; because I thought the bold, tough, resolute Denman who "pounded" Kauto Star in the Gold Cup two years go was dead when he fall at Aintree last year and such horses, in racing parlance, 'never come back'.

Because he's one of the very few horses I've become attached to even though he's never won me thousands of pounds, and yesterday I was cheering him all down the home straight as though I was going to land a life-changing treble but actually hadn't even had a bet; because thousands of small-time punters yesterday made money out of their love bets (and hopefully one of them will be along to tell us about it); because it's a rare horse in these days that can get anyone to give two hoots about them (witness Sea The Stars).

Because now racing fans can spend the next three and a half months arguing about and looking forward to the next instalment of Kauto Star v The Tank with a warm glow all winter and fingers firmly crossed; because those two great horses actually stand in adjacent boxes in the same yard; because Ruby Walsh (who probably made the difference between winning and losing yesterday) is going to have one hell of a decision on which one to ride; and because Anne, who wandered in to see what the fuss was about and ended up cheering him on, turned to me at the end of the race and said she thought the second horse had come alongside Denman but then deferred to him as pack leader, which is the first time she's ever engaged in a horse race in my punting lifetime, and is in itself a pretty interesting piece of race-reading.


.