The 2012 Cheltenham Gold Cup,
sponsored, for the first time, by Betfred, featured 13 runners and
was won by Synchronised, trained by Jonjo O’Neill and ridden by
A.P. McCoy. The race also featured the final racecourse appearance by
Kauto Star, winner of the Cheltenham Gold Cup twice and the King
George VI Chase five times, who was eventually retired from racing
the following October.
Kauto Star was sent off 3/1 second
favourite, behind defending champion and 7/4 favourite Long Run but,
after losing a prominent early position at the seventh fence,
weakened after a mistake at the next fence and was pulled up before
halfway.
Meanwhile, Midnight Chase made the
running until headed by Time For Rupert at the fourth last, where he
blundered, but Time For Rupert, too, was swamped on the run to the
second last fence. At that point, 50/1 outsider The Giant Bolster
took the lead and looked, momentarily, as if he might cause an
almighty surprise. However, Long Run, on his inside, jumped upsides
at the last, while Synchronised, who’d been ridden along in sixth
as the field turned back towards home, came home strongly on the
outside under a vintage McCoy drive. The 8/1 chance fought his way
into the lead shortly afterwards and kept on gamely up the hill for a
dramatic win. The Giant Bolster rallied for second, beaten 2¼
lengths, with Long Run a further three-quarters of a length away in
third.
McCoy, who celebrating his second win
in the race, after Mr. Mulligan in 1997, said of Synchronised, “He’s
an amazing horse and it was an amazing performance. He’s really
delivered.”
Jonjo O'Neill, who became the latest of
a select group of men to ride, and train, a Cheltenham Gold Cup
winner, said, “AP [McCoy] was brilliant on him, he knows him so
well. Our big worry was keeping him in the race as, if he makes
mistakes, he gets behind.”
Tragically, Synchronised next ran in
the Grand National at Aintree less than a month later; ridden, once
again, by A.P. McCoy, he was sent off 10/1 second favourite, but fell
at Becher’s Brook on the first circuit and, despite getting up and
galloping away, broke a hind leg after falling again, when running
loose, five fences later and was put down.
