 It was Kicking King's fourth Grade One win in a row |
Cheltenham Gold Cup winner Kicking King cruised to an impressive victory in the Guinness Gold Cup at Punchestown. The 8-11 favourite eased into the lead four fences from home and jockey Barry Geraghty had time to look around as his mount drew clear in the final stages.
Rule Supreme kept battling on up the run-in but never looked like troubling the leader with Pizarro coming third.
Kingscliff, who had chased Kicking King home in the King George VI Chase at Kempton, trailed home in fourth.
Kicking King, trained by Tom Taaffe, has now won four Grade One races in a row.
"After the problems that we had getting him ready for the Gold Cup, I came into this race fairly confident," said the trainer.
"I don't mean to sound big-headed but he's had an ideal preparation and really, if he's as good as we think he is, that's the sort of performance we were looking for.
"He jumped brilliantly. I think that's what sets him apart. It's rare that you see a horse jump so well in top-class races like this."
Bookmakers immediately clipped Kicking King's odds for next year's Cheltenham Gold Cup and he is now as short as 2-1 with some.
Kingscliff's trainer Robert Alner was baffled by the second favourite's lacklustre display.
"One thing is for sure, that is not his true running - he is better than that," said the Dorset-based trainer.
"The one thing the horse does is stay and he didn't do that today. I was slightly disappointed with his jumping as he wasn't as fluent as he can be."
In the day's other Grade One race, amateur jockey Alan Berry succeeded where Tony McCoy and Kieren Fallon, champion jump and Flat jockeys respectively had failed when he steered Refinement to victory in the bumper.
Berry rode the six-year-old to victory at Aintree last November with Fallon coming fourth on the horse at the Cheltenham Festival and McCoy repeating that finish at the Grand National meeting.
But Refinement, fitted with blinkers for the first time, returned to the winner's enclosure with an impressive nine-length victory.
Philip Carberry became the third member of his family to ride a winner at this year's Irish National Hunt Festival at Punchestown. After brother Paul and sister Nina won three races between them on Tuesday's card, Philip took the Blue Square Handicap Hurdle with Stutter on Wednesday.
Guinness Gold Cup (Grade One)
Punchestown, 3m 1f
1 Kicking King (B Geraghty) 8-11f
2 Rule Supreme (R Walsh) 4-1
Six ran. Dist: 3l, 15l.
Paddy Power Champion INH Flat Race (Grade One)
Punchestown, 2m
1 Refinement (Mr AJ Berry) 6-1
2 The Cool Guy (Mr R Widger) 9-1
3 Nicanor (Mr NP Madden) 10-1
4 Missed That (Mr JJ Codd) 5-4f
Nineteen ran. Dist: 9l, 6l.
MMIX
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What a performance - the horse has more gears than a Ferarri F1
