Racing: Great Endeavour brilliantly provided the in-form David Pipe with a first victory in the Paddy Power Gold Cup at Cheltenham. In a race his father, Martin, used to dominate, Pipe's grey survived a scare at the final fence to come home in isolation.
A gamble on Wishfull Thinking went astray as he faded coming down the hill, leaving Quantitativeeasing to chase home the winner, who strode clear by seven lengths. Divers was third, with Aerial fourth.
The 8-1 chance was well fancied for the race last year but could fare no better than sixth, but Timmy Murphy always looked confident on the David Johnson-owned seven-year-old.
Richard Johnson set a furious early pace on Wishfull Thinking but the challengers were stacking up half a mile out. Dave’s Dream looked threatening, along with Fine Parchment, but nothing was able to land a blow once Murphy went for home.
The ante-post favourite, Mon Parrain, could never get involved. Murphy said: “He (Pipe) knows how to train winners, which makes my job easier. This is a bit special. He had a great novice year — low profile — and he’s improved all the time.
“It’s great for his owner, David Johnson. He’s probably lacked a bit of quality since we retired all the good ones, but it’s nice for him to have a good winner on a day like today.”
Pipe added: “That was brilliant — it was Timmy at his best. He got a good start and everything fell into place. I couldn’t believe how well he jumped and travelled, and then you just hope he can keep going as it’s a long way up that hill.
“Timmy can only be as good as the horses he rides and it’s the same for a trainer. He (Great Endeavour) has been flying at home — he’s a good work-horse. We’ve always thought he was a good horse — he’s won at the Festival and we fancied him last year — but for some reason things just didn’t work out.
“He’s off a higher mark but obviously he’s still improving. Things just didn’t happen at the Festival for him last year and at Aintree he was over the top. It’s great for David Johnson and everyone back at the yard.”
Of a potential outing for Great Endeavour in the Hennessy Gold Cup at Newbury later this month, Pipe continued: “We’ll just have to see how he comes out of this, but the trip might be a bit far.”
Nicky Henderson said of runner-up Quantitativeeasing: “He’s run a great race, but it’s a shame because he keeps bumping into something that’s too good. He deserves to win a decent race but it’s hard because you’ve got to keep running in races like this.”