As one tilt at racing immortality came up short, another even more elusive achievement suddenly came into sharp focus as Inothewayurthinkin, in the famous green and gold colours of JP McManus, powered away from Galopin Des Champs, the defending two-time champion, to win the Cheltenham Gold Cup by six lengths.
There are still just four horses with three Gold Cup victories to their name, and there is still just one – Golden Miller, who features on both lists – who has won the Gold Cup and the Grand National in the same season, 91 years ago in 1934. Within a month, though, there could be two, if McManus and Gavin Cromwell, Inothewayurthinkin’s trainer, decide that the seven-year-old has come out of Friday’s race well enough to take his place in the 34-strong field at Aintree on 5 April.
