The Gold Cup is the feature race of the whole Cheltenham Festival and this year's edition looked wide open.
Minella Indo was the defending champion after seeing off stablemate A Plus Tard and the two-time winner Al Boum Photo in 2021.
And last year's 1-2-3 all lined up again for the 2022 version, with A Plus Tard and Rachael Blackmore going off the favourite to go one better.
But the betting also suggested a big run was on the card for Gordon Elliott's Galvin, who won the National Hunt Chase at the 2021 Festival before winning the Irish Gold Cup this term.
The home challenge has been a lot more successful than many expected this week, and their leading chance looked to be Protektorat, an improving sort for the Dan Skelton team.
However, it was Tipperary woman Blackmore who stole the show as she guided A Plus Tard to an emphatic success to become the first female rider to win the race.
Stuck behind a wall of horses turning in, Blackmore was patient and came between Protektorat and dual winner Al Boum Photo to hunt down defending champion Minella Indo, who had four lengths to spare jumping the penultimate fence.
Yet Blackmore, who became the first woman to ride a Gold Cup winner, adding to her two Champion Hurdles and the National, used A Plus Tard’s pace to perfection and she jumped to the front over the last and powered clear.
The easy early pace, set by Asterion Forlonge and Aye Right, certainly helped the eight-year-old, who was going clear at the finish, recording a 15-length success from Minella Indo, with the Dan Skelton-trained Protektorat nosing out Galvin for third, some two and a half lengths behind the runner-up.
Blackmore told ITV Racing: “I just can’t believe it. I’m so lucky to be getting to ride all these kind of horses.
“You can’t do this without the horses and being attached to Henry’s yard is just absolutely phenomenal. To give me this horse is unbelievable I don’t know what to say.
“I’ve had so many special days. I wouldn’t swap the Grand National for anything, but this is the Gold Cup. I wish I had something better to say right now. I just can’t.
“You have all these plans about how things are going to work out. Racing doesn’t let that happen all the time and for some reason it’s happened to me today. I just can’t explain how lucky I feel.”
Result Cheltenham Gold Cup 3.30pm
1st: A Plus Tard 3/1
2nd: Minella Indo 7/1
3rd: Protektorat 10/1
4th: Galvin 10/3
5th: Royal Pagaille 20/1
6th: Al Boum Photo 6/1
7th: Asterion Forlonge
8th: Santini 66/1
9th: Aye Right 80/1
PU Chantry House 16/1
PU Tornado Flyer 9/1
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