Kauto allowed summer to recover

Connections of Kauto Star will not be rushing into a decision on the great horse’s future despite the 11-year-old being pulled up in the Punchestown Guinness Gold Cup.

Having run a terrific race when third at Cheltenham in his attempt to land a third Gold Cup, the Paul Nicholls-trained gelding was sent off the 10-11 favourite to end his season with victory.

But in a dramatic renewal, Ruby Walsh pulled Kauto Star up before four out as Oliver McKiernan’s Follow The Plan (20-1) took full advantage of a last-fence fall by Roberto Goldback to come home clear of Vic Venturi and Rare Bob.

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Nicholls said: “I said to (partner) Georgie (Browne) before the race that I didn’t care where he finished as long as he came back safe and sound and after he’d jumped three or four it was obvious where he would finish. He was not firing today.

“I’ve done things a bit differently with him this year and had him fine-tuned for Cheltenham and then might have been a bit easy with him before this.

“But I’m not going to make any rash decisions based on one run. You could have a six-year-old that runs badly at this time of year and then comes back. We were in unknown territory running him in May and he’ll have a summer’s grass now. It’s hard to judge on one run, but if he came back in the autumn and ran once more like that then we would retire him.”

Walsh said: “Kauto never jumped better than he did today but he never travelled.”

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McKiernan said of the Tom Doyle-ridden winner: “We came here more or less for place money, we thought.

“There again we thought if Kauto Star didn’t run his usual race then we might have a better chance. This was our local track so were happy to come here.

“We were hopeful going to the last as our horse finishes strong. My opinion was our horse was the freshest horse in the race coming here so we thought it might give him a good chance. He was suited by the fast gallop as he failed to settle early at Aintree on his latest run. He’s finished for the season now.”

Earlier on the card, Street Entertainer (11-4) gave David Pipe his first winner in Ireland when taking the Louis Fitzgerald Hotel Hurdle in the hands of Tony McCoy.

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Walsh set out to make all on the Nicholls-trained Empire Lavant but struggled after making a mistake three out. Street Entertainer was slightly hampered by that and was switched towards the centre of the course to make his bid.

Leading on the turn for home, he bounded away after the last to score by four lengths from Magical Memoir who pipped Kalann for second.

“It was more competitive than when he won at Chepstow. We thought he had a good chance, the ground is probably slow enough for him, but he’s done it well,” said Pipe.

“He was always travelling well. AP was pleased with the performance and it’s my first ever winner in Ireland which is great.

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“He’ll be going on the Flat at some stage, but while the better ground is around we’ll keep him on the go.”

Waaheb lost his unbeaten record as Lovethehigherlaw (8-1) got the verdict in a titanic scrap for the betchronicle.com Champion INH Flat Race. The two principals had it between them straightening for home, and while 15-8 favourite Waaheb rallied, the Willie Mullins-trained Lovethehigherlaw just held the upper hand at the line, with a short head the winning margin.

Mullins said: “They are two fantastic horses and you would be proud to own any of them, it was only on the nod which one won.

“This horse has shown me an awful lot all year, we didn’t go to Cheltenham and it paid off coming here.”

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n The Dante meeting is looming large on the horizon and The Queen’s Derby hope Carlton House has been installed as the 2-1 favourite for the totesport-sponsored Classic trial at York next week.

The Sir Michael Stoute-trained colt heads the betting with Ladbrokes on the strength of strong support ahead of his first run since breaking his duck by nine lengths at Newbury in October.

He shades top spot ahead of Henry Cecil’s highly-rated World Domination, impressive winner on his debut at Newbury last month, and the Aidan O’Brien-trained Seville, who was runner-up in the Racing Post Trophy.

“The Dante will have a massive bearing on the Derby market with three of the Classic market principals set to line up,” said Ladbrokes spokesman David Williams.

“Carlton House narrowly shades favouritism at the moment and has been attracting eyecatching Derby support in recent days, but it looks like being a quality line-up for the key trial.”

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