McCoy’s will to win mirrored by Synchronised to delight O’Neill

As McCoy basked in the glory of a surprise win on the 8-1 chance, even questioning Synchronised’s credentials as a steeplechaser as he tried to deflect attention away from his own brilliance, owner Clive Smith was “90 per cent sure” that he will retire Kauto Star.

The white-faced Kauto Star’s popularity can be measured by the cheers that greeted Ruby Walsh when he pulled up the 12-year-old on the first circuit after sensing the horse was struggling, perhaps the legacy of his recent schooling fall that left him facing a race against time to take his place in a sixth successive Gold Cup.

The applause from 70,458 spectators – the highest single day attendance in the Festival’s illustrious history – was only eclipsed by their acclaim of McCoy, 37, after he roused Synchronised from a seemingly forlorn position during most of the race to pass the 50-1 outsider The Giant Bolster – ridden by Tom Scudamore – on the punishing final run-in, with last year’s victor Long Run a disappointing third.

Nine-year-old Synchronised only entered the Gold Cup reckoning when winning the Grade One Lexus Chase at Leopardstown over Christmas – and even McCoy, on the brink of a 17th successive jockeys’ title, suggested that they were only making up the numbers.

“He’s a bit like me really – he’s not a looker but he’s got a great will to win,” said the jockey who spent the New Year in hospital with fractured ribs and a punctured lung following a fall that tested even his great levels of resilience.

The jockey, whose previous win in the race came 15 years ago aboard the frontrunning Mr Mulligan, added: “It’s funny to say this about a Gold Cup winner but he’s not really a chaser. He’s not got the physique, the presence or the stature – you only have to look at him – and the only reason he has won a Gold Cup is because of the size of his heart and the man who trains him.

“I didn’t want to ask him any big questions, I just wanted to keep him close enough.”

Owned by legendary gambler JP McManus and trained by Jonjo O’Neill, this was the same combination that won the 2010 National on Don’t Push It – a victory that saw McCoy acclaimed as the BBC’s Sports Personality of the Year.

This first Gold Cup for McManus, who led the applause as Kauto Star returned to the unsaddling enclosure, saw O’Neill – who won the race as a jockey on Yorkshireman Peter Easterby’s Alverton and the incomparable mare Dawn Run – join an elite club of chasing greats to have ridden and trained the Gold Cup victor.

Elated O’Neill suggested that this triumph eclipsed his past deeds in steeplechasing’s blue riband race. “If you cock-up as a jockey you let yourself down. If you cock-up as a trainer you let the team down. Far more responsibility, far more pleasure when you get it right,” he said.

“Getting this horse to this day has been such a massive team effort, with a magic result. The horse came back from Leopardstown not quite right. He had caught a chill and wasn’t well at all. He takes a lot out of himself in his races and it was really only in the last few days he really came to himself. He was like a flower who finally bloomed.”

As for McCoy, O’Neill said: “I’ve never seen the likes of him, and I don’t think we’ll see the likes of him again. He’s a great ambassador for racing and I hope he carries on a bit longer.”

The Gold Cup eclipsed two Malton-trained winners on the Festival’s finale – John Quinn’s Countryside Flame won the Triumph Hurdle under Dougie Costello before Malcolm Jefferson landed his second winner in successive days when Harry Haynes powered home Attaglance.

The meeting ended with in-form trainer Nicky Henderson landing a record seventh winner of the week, leaving him virtually level with Paul Nicholls in the trainers’ title race.

Henderson indicated that Long Run may contest Aintree’s Betfred Bowl, admitting his horse “was not good enough on the day”, while Nicholls said no snap decision will be made on Kauto Star’s future despite the owner’s strong retirement hints.

Ruby Walsh, the rider of the five-time King George winner, last night revealed how McCoy urged him to pull up Kauto Star during the race.

“I jumped the water and I wasn’t happy,” said Walsh. “I drifted further back and further back and I was struggling badly going to the fourth last the first time. I landed and AP said to me ‘if I was you I’d pull him up’, and he was right.”

Festival review: Page 10.