War of Attrition from the Bernadette Murphy stable, ridden by Conor O’Dwyer was a promising 15-2 shot before the running of the 78th Totesport sponsored Cheltenham Gold Cup on Friday March 16th 2006, and by the end of the race, he had fulfilled that promise by romping home strongly up the Cheltenham hill, just under 3 lengths ahead of runner up Hedgehunter, ridden by Ruby Walsh.
Irish Clean Sweep
After waiting almost a decade for Kicking King to become the first irish-trained mount to win the Cheltenham Gold Cup in 2005, irish eyes were smiling again, as they saw their first ever 1-2-3 with the leading trio to cross the line all trained in Ireland by ‘Mouse’ Morris, Willie Mullins and Michael O’brien respectively.
After the running of Cheltenham’s Blue Riband event, winning trainer Mouse Morris waxed lyrical about his champion horse:
“You dream about these things. I’ve always had a lot of faith in him. I have always said he is one of the best I have ever had and I think he’s proved that”.
Large Field
An unusually large 22-strong field started the race and was bunched together for a good portion of the running with english horse Lord of Illusion, ridden by Jason Maguire at front around the first circuit.
War of Attrition hit the front coming into the last long left-hand turn before the home straight, as he tried to stride away from the rest. Heading to the last fence, it looked like Ruby Walsh was getting up on Hedgehunter to mount a challenge. That was until he made a mistake forcing the 16-1 shot trained by Willie Mullins wide, losing ground in the process.
From there it was all War of Attrition as Conor O’Dwyer guided his horse home, showing his joy with clenched fists and a large beaming smile as he and his mount took the £228,080 winner’s prize.
Favourite Left Behind
Pre-race favourite, Beef or Salmon in is his 4th Gold Cup, trailed in 11th placed, as he never looked like winning this race, such was the ferocious sprint for home from War of Attrition.
It was the 2nd successive year that an Irish horse had taken the Gold Cup and the watching Prestbury crowd were as rowdy as ever.
After the tragedy of the death of legendary Best Mate late in 2005, the sport needed something to cheer about and they got just that with this enthralling contest.
