Poniros powered home to land a 100-1 shock and become the joint longest-priced winner at the Cheltenham Festival in the modern era as the Golden Horn gelding remarkably landed the Grade One JCB Triumph Hurdle on his first-ever start over jumps - and in the process give Ireland a sixth straight success in the juvenile championship at Prestbury Park.
James Owen’s East India Dock and the Nicky Henderson-trained Lulamba had been strongly fancied to end Britain’s barren run in the opener on Gold Cup day and looked set to fight out the finish when in front at the last flight.
However, they had to settle for minor honours as Jonjo O’Neill jr conjured up a stirring finish from jumping debutant Poniros, who was providing Willie Mullins with a fourth consecutive Triumph victory, this one in the colours of Brighton & Hove Albion chairman Tony Bloom.
Mullins – who had 11 runners in the race – said: “He’s by Golden Horn and I think he’s going to make a very good sire. He’s the sort of horse you’re looking for, but I didn’t expect that. We were hoping he’d run well and be a nice horse for next year, so he’s ahead of schedule.
“We bought him in October, we just schooled him and then gave him a break. We thought we’d better drag him in from the field and get him ready for Cheltenham, so that’s what we did, but I didn’t expect any more than a nice run.
“We’d a lot of horses in the race and they all came here with the same plan and I couldn’t believe it when I saw him flying through.”
He went on: “My owner might have had a few pounds on, but I certainly didn’t give him any advice.
“He does everything nicely at home, but I don’t think we’ve ever really given him a serious gallop, I was just thinking of him having a nice experience. His runs on the Flat are a huge advantage.
“I wasn’t watching him, I really fancied Lady Vega Allen and then when she was beaten I saw Tony Bloom’s colours and when I realised he didn’t have a runner for anyone else I thought it must be mine!”
Poniros’ last start on the Flat for Ralph Beckett was when favourite for the Cambridgeshire at Newmarket in September, and Mullins added: “We bought him as a dual-purpose horse, hopefully we’ll go to Punchestown with him now and then Royal Ascot. We buy all these horses with the Melbourne Cup in mind in the long run.”
O’Neill’s father, Jonjo snr, revealed it could have been a double celebration for the family.
He said: “That was great to watch, but would you believe we were actually the underbidders for him at the sale!
“It’s an amazing game, such a leveller. I thought he was going well at the top of the hill, but he looked beaten at the second last- you are never beaten here with that hill though.”
Henderson said of the second: “As Nico (de Boinville) said, he’s come so late the winner, he didn’t see him and didn’t have time to respond to him.
“He’s only a baby, it’s only the third run of his life. You can see from the size of him he’s not for this year.”
On plans for next season, he added: “That (novice chasing) certainly isn’t out of the question, but we might do what we did with Sir Gino this year and say let’s see where Constitution Hill is and Sir Gino was there ready to flop around and grabbed the Fighting Fifth while we were doing nothing else.
“I think it will be the same sort of plan really, but he’ll probably go chasing and he’s going to be very special.”
Of 5-4 favourite East India Dock, Owen said: “He ran a cracker and has done nothing wrong. I thought he’d won jumping the last and he’s just got outrun up the straight, but he was beaten by two good horses, I think.
“We’re very proud of our horse. He jumped well enough, he maybe made one little mistake, but he was quick over them and it’s not easy to win here. We’ll keep coming.
“I think we’ll mix and match with him now as he has an attractive mark on the Flat. Whether we go Aintree first, we’ll see how he is.”
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