i can only gloat. 12/1! We'll i never!

​I would not normally post a blog the day after the King George. Also, I have other writing projects I should be attempting to get to grips with. But I feel an overwhelming need to gloat, to boast and generally preen myself like a cat in the sunshine.
Of course, I didn’t walk across town to the local bookmaker and all I have about me this early morn is pride and no monetary gain, no wallet stuffed with ten-pound and twenty-pound notes.
Hewick at 12/1; longer odds, of course, at the time I suggested he was the best value in the race. Was he a worthy winner, though? Was Dame Good Fortune on his side?
Shishkin was unlucky. Make no bones about it. Only Nico de Boinville can know what Shishkin had left in him at the time of his slip-up, though to me he did look the likely winner. It was an extraordinary capsize, reminiscent of Goshen’s tip-up in the Triumph Hurdle at Cheltenham. Remarkably, Shishkin remained on his feet, a feat of survival that hopefully does not result in serious injury as he deserves another chance to prove his ability in top-class 3-mile chases. I cross my fingers that his chance comes in this season’s Cheltenham Gold Cup.
Bravemansgame was impacted by Shishkin’s shemozzle at the third-last fence and, I believe, with Allaho not seeing out his race as expected, he should have gone on to repeat his success of last year. That he didn’t is a problem Paul Nicholls will direct his full attention to solving during the next few weeks. The horse stayed well enough in the Gold Cup last season, simply beaten by a better horse on the day, so he should have been strong at the finish yesterday. Of course, Hewick capitulated at the third-last in last year’s running of the Gold Cup and in outstaying Bravemansgame in the King George makes it extremely likely he would have done the same at Cheltenham last season and pressed Galopin Des Champs closer and harder than the Nicholls horse managed to achieve.
Having not given any hope to Hewick at any stage of the King George, going to the last, a good jump permitting, I couldn’t see any other winner of the race as he was the only horse going forward with any momentum. Make no mistake, this was a brilliant ride from Gavin Sheehan and must be a candidate for ride of the season. To persevere when all hope seemed lost for the majority of the race, to keep the faith that the trainer’s instruction and advice ‘that the horse will be staying on at the finish’ was faith closer to prayer than experience.
And Hewick, too, deserves bouquets. He must be one of the smallest horses ever to win a Grade 1 chase and one of the cheapest ever bought at public auction. I could afford £800, that’s how cheaply bought he was! A truly remarkable horse that the public will take to their hearts. Tiny Hewick and giant-sized Shark Hanlon, fictional characters if they were not so real, so very good for the sport.
Allaho looked as if he didn’t truly stay, though he also didn’t resemble the horse of two-seasons ago, either. At the moment, I wouldn’t have him for the Ryanair, though Willie Mullins is the maker of miracles, so to right him off in December for a race in March would be foolish in the extreme. The Real Wacker must be better than his effort yesterday, as I write, as he remains the only horse to have beaten Gerri Columbe who will be Gold Cup favourite if he wins the Savilles Chase at Leopardstown this week. Frodon, of course, is light of former years and it was rather sad to see Shishkin brush him aside as easily as he did long before entering the straight. Hopefully he will have one last hurrah, though the handicappers will doubtless not be kind enough to allow that to be easily achieved.
My overwhelming thought to come from reviewing this season’s King George is that Shishkin has no injury serious enough to put him on the sidelines as we need a definitive answer to the question as to whether he is a Gold Cup horse or not. But Hewick was a brave and deserving winner and that there is no jockey with more confidence running through his veins at the moment than Gavin Sheehan.