Top 5 Kauto Star Races

King - The legendary Kauto Star will never be forgotten.

This post was originally published in 2012, but given the devastating news that broke this morning that Kauto Star had been put down, I wanted to celebrate the incredible career he enjoyed until his retirement two and a half years ago.

It still hasn't properly sunk in that he's gone and it probably won't for some time. This horse is the reason I'm a horse racing fan - his career taking off coinciding almost perfectly with my interest in the sport sparking, and he brought so much joy to me and his legions of fans.

The true embodiment of the term 'the people's horse', no other equine star could put you through such a range of emotions as King Kauto. He was the most precociously talented jumps horse I've had the pleasure of seeing and he enjoyed a career at the top of the game that may never be emulated again.

Whether he was the greatest of all time is an argument that realistically you can never truly settle, but he is certainly the greatest of my lifetime and his accomplishments and contribution to horse racing and sport in general will live long in the memory and never be forgotten.

In tribute to the life of the brilliant Kauto Star - once again his top five race course performances... 


5. Cheltenham Gold Cup 2007 – Kauto’s first Gold Cup win saw him at the height of his powers, having already landed the Betfair Chase and the King George that season he was on the cusp of winning the Betfair Million, a one million pound bonus put up by the betting exchange for any horse that could win the two aforementioned races and the Gold Cup.

The doubters said he wouldn’t stay having stepped up to 3 miles that season having been running, and winning, over 2 miles the previous year but he proved them all wrong with a by no means astounding performance but a dominant performance that proved him one of the best for many a year.

Held up in the early part of the race, once Ruby Walsh asked him to go he travelled smoothly to the front and never looked back, other than when he clattered the last fence in what had become somewhat of a trademark last fence blunder in the earlier part of his career.

Kauto finished 2 ½ lengths of his great rival from the early part of his career Exotic Dancer and in doing so wrote his name in to the history books, and he’d continue to grace those pages for the five years that followed.

4. Cheltenham Gold Cup 2009 – After losing his Gold Cup crown twelve months earlier to great rival and companion Denman. Kauto returned to Cheltenham to try and make history by becoming the first horse to regain the Gold Cup.

Denman himself had been through the ringer somewhat in the build-up to the race, looking a shadow of the horse that had broken Kauto’s heart twelve months earlier when returning earlier in the year after being treated for a defibrillating heart.

The great rematch was on at Cheltenham though even if not quite as hotly anticipated as a year earlier. Kauto was well backed to make history by losing then regaining the Gold Cup and he duly obliged the market support by running 13 lengths clear of The Tank who ran a stormer to finish second.

At the top of the famous Cheltenham hill when Kauto and Denman kicked clear of the rest of the field it would have taken a heart of stone not to feel butterflies as the two greatest chasers of the last decade returned to their best following their own individual battles with adversity.

It was a great race, a great day and a great outcome featuring two all time greats of the game.

WATCH - Cheltenham Gold Cup 2009 

3. King George VI Chase 2011 – Prior to the 2011/12 season people had been calling for Kauto to be retired. He’d looked a far cry from the horse who had dazzled us all over the last five years when beaten comfortably several times the previous season and his legions of fans didn’t want to see him remembered for fading away as many other great champions had.

That all changed with his Betfair Chase win in November though (more on that in a minute) and he arrived for his annual pilgrimage to Kempton for the King George surrounded by the very real possibility that there may still be one more Christmas miracle in him yet.

Not everyone was convinced though and the young pretender to his throne Long Run, the very same horse who had instigated the retirement calls following his victories over Kauto the previous season was sent off the even money favourite.

The 3/1 starting price on Kauto looked a gift though as he once again jumped round his second home with aplomb and had Long Run looking troubled a long way out.

Kauto started to tire on the long straight and Long Run was gaining with every desperate stride but in the end the King held on by just over a length to register a never likely to be emulated fifth victory in the race.

Kempton had been jubilant for a Kauto Star Boxing Day victory before but this was something else entirely and brought a tear to many an eye, myself included.

WATCH - King George VI Chase 2011

2. King George VI Chase 2009 – Kauto’s record-breaking fourth King George wasn’t anywhere near as emotional as his win in the race two years later (see above) but for me it was by far and away his best performance from a sheer Racing perspective and one that we’ll do well to ever see emulated again.

Not only did he equal Desert Orchid’s four wins in the race with his 2009 romp but the 36 lengths he won by beat the previous winning distance set by the great Arkle by six whole lengths, once again sending Surrey in to euphoria.

He jumped like a stag throughout the race and travelled with the greatest of ease; the roar that went up as he cantered up alongside the game front-running Nacarat on the turn for home never fails to send a shiver down the spine and as you see that in behind him good horses are practically treading water while Kauto gallops on it makes you realise just how scintillating a performance this was.

By far the most impressive of his many wins, this performance earned him ratings with many bodies that put him atop or not far off the top of lists of their all-time greats.

WATCH - King George VI Chase 2009

1. Betfair Chase 2011 – The circumstances surrounding Kauto Star’s 2011 renaissance have already been covered with his King George win of that year, but many people believed again for the King George; few people believed for this race.

Something evidenced by the fact he was allowed to go off at 6/1, the longest ever price he began at in the UK. On the back of his poor 2010/11 season few could have imagined the effort he would deliver to land his fourth Betfair Chase and in doing so become the first horse to win two different Grade 1 races on four separate occasions.

Kauto jumped like a horse in the prime of his career, not one coming to the end of it, and he had the young pretender Long Run in trouble a long way from home. Going from the front earlier was a new tactic and brought with it bountiful rewards as he beat Long Run by 8 lengths.

He tired near the end but he was the last horse asked any sort of question as his young foes toiled in behind him and as he crossed the line in front yet again the North West erupted in to ecstasy.

The scenes that followed were straight out of Hollywood, he’d been applauded on his way down and on his way round but the rapturous applause that greeted the greatest steeplechaser of my lifetime, maybe any lifetime, was out of this world.

It wasn’t his most prestigious win or his best performance but it was without a doubt his most emotional, and that afternoon last November is one I will remember forever.

WATCH - Betfair Chase 2011

Share Your Kauto Star memories – what are your favourite Kauto races & moments?