THE 2008 CHELTENHAM Gold Cup winner, Denman, has died at the age of 18.
His trainer Paul Nicholls confirmed the news this morning saying the chaser “had begun to go downhill in the past few days.”
He added that his charge was “put to sleep painlessly.”
Denman won 14 of his 24 starts, including four Grade Ones, but his finest moment came at the 2008 Cheltenham Festival when he beat Kauto Star by seven lengths in one of the great renewals of national hunt racing’s blue riband event.
He would finish second in the next three Gold Cups.
“Denman was known affectionately to punters and racegoers as ‘The Tank’, which I always felt was a fitting description,” said Nicholls.
“He was a magic horse who had a tremendous following because of the wholehearted way he went about his racing.
“He was tough, hardy and willing, wasn’t the easiest to train, and would bite your hand off in his box given half a chance.”
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