Denman’s charisma meant he was more than just a racehorse
News of the legendary chaser’s death, aged 18, sparks fond memories for Marcus Armytage
Denman, one of the most charismatic and powerful chasers of the post-desert Orchid era and winner of the 2008 Cheltenham Gold Cup, has been put down aged 18 following a deterioration in his health. Given his size and style of racing, that is a good age.
“The Tank” spent the last year of his retirement in a field near Ditcheat, Somerset, where he had been trained by Paul Nicholls.
A liver chestnut, he was bought out of Adrian Maguire’s yard by Paul Barber after winning his only point-to-point. He was built to be a chaser and, heading to Cheltenham for the Gold Cup in March 2008, was unbeaten in two seasons over fences with an RSA Chase, Lexus and a Hennessy under top weight to his name.
It was a golden era for Nicholls and Denman’s big rival was in the box next door, reigning champion Kauto Star. The debate was whipped up by The Tank’s part-owner, Harry Findley, who became Denman’s mouthpiece. Not just the big topic within racing, “Kauto or Denman?” was the big debate in the bars of England.
Making most of the running and delivering a signature effort, Denman triumphed by seven lengths. However, he was a big horse and his style of running – never giving himself an easy race – contributed to a heart condition the next season and, in Nicholls’s words, although he was second in three more Gold Cups and put up a staggering effort under top weight to win the 2009 Hennessy, he was “never quite the same again”.
Putting him in the same bracket as Kauto Star, Nicholls said: “It was a privilege to have trained the pair as they were two of the best chasers ever to be seen on a racecourse.”
I have two abiding memories of Denman. The first was seeing him in the winner’s enclosure at Newbury after his second Hennessy. Remember, this was a time when people did not run Gold Cup winners in handicaps. He was standing four square, like a solid oak dining table, his head down, heaving, in a cloud of steam. This was a horse that had not left an ounce of energy on the course.
My second was during his retirement when I took my children, then slightly nervous about jumping fences, on a fun ride round Cirencester Park. After a couple of miles we caught up with the two horses in front, one of whose backside pretty much blocked out the sun.
I could not see the front end but it could only belong to Denman. Charlotte Alexander, who had him for the first four years of his retirement, gave our ponies a lead over the obstacles. Even then he still had a presence about him. For us it was like having a kickabout in a park with David Beckham – something you never forget.