Delta Work Fends Off Kemboy Once Again To Claim Gold Cup Glory

Gigginstown's DELTA WORK proved his victory in December's Savills Chase was no fluke as the popular chaser held off KEMBOY to win the Irish Gold Cup at Leopardstown on Sunday.

All the hype in the build up was mainly based around Willie Mullins's Cheltenham Gold Cup favourite who'd looked so impressive last season when bolting up in the Betway Bowl at Aintree and then holding off stablemate Al Boum Photo in the Punchestown Gold Cup. All of this after the eight year-old had unseated his rider at the first fence in the Cheltenham Gold Cup back in March.

However, if Mullins did have a script for the Irish Gold Cup it's safe to say Gordon Elliott's script was the one that made the final cut.

Kemboy along with stablemate Cadmium were ridden the more prominently out of the pack throughout the race until the final bend and then it was on, a sprint finish.

Delta Work hit the front from Presenting Percy and Kemboy approaching the last and despite a little fightback from the Mullins favourite with 100 yards to go, Delta Work showed the sort of resilience and fight in which a Gold Cup winner needs to hold off the pair and claim victory by just over a length.

What does this mean for the Cheltenham Gold Cup? Well the most obvious answer is it means we can consider Delta Work a serious contender. He was available at as big as 18/1 for the race prior to his Savills Chase victory on Boxing Day and having got backed in to around 11/1 after that, he's now into as short as 4/1 with favourite Al Boum Photo. Certainly some money piling into him there.

Kemboy meanwhile has been on a slight drift. You could get him at best price 6/1 before yesterday but now he is available at best price 8/1.

Whilst it was another defeat for the Mullins stable star behind Delta Work, it wasn't a thrashing and the way he stayed on towards the end to keep the pressure on the Gordon Elliott trained gelding showed that he does most certainly have the minerals to go one better over him at Cheltenham next month. Whether he will though is a different question.