Denman (horse)

Denman
Denman on 15 March 2006
Sire	Presenting
Grandsire	Mtoto
Dam	Polly Puttens
Damsire	Pollerton
Sex	Gelding
Foaled	17 April 2000
Country	Ireland
Colour	Chestnut
Breeder	Colman O'Flynn
Owner	Paul Barber & Maggie Findlay
Trainer	Paul Nicholls
Record	24:14-5-1
Earnings	£1,141,347
Major wins
Challow Novices' Hurdle (2006) Berkshire Novices' Chase (2006) Royal & SunAlliance Chase (2007) Hennessy Gold Cup (2007, 2009) Lexus Chase (2007) Aon Chase (2008) Cheltenham Gold Cup (2008)
Awards
Timeform rating: 183
Honours
Denman Chase at Newbury Racecourse
Last updated on 29 January 2011

Denman (foaled 17 April 2000) is a former Irish-bred National Hunt racehorse sired by Presenting. Known as The Tank, Denman is widely known for his great rivalry with Kauto Star for the Cheltenham Gold Cup. This large horse with a front-running style won the Cheltenham Gold Cup in 2008.

Denman is a very dark-coated chestnut gelding, bred in County Cork by Colman O'Flynn, who also bred his Grade One winning full brother, Silverburn. He was sent to the 2004 Tattersalls Ireland Derby Sale as a four-year-old but this proved fruitless when one of the vets present said that the young store could benefit from a hobday operation on his windpipe.

Denman was put in training with former jockey Adrian Maguire. Sent to the Duhallow point-to-point at Liscaroll and ridden by leading amateur Colman Sweeney, he was sent off 7/4 favourite to beat 16 rivals, which he did by 12 lengths. Tom O'Mahony, scout for Paul Barber (trainer Paul Nicholls' landlord and one of his main owners), was impressed, and a deal was completed to sell Denman to Paul Barber and gambler Harry Findlay and send him to Nicholls' stables in Somerset.

Transferred to Paul Nicholls, Denman began his career under rules with two novice hurdle victories at Nicholls' local track Wincanton. He then scored a 21-length victory in the Grade 1 Challow Hurdle that was transferred from Newbury to Cheltenham, defeating useful horses such as Boychuk and Ungaro under stable jockey Ruby Walsh.

After an easy novice hurdle victory by Denman at Bangor, attentions moved on to the Cheltenham Festival for the Grade 1 Royal and Sun Alliance Novice Hurdle, where despite a strong field, Denman was sent off a 11/10 favourite. He ran a little free and lost to the Noel Meade-trained Nicanor and Paul Carberry. Ruby Walsh blamed himself for the defeat, saying that he should have made more use of the horse but didn't know him well enough at the time to do so.

Denman was immediately put away for the winter, and all attentions were switched to his novice chasing campaign the next season. He won his first four novice chases by a combined total of 59½l. The Jonjo O'Neill-trained subsequent Grand National winner Don't Push It, ridden by Tony McCoy, was the only horse to seriously threaten Denman, getting to within 3/4l of him after a battle up the Cheltenham hill.