Imperial Commander (29 March 2001 – 6 April 2017) was a

Cheltenham Gold Cup The Cheltenham Gold Cup is a Grade 1 National Hunt horse race run on the New Course at Cheltenham Racecourse in England, over a distance of about 3 miles 2½ furlon ...

winning thoroughbred

racehorse Horse racing is an equestrian performance activity, typically involving two or more horses ridden by jockeys (or sometimes driven without riders) over a set distance for competition. It is one of the most ancient of all sports, as its bas ...

Racing career

Early career

Imperial Commander's first race was at Summerhill point-to-point in Ireland on 24 April 2005, a race he won by 8 lengths. His next racecourse appearance and first under rules was a

National Hunt flat race National Hunt flat races, informally known as bumper races, are a type of flat racing but run under National Hunt racing rules in Britain and Ireland. National Hunt flat races were created on 15 July 1891 when a conference between the stewards of ...

Cheltenham Cheltenham () is a historic spa town and borough adjacent to the Cotswolds in Gloucestershire, England. Cheltenham became known as a health and holiday spa town resort following the discovery of mineral springs in 1716, and claims to be the mo ...

on 25 October 2006. This too he won, and already he was being described as a 'future chaser on looks' by the

Racing Post ''Racing Post'' is a British daily horse racing, greyhound racing, and sports betting publisher published in print and digital formats. It is printed in tabloid format from Monday to Sunday. , it has an average daily circulation of 60,629 ...

. He garnered one victory over

hurdles Hurdling is the act of jumping over an obstacle at a high speed or in a sprint. In the early 19th century, hurdlers ran at and jumped over each hurdle (sometimes known as 'burgles'), landing on both feet and checking their forward motion. Today ...

, a £2000 race at

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in January 2007, but failed to win at Graded level, including attempts at the 2007 Cheltenham and

Aintree Aintree is a village and civil parish in the Metropolitan Borough of Sefton, Merseyside, England. Historically in Lancashire, it lies between Walton and Maghull on the A59 road, northeast of Liverpool city centre. In 2011 the parish had a p ...

festivals (although he was placed at the latter).

As a steeplechaser

As predicted by the Racing Post, it was as a chaser that his career really took off. He was victorious in his first two chases, both at Cheltenham in late 2007, and he won again in the

Paddy Power Gold Cup The Paddy Power Gold Cup is a Premier Handicap National Hunt racing, National Hunt Steeplechase (horse racing), chase in Great Britain which is open to Horse racing, horses aged four years or old ...

at Cheltenham in November 2008, when he was ridden by Paddy Brennan for the first time. Returning to the Cheltenham Festival in 2009, he won the Ryanair Chase by 2 lengths from Voy Por Ustedes at

odds In probability theory, odds provide a measure of the probability of a particular outcome. Odds are commonly used in gambling and statistics. For example for an event that is 40% probable, one could say that the odds are or When gambling, o ...

of 6/1. The following season he met former Cheltenham Gold Cup champion, Kauto Star, in the 2009 Betfair Chase at Haydock, and was beaten by a mere nose. He was less successful in that season's

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where he was below par, trailing in a 64 length 5th to the same horse, after nearly unseating Brennan at the second fence. At Cheltenham the following March, he got his revenge. Again ridden by Paddy Brennan, Imperial Commander won the 2010 Cheltenham Gold Cup, beating favourites and previous champions

Kauto Star Kauto Star (19 March 2000 – 29 June 2015) was a France, French-bred National Hunt racing, National Hunt champion thoroughbred racehorse trained by Paul Nicholls (horse racing), Paul Nicholls in Somerset and owned by Clive Smith. He was known ...

and Denman. Defending his title in 2011, he hit the fourth-last fence and was soon pulled up. He was found to be

lame LAME is a software encoder that converts digital audio into the MP3 audio coding format. LAME is a free software project that was first released in 1998 and has incorporated many improvements since then, including an improved psychoacoustic ...

, and was not seen again on a racecourse for nearly two years. A comeback second in the 2013 Argento Chase at Cheltenham showed he was 'set to remain competitive in top company' and a tilt at the

Grand National The Grand National is a National Hunt horse race held annually at Aintree Racecourse in Aintree, Merseyside, England. First run in 1839, it ...

was mooted. Thus, as a 12-year-old, Imperial Commander ran in the 2013 Grand National as the top weight, ridden by his trainer's son, Sam Twiston-Davies. He went well for a circuit but dropped away quickly soon after and was pulled up.

Pedigree

References

External links

Career 1-2-3 Colour Chart
– ''Imperial Commander'' {{Cheltenham Gold Cup winners 2001 racehorse births Cheltenham Festival winners Cheltenham Gold Cup winners Racehorses bred in Ireland Racehorses trained in the United Kingdom Thoroughbred family 2-a 2017 racehorse deaths