If this is the end for Don Cossack - either literally or if injury compromises future efforts - then supporters can at least be thankful that he had five almost uninterrupted seasons, through the course of which he rose to the pinnacle. Not many manage that.

My own belief is that we still hadn't really fathomed the depths of his ability; nothing had really given him much of a race over the past two seasons other than in the much discussed Ryanair and the inconclusive King George. As a true staying chaser, his runs last year at Punchestown and last month at Cheltenham were stupendous. It wouldn't be stretching a point to say he'd become as good a stayer as we've seen this century..

The regrets will be that we almost certainly won't see a meaningful decider with Cue Card and neither will The Don get the chance to repel the Mullins chosen contenders for next season's Gold Cup, nor perhaps Thistlecrack.

The vibes seem a little contradictory - Elliott said he hoped to see him later next season in one quote but O'Leary's comments imply that at least a season on the sidelines beckons. We'll probably hear shortly if next season is remotely achievable.

Your nominations, premier?

He's certainly put the best 2 performances of a staying chaser in the last 5 years and in the last 25 years there's only Kauto's `09 KG thats rated 5-6 pounds higher but if he had been around in that time KS wouldn't had won any GCs because Don would've simply outstayed him. Its a shame he doesn't receives the recognition he deserves from general public.

There's always a question mark with tendon injuries regardless how small they are at first but I tend to look positively and think that by next season GC he'll be back, already with a prep run in January or early February. Come to think about it, if his connections hadn't been so protective and sent him to Aintree like last year this might've never happened who knows. Also his trainer saying no chance going for the KG makes me think if he does indeed comes back we woulnd't have missed anything in the first part of the season anyway because he would win mickey mouse races in Ireland so hopefully he fully recovers and gets back his form by next years GC.

I'd like to see Don Cossack attempting another CGC but my head says very unlikely as horses seldom reproduce their best form post a tendon injury especially jumpers for obvious reasons. What a shame for the horse - so much potential after rotten luck last year - and all concerned. Maybe we ought to consider ourselves lucky to witness DC comprehensive win in the CGC.

last year Aintree romp and this year's Gold Cup

correct, the Melling Chase is a speedster's race but Don is in fact a stayer and I said he put the best performances of 'a staying chaser' because I wouldn't want to start comparing him to SS or MM.

The official ratings are a joke. Just in the Melling Chase, he had 1, 2, no.. 3, wait 4, no actually SIX horses with ratings ~160, beating them from 26 to 70 lengths and yet the official mark only got as high as 171 ! In every serious handicappers book that was easily an 180+ performance and it took them another 5-6 races to correct themselves and even now 177 doesn't do him justice. The official ratings are only worth as much as the individual capacity of the handicapper that assigns those ratings and they often get it wrong. They gave Cue Card an 172 rating for beating a completely out of form Silviniaco Conti by 7 lengths then raised him to 176 for beating a out of novice horse in Vautour for a head beating. Vautour who's best efforts in open company are beating Ptit Zig by 2 and Valso Lido by 6 lengths. If thats a measure of a 176 horse then Cossack should be 190+ by those same standards. But no, because Cossack wasn't surrounded by hype they're treating him very conservatively...

Master Oats? Oh dear.

Backing up your point about Aintree, the RP just couldn't accept the evidence of the race, nor could the official handicapper. An RP rating of 181 meant that, firstly, the other six horses in the race ran 5,6,10,20,18 and 37 pounds below form, secondly that the winning distance of 26 lengths was reduced to 23 (on the pound per length basis they always operate on) and, finally, they made no allowance at all for the fact that Don Cossack was heavily eased on the run-in, while the second and third were ding dong all the way to the line. That performance was as good as any we've seen in recent times and, yes, had a Vautour or Douvan produced it, Arkle talk would have abounded.

Having ridden him at Aintree AP McCoy had no doubts as to his quality and was adamant he would win the Gold Cup.

Similarly, Don Cossack has twice put Djakadam away with ease, which no other horse has done, excepting when the latter was clearly under par (5 lengths ahead of Dynaste). Three absolutely top performances, backed up by plenty of dismissals of the second division.

Similarly, Don Cossack has twice put Djakadam away with ease, which no other horse has done, excepting when the latter was clearly under par (5 lengths ahead of Dynaste). Three absolutely top performances, backed up by plenty of dismissals of the second division.


That performance in The Melling was staggering but given everything else the horse has done it doesn't seem unreasonable to conclude that his competitors did run below form. As for Djakadam's performance at Aintree he paid the price for trying to win the race as to some extent did Don Poli. Three out they were 15-20 lengths clear of the stragglers including Dynaste. The bottom line is that Cue Card destroyed them all and Brennan was rubbing the horses ears up the run in.

Don Cossack has been a tremendous performer and at his best outstanding but he was no Kauto and arguably Denman. In my view of course.

Yes but today on ATR Gordon Elliott said he'll do easy canters as soon as October and if all goes well they'll attempt GC. We'll see but like I said I retain all hope even though it could be career ending in most cases.

@EO Kauto is also no Cossack who's developed into a outstanding stayer in these last few years, quite 2 different horses but in terms of ability over 3m+ I know who I'd have my money on.

I see what you've done there but Kauto only once in his career put a performance ~8 pounds better than Don and that was in the 2009 KG. The rest they have basically ran to the same ratings and beyond 3 miles there's only one winner in my mind and that is categorically The Don.

not much, just that they'll know more in October how he's going with the recovery and if they're pleased then its go ahead for the GC.

@EO, I hope you're not confusing the official mark(attached to the horse) to the performance individual race ratings. I remember Matt Champan also had a hard time understanding the difference and BHA's Paul Smith was the one doing the explanation :)

In any case I already argued the major flaw of the official rating for Don Cossack which is simple and can be seen on how long it took them(5-6 races) to get near his real current rating, even though Don put up couple of 180+ performances along the way starting with Aintree last season.

He did get beat that's true. Don has been an admirably consistent horse but you do have to question what he's beating. There's no Denman, Imperial Commander etc and the form of the Gold Cup is looking a bit leaky. That was a golden age. At a push this may be a bronze one. Shame we didn't get to see him and Coneygree going at it but then maybe the ground would have been more in favour of Don and he could have won anyway.

I don't remember Imperial Commander being a world beater, certainly not in the class of Cue Card for instance. Denman was a bit of a freak but it only lasted up to his injury when he beat the crap out  of KS, after which it took him another full season to come back somewhat to his best to win the Hennessy under top weight, which again took something out of him and never regained his pre-injury form.

On his day Imperial Commander was very special. He just wasn't that consistent. Cue Card has been admirably good but the Gold Cup form has taken a dig following Aintree and now Punchestown.

According to Michael O'Leary in today's Times, Don Cossack is unlikely to race again.

cyclops • April 29, 2016 9:53 AM BST
Depends how you interpret it.
Carlingford Lough and Irish Cavalier could be viewed as underpinning it.....absolutely.///After Cheltenham they are knackered imo you cant trust Punchy form.

Don't think anyone's said that wellchief.

did you just compared Kauto with Jesus ? I think you're proving my point reg. his fans who think he was unbeatable, he wasn't, he got beat lots of times and Denman at his best kicked his ass... Happy Easter!

It's a long time til jumping takes centre stage again so I thought I'd check out whether my assertion that Don Cossack was as good a stayer as we've seen this century stood up.

There have been 40 performances this century that have been rated 175 and more by the Racing Post (I've included the Betfair Chase when it was only 2m7f and the odd other one just short of 24f). It's possible I've missed the odd one.


191   Kauto Star
185   Kauto Star
184   Kauto Star, Denman
183   Denman (Twice)
182   Kauto Star, Don Cossack, Imperial Commander
181   Kauto Star, Don Cossack, Long Run (3 times)
180   Kauto Star, Denman, Don Cossack, Cue Card (3 times), Long Run
179   Bob's Worth
178   Kauto Star, Denman, Don Cossack (Twice), Cue Card, Best Mate, Coneygree, First Gold
177   Imperial Commander, Kicking King (3 times)
176   Kauto Star, Denman, Cue Card, Best Mate
175   Kauto Star, Coneygree

So the only horses to appear more than twice are:

Kauto Star       9
Don Cossack      5
Cue Card         5
Denman           5
Long Run         3
Kicking King     3 

So I think Don Cossack has very much earned his place at the top table.