Diamond display in Hennessy The well-backed Diamond Harry (6-1) won the Hennessy Gold Cup at Newbury this afternoon, with Denman (4-1 favourite) finishing a gallant third. The two-time winner lost nothing in defeat trying to give almost two stone to the winner, who travelled supremely well throughout the contest under Daryl Jacob. The pair looked to have the race between themselves two out but as Denman tired late on, Barry Geraghty got into overdrive on Burton Port (15-2) who pushed the winner all the way to the line. The Tother One (28-1) stayed on well to snatch fourth. An emotional Jacob said: "I sat on him during the week and I said to Nick I'll never ride a horse like this again. I saw Denman upsides me, but I knew with the weight difference I always had him. But Denman ran a magnificent race and all credit to his team. "These races come around once in a lifetime. I couldn't have asked for a better ride. He jumped, travelled and did everything I wanted him to do. It's a dream to ride a horse like this. "When he came back in this year I said to Nick he looked fabulous. The Gold Cup is a long way off, he was getting a lot of weight and was entitled to win on his hurdles form but we can dream can't we. Nick was very confident today." The success was one of the most high-profile victories to date for the horse's handler Nick Williams and the trainer said: "That was fantastic and we're thrilled. It's outstanding, it's one of the big handicaps of the season. "We knew he would love the track and thought he had as good a chance as any. Coming into the straight I could see that Daryl hadn't moved and he looked confident all the way through the race. I would have been astounded if anything had got past him from three out. "He's not an obvious Cheltenham horse but we are going to have to look at the Gold Cup. We were going to run in the Lexus at Leopardstown over Christmas if maybe he had been placed here. That's not out of the equation yet, otherwise he will probably run at the Cheltenham meeting in January." Sky Bet cut Diamond Harry to 12-1 from 25's for the Cheltenham Gold Cup, with Burton Port now 16's from 20-1.
