West Country dairy farmer Paul Barber is part way to realising a 25-year dream after See More Business landed the King George VI Chase at Kempton yesterday. His substantial investment in his passion for National Hunt racing and point-to-pointing earned its greatest reward when the horse he shares with John Keighley took the £100,000 event.
He has now targeted a coveted Cheltenham Gold Cup triumph following See More Business's two-length defeat of Challenger du Luc.
Barber owns 10 horses in partnership, has five others in his own name and regards racing as merely a hobby.
And he marked victory by condemning dominant Flat racing owner Sheikh Mohammed for threatening to withdraw from the sport in Britain unless prize money improved.
See More Business triumphed under stand-in jockey Andrew Thornton while his regular rider Timmy Murphy sat out the remainder of a 20-day suspension at home. The 10-1 chance saw off the half-hearted Challenger du Luc by two lengths with Rough Quest 10 lengths third to return an unlikely finishing order to the St Stephen's Day highlight.
Hennessy winner Suny Bay was another 15 lengths further back in fourth, with hat-trick seeking One Man a distance behind him in fifth and Barton Bank last of the six finishers.
One Man walked across the line, stopping abruptly after being a length off the lead with two to jump. A disconsolate Gordon Richards said: "He is a good horse, but that was the worst race he has run."
See More Business had been a far-from-certain runner. But trainer Paul Nicholls gave the goahead after passing the ground soft enough to take part.
Approaching the last, Challenger du Luc had looked a menacing presence, but once again the Martin Pipe runner found nothing under pressure as See More Business powered away.
Bookmakers reacted by cutting See More Business to 12-1 for the Cheltenham Gold Cup with all the major firms bar Coral, who shortened him to 7-1 second favourite behind 9-2 Dorans Pride.
Nicholls, who in six years training has emerged this year to win the Scottish National and now the King George, has not mapped out a programme from here.
"He's won today, so let's live on that for a bit. If there is a nice race between now and Cheltenham, we'll think about it. But if the ground is soft at the Festival, I can't wait to see him come up the hill.
"But don't forget Timmy, he was harshly treated by the stewards. He's had a lot to do with the success of this horse. He won the Rehearsal Chase on him, came and schooled him this week and could ride him at Cheltenham."
