Article #3639

• Hot favourite shocked by JP McManus’s late entry
• Winner could be put forward for Grand National

As one tilt at racing immortality came up short, another even more elusive achievement suddenly came into sharp focus as ­Inothewayurthinkin, in the famous green and gold colours of JP McManus, powered away from Galopin Des Champs, the defending two-time champion, to win the ­Cheltenham Gold Cup by six lengths.

There are still just four horses with three Gold Cup victories to their name, and there is still just one – Golden Miller, who features on both lists – who has won the Gold Cup and the Grand National in the same season, 91 years ago in 1934. Within a month, though, there could be two, if McManus and Gavin Cromwell, Inothewayurthinkin’s trainer, decide that the seven-year-old has come out of Friday’s race well enough to take his place in the 34-strong field at Aintree on 5 April.