Meetmebythesea gives JP McManus his first Paddy Power Gold Cup win

Meetmebythesea won the Paddy Power Gold Cup at Cheltenham on Saturday with Harry Cobden aboard, delivering owner JP McManus his first victory in the race.

The six-year-old, trained by Ben Pauling, drew away up the hill after matching strides with Blueking D'Oroux over the final fence, winning by two and a half lengths. Cobden raised his fists as the 2-1 favourite crossed the line.

The jockey had another reason to celebrate. Meetmebythesea's victory was Cobden's second big win in the McManus colours in two days, following Jonbon's Shloer Chase victory at Cheltenham on Friday.

"To ride a horse like this in a race like that, you just have to pinch yourself to be in this position," Cobden told ITV Sport.

Cobden, 28, took up the role of McManus's retained jockey in Britain and Ireland in May, having been champion jump jockey in 2023-24. He said the result was wonderful for McManus, whose contribution to racing was so great, and that he felt lucky to be involved.

"These big days don't come along very often and I'm going to enjoy every single one of them from now on," Cobden said.

The race marked Meetmebythesea's return after his novice victory at the Cheltenham Festival in March. Pauling said his horse jumped brilliantly and "showed a bit of guts there to win well."

"He needed to do that today. I think he showed a lot more than we have seen from him so far, but he's just really good," Pauling said.

"You don't know what you have got under the bonnet until you compete in races like that, but that was really cool," Pauling said.

Five non-runners, among them the highly fancied July Flower, reduced the field to 10 horses, BBC Sport reported. Blueking D'Oroux started at 10-3 on his first outing for champion trainer Dan Skelton.

Torneo, a 12-1 chance, took third place, another two and three-quarter lengths behind Blueking D'Oroux.

"We went a strong gallop and we were beaten fair and square on the day, but we'll be back," Harry Skelton, the runner-up's jockey, said, according to the Racing Post.

Pauling was asked whether Meetmebythesea could develop into a Cheltenham Gold Cup horse. "I don't know what I see him as," he said. BBC Sport said he stopped short of promoting the horse's prospects of running in the Gold Cup at the festival in March.

Coral shortened Meetmebythesea's odds for next month's King George VI Chase at Kempton to 10-1 from 25, according to the Racing Post.