Andrew Nelis racing

It is 10 years ago this week that veteran Church Island created a 20-1 surprise in the Bet365 Gold Cup at Sandown as the curtain came down on the National Hunt season. The Michael Hourigan-trained gelding stayed best of the 19 runners off a searing early pace to triumph for the County Limerick handler and Adrian Heskin, who was a young 7lb claimer at the time. Heskin had turned 18 a couple of days earlier and was not much older than his mount in the big race, who was by then an 11-year-old. While Tony McCoy was crowned champion jockey for the 15th time that afternoon, Heskin had only ridden his first winner the previous year. It was another great result for Hourigan and Heskin, who had teamed up to great effect at the Cheltenham Festival with A New Story. Piraya set a very quick tempo in front early on and Heskin chose to take a prominent position, settling in second as the gallop started to sort the men from the boys. As Piraya just started to toil, Heskin seized the initia...