'He was an aeroplane - I felt like I was in second gear the whole way'

Twenty years ago Kauto Star, a five-year-old who had been beaten at odds of 2-11 on his second start for Paul Nicholls, exploded into the big time by landing the Tingle Creek Chase. It was his first step on the road to greatness.

Nobody could have predicted what Kauto Star would go on to achieve after he landed the 2005 Tingle Creek Chase by a length and a half from Ashley Brook.

Mick Fitzgerald, who rode Kauto Star for the one and only time that day, had a better idea than most.

“He felt like an aeroplane,” Fitzgerald recalled, excitement evident in his voice. “He went round so easily. He felt like a proper horse; a machine.”

Read more on the brilliant Kauto Star:

• Kauto Star: the extraordinary talent who became the benchmark for sheer undiluted quality 

• Kauto Star: 'He's the best I've trained without a shadow of a doubt' 

• Friends, rivals and all-time greats - Denman and Kauto Star give us one of the sport's most iconic moments 

Kauto Star would have won much more convincingly bar an error at the last. “It felt like he was in second gear all the way,” Fitzgerald said.

“He made a mistake at the last, but he had so much power. I had schooled him beforehand, but didn’t really know what to expect.

“He felt very straightforward, and was a tall horse to ride. He had so much pace that day. I knew he was a very good horse, but never believed he would go on to win two Gold Cups and five King Georges.

“His Sandown win was part of a great few weeks for me. I’d just come back and ridden a winner for Nicky [Henderson], then I won the Hennessy on Trabolgan and the Tingle Creek on Kauto Star.”

Kauto Star: won two Tingle Creeks during outstanding careerCredit: Edward Whitaker (racingpost.com/photos)

Nicholls, who had prepared Kauto Star for Sandown on the back of a four-length defeat by Monkerhostin in the Haldon Gold Cup, recalled: “He had been off a while and needed the run at Exeter.

“He'd won impressively on his first start for me at Newbury the previous season, but what he did in the Tingle Creek was the first sign that he could be a really smart horse.

“He’d come back from an injury and I knew he’d improve for the Haldon Gold Cup, but it was a tremendous run at Sandown and we decided to go straight for the Champion Chase afterwards in which he fell.”

Kauto Star went on to become one of the all-time chasing greats, his battles with stablemate Denman the stuff of legend and his record five King Georges making him almost as synonymous with Christmas as the old man with a white beard.

His Tingle Creek victory was the start of something truly special and, for almost seven more years, until his retirement in October 2012, he captured our hearts.

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