PHILIP HOBBS never considered himself good enough as a jockey to ride in the Hennessy Gold Cup but he certainly knows how to train the winner of the Newbury showpiece.

While all the ante-post hype surrounded fellow Somerset trainers Paul Nicholls and Martin Pipe, Hobbs was quietly preparing What's Up Boys at his Minehead base to land a 14-1 shock in one of the most pulsating finishes this £100,000 race has ever seen.

Halfway up the run-in, What's Up Boys was not in the picture. Behrajan and Pipe's Take Control were deciding the outcome between them until Paul Flynn galvanised an amazing effort from the Hobbs grey and the final 100 yards saw the Boys sorted from the men.

What's Up Boys is a horse who saves his best for the big occasion and his neck triumph follows victories at prestigious Festival meetings like Cheltenham, Punchestown and Aintree.

The Hobbs' yard has been in good form during the autumn yet What's Up Boys' build-up had been far from perfect. The seven-year-old had not run since being beaten by Ad Hoc in the Whitbread last spring, a chest muscle injury ruining hopes of giving him a sharpener for Newbury.

Although the Supreme Leader gelding is entered for the King George VI Chase on Boxing Day Hobbs is almost certain to send him to the Coral Welsh National, a race that will give him every opportunity to display his stamina again. He is 4-1 for the Chepstow highlight on December 27.