at the penultimate fence when looking the likely winner and E.S.B was still going well when falling at the last. Mont Tremblant was left with a clear advantage and drew away up the run-in to win by ten lengths from Shaef, with the 66/1 outsider Galloway Braes four lengths back in third. Mon Tremblant continued to show top-class form in the early part of the following season when Dick Francis replaced the injured David Dick. He won at Kempton, took the Stanley Chase at Sandown Park and then finished second to Halloween in the King George VI Chase at Kempton in December. Francis said that "Mont Tremblant was a dream of a horse to ride, for he was a very deliberate jumper and had a long, graceful stride". On a cold, misty day in March he faced eleven opponents as he attempted to repeat his 1952 success in the Cheltenham Gold Cup. When the horses emerged from the fog approaching the third last he was disputing the lead with Galloway Braes and E.S.B. but was unable to make further progress and faded in the closing stages to finish fourth behind Knock Hard, Halloween and Galloway Braes. Later that month Mont Tremblant started at odds of 18/1 for the 1953 Grand National in which he carried top weight of 153 pounds and finished second, twenty lengths behind the Vincent O'Brien-trained Early Mist. Mon Tremblant remained in training for several years and finished fourth in the 1953 Gold Cup but suffered recurrent injury problems and never won again at the highest level. Assessment and honours In their book, A Century of Champions, based on the Timeform rating system, John Randall and Tony Morris rated Mont Tremblant an "average" Gold Cup winner. In 2002 Randall rated his performance in the 1953 Grand National as the sixth-best in the race since World War II. Pedigree External links British Pathe coverage of 1952 Gold Cup References 1946 racehorse births Racehorses bred in France Racehorses trained in the United Kingdom Thoroughbred family 3-f Byerley Turk sire line Cheltenham Gold Cup winners Cheltenham Festival winners National Hunt racehorses