NAUNTON-based trainer Nigel Twiston-Davies added to his illustrious list of triumphs in 2010 as his son Sam rode home the winner in the Paddy Power Gold Cup Chase.

Sam, riding Little Josh, led from start to finish in the prestigious National Hunt race at Cheltenham, winning by two-and-three-quarter lengths.

This victory added to father Nigel’s successes this year which included winning the Cheltenham Gold Cup with Imperial Commander in April.

The 53-year-old, who runs Grange Hill Farm and began training in 1981, watched his 18-year-old son Sam, a student at The Cotswold School, beat odds-on favourite Long Run, on his 20-1 shot.

Nigel said: “He was superb, I’m so proud of him.

“It was great, I’m chuffed to bits, the lad did good! Sam showed a lot of maturity in the race.”

The Nigel-Twiston Davies-trained Gold Cup winner Imperial Commander begins his 2010-11 campaign in Saturday’s Betfair Chase at Haydock where he will be ridden by the stable’s number one jockey Paddy Brennan.

Nigel Twiston-Davies added: “Imperial Commander has a very, very good chance of success in this race.”

Sam joins a prestigious list of past winners of the Gold Cup Chase, including AP McCoy and Richard Dunwoody. It is also the third time Nigel has won the race as a trainer.

The victory also adds to a breakthrough year for the teenage rider, who finished fifth in this year’s Grand National on Hello Bud.

Sam, who now has 38 winners to his name in his first year as a conditional (junior) professional jockey, said: “He was class, he did everything spot-on.”

The Paddy Power Gold Cup is open to horses aged four years and older. It is run on the old course at Cheltenham over a distance of two miles with 15 fences to jump.

Little Josh’s success marked a double for two Cotswolds stables. Just 10 miles from the Twiston-Davies site is Alan and Anna Varey’s Batsford Stud, Pasternak, the sire of Little Josh. Pasternak, who joined Batsford Stud, was trained by Sir Mark Prescott and is the son of Soviet Star out of Princess Pati, winner of the Irish Oaks and a half-sister to Seymour Hicks, sire of See More Business, who himself won the Cheltenham Gold Cup in 1999.

Alan Varey said: “It was a great week for us at Cheltenham. “We always knew that Little Josh was probably the best Pasternak has produced so far and hopefully he will get a decent book of mares for the 2011 season.”