Mayweather, bruised and cut, his peerless stamina tested like rarely before, found some extra gears in the final rounds, sniping on the retreat against a fighter whose only two defeats have arrived in the home stretch: the first fight against Antonio Margarito and against Pacquiao, when weight-drained at catchweight.
Jure Robic, a long-distance bicyclist who won the grueling Race Across America five times and whose seemingly endless, sleep-eschewing stamina tested the limits of human endurance, died during a training ride on Friday when he collided with a car on a mountain road in Plavski Rovt, Slovenia, near his home in Jesenice.
(It's a stamina test, and Biba Bell is a standout for her focus and clarity).
Even on soft ground, the perfectly flat Haydock cannot match the stamina test posed by the undulating Cheltenham.
Had his excuses when going off the boil last season but this horse has improved throughout this year on the Flat, thriving when faced with stiffer stamina tests, and he is ready to repeat that progressive form back over hurdles.
Mountainous was quite well fancied for last week's stamina test at Chepstow but Russe Blanc's victory here appeared to come as rather more of a pleasant surprise, as odds of 20-1 would suggest.
Front-running has been the making of Cue Card, who disappointed when held up in last season's King George VI Chase, forfeiting ground through early mistakes then, while he clearly requires more of a stamina test as he matures.
This will be a proper stamina test, too, on altered ground and with Golden Horn's stablemate, Dick Doughtywylie, supplemented to ensure a strong gallop, although a minor plus is the use of the inner extension of the home bend because of the change in the ground, which means a shortening of the course by 42 yards.
Aubusson, who, under Kelly, failed by a nose to beat his stablemate to the punch in an Auteuil Grade One hurdle in November, has since promised better still over fences with a Uttoxeter romp and, although today's extended two and a half miles would normally be on the sharp side for him, the rain-drenched ground, described as heavy, will be deep enough to make this a sufficient stamina test.
Three-mile stamina test where trainer Paul Nicholls saddles leading contenders Zarkandar and Saphir Du Rheu.
Perhaps Cecil knew this was to be his last, and greatest, partnership and he carefully nurtured the colt, resisting the temptation of going for the helter-skelter stamina test of the Derby after a whirlwind win in the 2,000 Guineas.
