SIMPLY THE BEST
Gold Cup hero Galopin Des Champs proves he’s on a different level to his peers – as is his trainer
IN HIS moment of Gold Cup triumph yesterday, Willie Mullins thought of his parents, who shaped his journey to the summit of National Hunt racing.
It is a month since the passing of his mother, Maureen, a driving force for the life and times of Mullins and his siblings.
The remarkable nonagenarian was remembered on Monday with the National Hunt Chase run in her honour – it was one of the few targets that ‘WPM’ missed in a week of wonder.
‘My mother would have loved this. I’d love to have her and my father here, not just today but the whole week. It’s not to be,’ he said wistfully amid the post-race tumult.
If a fourth Gold Cup, and a second for Galopin Des Champs, was the apex of the week for many, Mullins took immense professional satisfaction on chalking up a century of Festival winners.
‘There’ll be very few people reach 100, whereas there’s a Gold Cup every year. But I never aspired to have 100 winners, I never dreamt it, you don’t do that.
‘You hope you have a Gold Cup winner. I thought I wouldn’t ever have one but to be here a few years later with four and this man beside me.’
The ‘man’ was Paul Townend, who joined Pat Taaffe on the role of honour as the jockey with the most Gold Cup wins, four.
Three of Taaffe’s victories were achieved on the legendary Arkle, a feat repeated by Best Mate 20 years ago. That’s the potential company for Galopin Des Champs now.
‘Arkle, Best Mate that has to be the only conversation at the moment,’ acknowledged Mullins.
The prospects of Galopin Des Champs joining the immortals look positive, on a number of fronts. First, he’s clearly the number one jumps horse of his generation, master of all he surveys and with scope for improvement.
Second, at eight years of age, he was the same age or younger than all of his rivals yesterday bar one, Nassalam.
While officially eight since New Year’s Day, Galopin Des Champs was foaled on May 12, so he’s actually younger than Fastorslow.
Third, he’s trained by the genius that is ‘WPM’, for whom anything is possible.
Of the next wave of chasers, Mullins has the No 1 contender for 2025, Fact To File, and possibly for 2026, Ballyburn and Majborough, all three impressive Festival winners this week.
‘We know from bitter experience trying to bring three-mile chasers back to the track every year is very, very tough,’ he said.
‘It’s a tough game, and I’d nearly say it’s all about losing and knowing how to lose and take it.
‘But it would be great to get him back. If he doesn’t come back we have A, B and C behind him.’
Across the jumps scene, there is no stand-out opponent who can go toe to toe with Galopin Des Champs on level weights and take him out – not yet anyway.
A further plus is the champ’s liking for Cheltenham where he has raced at four successive Festivals.
He has three wins on his CV, which should be four but for a stumble after the last fence in the Turner’s Chase in 2022 which gifted the race to Bob Olinger.
As Galopin Des Champs thrives on racing, racegoers can expect to see him pop at Punchestown, Leopardstown and Cheltenham on the big days.
‘He’s run more times than most Gold Cup winners in a season. I’m a believer if you’ve a good sound horse, and there’s good prize money, you have to race for it, and let the public see good horses,’ said Mullins. ‘He took the runs well. It’s better if you come with race fitness than hope.’
Since the start of the 2021 season, Galopin has raced 12 times, an average of four runs a season. Should he run in the Punchestown Gold Cup on May 1, it will be his fifth run of this campaign.
In comparison, Best Mate ran just seven times from the time of his first Gold Cup success in 2002 until his third in 2004.
How does Al Boum Photo, winner for Mullins in 2019 and 2020, compare to Galopin?
‘Al Boum Photo was a different type of horse. A pure galloper who stayed all day. This fellow has a touch of class. He can gallop but can pull out a bit of class for those who can stay with him.’
Across 22 fences and three and a quarter miles yesterday, that class was on full view, and his courage too.
After a searing gallop, turning for home the contenders were reduced to L’Homme Presse, Gerri Colombe and the 10/11 favourite.
The fancied Fastorslow, riderless after unseating JJ Slevin, was alongside and threatening to be a nuisance.
Thundering to the final fence, Townend needed Galopin Des Champs to be brave, and he was.
‘I was afraid we didn’t have enough to go for it, but it was a Gold Cup and we had to. He just
He needed Galopin Des Champs to be brave... he was
pulled out all the stops again. He was all heart,’ said the jockey.
The jump sealed the deal. L’Homme Presse was bunched and Gerri Colombe could give no more. At the post, there was three and a half lengths between him and the winner.
The Gold Cup, a race Mullins feared at one point he might never win, was on its way back to Closutton for the fourth time since 2019.
It was his ninth winner of the week, the third of a fabulous Friday, and his gut feeling that all would be well had come to pass.
‘The other morning in the office at home I said: “Is it me or has everything gone eerily well?”
‘The horses at home that were running, the sort of B team, were winning and we thought our Cheltenham team was just in tip-top order and it proved to be.
‘They’ve just come over here and run out of their skin.’