As we finally start to get over the January blues, National Hunt racing enthusiasts only have one thing on their minds: the Cheltenham Festival. The countdown is on to the four-day extravaganza at Prestbury Park, and those who bet on horse racing will notice the markets starting to take shape.
The Gold Cup is the highlight of the Festival, as well as one of the pinnacle events of the jumps racing season, and history could be rewritten on March 14 as Galopin Des Champs sets his sights on landing a historic third-straight win in the feature race.
Aiming to Join Festival Legends
While it’s unlikely the Willie Mullins-trained star will have the endurance or longevity to emulate the legendary Golden Miller’s incredible feat of five successive Gold Cup triumphs in the 1930s, only a handful of horses have ever managed to land three Gold Cups in their respective careers.
Horse | Trainer | Gold Cups |
---|---|---|
Golden Miller | B. Briscoe/O. Anthony | 5 |
Cottage Rake | Vincent O’Brien | 3 |
Arkle | Tom Dreaper | 3 |
Best Mate | Henrietta Knight | 3 |
Vincent O’Brien’s Cottage Rake won three in a row between 1948 and 1950, with the iconic Arkle following suit from 1964 to 1966.
It wasn’t until the start of the new millennium that Best Mate came along with his three-peat and the record hasn’t been matched since.
Interestingly though, Mullins has found himself in a similar situation to where he is this year with another horse ahead of the Cheltenham Festival not that long ago.
Al Boum Photo, the Closutton handler’s first Gold Cup winner, won back-to-back editions in 2019 and 2020 but could fare no better than third a year later and was sixth when trying to reclaim his crown in 2022.
Many would argue that Galopin Des Champs is a better horse than Al Boum Photo, and that is perhaps reflected in the fact that the nine-year-old is heading to Prestbury Park as the odds-on favourite to complete the hat-trick.
Galopin Des Champs Back on Track
The Audrey Turley-owned horse appeared to be dealt a massive blow in the pursuit of history on his seasonal reappearance in November, as his younger stablemate Fact To File beat him comfortably in the John Durkan Memorial Punchestown Chase.
However, Galopin Des Champs made a mammoth statement when reversing the form in commanding fashion at the prestigious Leopardstown Christmas Festival.
The Savills Chase is often a perfect prep for Ireland’s Gold Cup contenders, and the nine-year-old defended his title with ease when streaking seven-and-a-half lengths clear of Fact To File to win impressively.
Some pundits and racing fans alike branded that performance Galopin Des Champs’ best run to date. That’s a big statement, given what he has achieved in his glittering career, but there is certainly an argument that it was.
It was also partly backed up by Mullins, who claimed:
“That was some performance. He put in some fantastic jumps. To win the way he did after giving the other horse a lead the whole way was one of the best performances I’ve ever seen around here.”
Based on that form, it would take something special from one of Galopin Des Champs’ rivals to stop him from winning a third Gold Cup. Then, there’s also the possibility that Fact To File is redirected to the Ryanair Chase, which would almost guarantee history for the nine-year-old.