Jump racing’s highest rated star, Galopin Des Champs, rescued an otherwise frustrating opening day at the Dublin Racing Festival for champion jockey Paul Townend with more Grade One success in Leopardstown in front of a 20,017 crowd.
Fears that a spellbinding Christmas victory at the track might have left its mark on Galopin Des Champs proved unfounded as the Willie Mullins star beat old rival Fastorslow in the Paddy Power Irish Gold Cup.
The 1-3 favourite completed a Willie Mullins clean sweep of Saturday’s four top-flight contests to secure him a Lucky 13th success in the €250,000 feature.
It was an important victory for Townend who’d endured an exasperating afternoon up to then. For once, the privilege of having first pick of Mullins’s overwhelming strength in depth looked rather dubious after Townend got them all wrong.
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Instead, Danny Mullins threatened to turn the DRF into the “Danny Racing Festival.”
The champion trainer’s 31-year-old nephew turned a trio of Townend discards into a superb 534-1 top-flight hat-trick that lit up Leopardstown.
Dancing City was the 16-1 outsider of the field for the opening Nathaniel Lacy Novice Hurdle but proved too strong Townend’s evens favourite Predators Gold.
The champion jockey again had to settle for second in the McCann Fitzgerald Spring Juvenile Hurdle as Storm Heart couldn’t peg back Kargese while Il Etait Temps completed Mullins’s hot streak in a dramatic Ladbrokes Arkle.
With the 4-7 favourite Marine Nationale a bitter disappointment, Il Etait Temps and his in-form rider pounced late to overhaul a gallant Found A Fifty. Townend and Facile Vega were third.
There has been abundant proof over the years however that Townend’s response to adversity is notably impressive, including his superb spin on Galopin Des Champs in last season’s Cheltenham Gold Cup.
The horse is now odds-on with some firms to retain the “Blue Riband” crown next month.
There is growing evidence too that the relatively unremarkable looking eight-year-old with a capacity to produce the exceptional has grabbed the racing public’s imagination.
Given a rapturous reception into the winner’s enclosure, he was also applauded out of it, the horse described by Barry Geraghty on RTÉ as a “superstar” reacting with impressive indifference to the fuss.
It mirrored Townend’s usual low-key instincts which prevailed even in the face of any annoyance from earlier results.
“I was on wrong one a couple of times earlier, but they ran well, and Willie’s horses are flying. There are some good ones to look forward to tomorrow,” he said.
Once again, Galopin Des Champs looked most impressive in the final 200 metres of his race, stretching clear of Fastorslow who’d loomed like a real threat before the last.
Having made the running, the hot-favourite had a slight jink before the final obstacle but once over he quickened away from a rival who’d beaten him in their two previous clashes.
“He was very good today. He had to do it the hard way. He popped out, popped along in front and was there when I asked him. In the end, it turned into a bit of a sprint. He is back to himself,” Townend added.
Mullins, whose team were in supreme form, joked that Townend might have been relieved his nephew hadn’t a ride in the race. But he was notably satisfied with the feature race performance.
“I thought for a minute from the fifth last to the third last that JJ Slevin’s body language was looking very good and he was confident in the horse he was riding (Fastorslow).
“When Paul poured a little bit on and got a great jump at the second last you could see the distress signals coming out and Paul was still happy,” he said.
As for a 13th victory in a race he first won 25 years previously with Florida Pearl, Mullins added: “I thought I’d never have a horse good enough to run in the race, never mind win it different years, But that’s the way the thing has grown and we’re very lucky.”
Il Etait Temps was one of three Grade One wins for Danny Mullins at last year’s DRF and the 31-year-old rider matched that feat in just over an hour.
Since then, Il Etait Temps’ greatest claim to fame was as a bit part in Christmas headlines when his ambitious attempt to get up Gaelic Warrior’s inside at Limerick got Patrick Mullins very upset indeed.
If the response from the champion amateur’s cousin was notably cool in the circumstances, such sangfroid was again stamped all over Danny Mullins’s lucrative Saturday hat-trick.
Renowned as a dangerous rider from the front, Mullins’s plans to lead on both Dancing City and Kargese had to be shelved when there proved to be competition for the early pace.
That wound up helping Kargese whose free running had ruined her chance at Christmas. This time she proved more amenable to her jockey’s instructions and earned herself 8-1 quotes for Cheltenham’s Triumph Hurdle.
Rachael Blackmore and Jetara won the battle for the pace in the Nathaniel Lacy but Dancing City wound up winning the war and earned himself a Cheltenham ticket too.
“A big part of that [success] is riding for the team I am,” Mullins said after Kargesse’s victory. “Plan A was to make the running but that was out the window by the time I got around the first bend. I’d say Willie was watching me coming across the top wondering was the alarm clock going to go off!”
However, the champion trainer has learned to trust his nephew’s judgment when it comes to exploiting enviable spare rides.
“Danny is just on fire today,” he said after Il Etait Temps returned to the winner’s enclosure. “He always just pops up when you least think it.”
That ability previously secured Irish Gold Cup glory on Kemboy three years ago while Tornado Flyer was a memorable King George winner in 2021 when the jockey’s judgment of pace saw the 28-1 outsider pounce late from a seemingly impossible position.
Despite his dominance, any predictions of Mullins going through the card were ended when topweight Maxxum landed the handicap hurdle while the English raider Madara rewarded trainer Sophie Leech’s pluck with victory in the handicap chase.
Another Mullins – Grand National winning trainer, Emmet – picked up the Grade Two bumper with the Paul Byrne owned Jeroboam Machin.
The 12-1 shot powered clear in the final furlong under rider Derek O’Connor and was promoted to favouritism for Cheltenham’s bumper championship by some firms.
It was a first DRF success for Emmet Mullins who bought the horse out of the point to point fields.
“He definitely saves his best for the track. His work wouldn’t inspire you,” the trainer said.
