It wasn’t immediate, but slowly and now surely Galopin Des Champs has been clasped to jump racing’s bosom after sweeping to a Paddy Power Irish Gold Cup hat-trick at Leopardstown on Saturday.
The odds-on favourite put up a dominant display from the front that conjured remarkable post-race celebrations that echoed those given to previous ‘people’s champions’ such as Danoli, Istabraq and Hurricane Fly.
The blissfully unaware centre of attention returned to a winners’ enclosure surrounded by eager fans delivering ‘Ole-Ole-Ole’ chants and generally behaving with a level of giddiness usually accompanying love’s first bloom.
Galopin Des Champs’ previous Leopardstown victory at Christmas had prompted a definite suggestion of romance with the racing public; now there’s no doubt it’s the full-hearted real thing.
Leopardstown crowd show their love as Galopin Des Champs completes Irish Gold Cup hat-trick
Galopin Des Champs has pride of place in massive Willie Mullins squad as he pursues Irish Gold Cup hat-trick
Paul Townend opts for hat-trick seeking State Man over Lossiemouth in Irish Champion Hurdle
Gavin Cromwell aiming to breach Mullins domination with Grade One success at Dublin Racing Festival
“He’s very, very special horse and he got a very special reception,” jockey Paul Townend grinned. “We have to enjoy him because horses like this are very rare.”
Just how rare could get underlined at Cheltenham next month and Galopin is a 4-6 favourite to become just the fifth horse to win the Gold Cup there for a third time.
The quartet of Golden Miller, Cottage Rake, Best Mate, and the peerless Arkle represent as exclusive a section of elite talent as the sport can boast. Perhaps the best compliment to steeplechasing’s current top star is that his name should fit right in if he manages it.
Willie Mullins conceded Galopin Des Champs must now rank as the best chaser he’s trained, maybe even superior to the outstanding hurdler Hurricane Fly overall.
Saturday’s victory was Mullins’s 14th in the 4250,000 highlight of the Dublin Racing Festival’s first day.
The first of them, Florida Pearl, went on to win the race then known as the Hennessy on four occasions overall. Other horses Beef Or Salmon and Jodami also won it three times.
But to watch Galopin Des Champs on Saturday was to watch a singular talent in his pomp. Once again, he briefly looked like he might be vulnerable running to the final fence. Once more, after it, he shot clear.
“Awesome,” said Mullins who missed seeing the final fence as most of the Leopardstown stands rose to acclaim the winner. “He just jumped and galloped for three miles. There’s no end to him. He’s just a real champion.”
That new level of public acclaim had hit Townend much earlier.
“Never before has it happened me – I jumped the last ditch [third last] and I could just feel and hear a roar from the stands that far away. I’ve ridden around here a lot and never experienced that,” the rider said. “Imagine if they got to feel what I was feeling!”
Such was the depth of the feelgood factor around Leopardstown that Mullins even wondered why the big chase was on Saturday rather than tomorrow. Three-mile chasers are the ultimate aim in the sport he argued, deserving the plum spot. In the circumstances it was hard to argue his point.
In a sport where profile and popular attention is often prematurely earned on the back of hype and reputation, it’s reassuring to see how the game’s latest paragon has ultimately earned his place in hearts through accomplishment.
This was an 11th Grade victory. He extended his unbeaten streak over fences at Leopardstown to seven. Once again, he did what its supposed to say on the tin when it comes to staying chasers by galloping and jumping to a level rarely seen before.
“He goes out and takes it from the front and grabs races by the scruff of the neck and he battles off everyone,” said Mullins who saddled a big-race 1-2-3 as Grangeclare West battled back past Fact To File for third. The latter could now be aimed at the Ryanair rather than the Gold Cup.
Fact To File began the campaign billed as Galopin Des Champs’ successor only to run into an apparently unstoppable force. Whether Majborough will ultimately be one to move the champion aside remains to be seen but he’s a horse full of promise after landing Saturday’s Arkle.
On just his second start over fences he was ‘guessy’ at a couple of fences only to ultimately win in style and set himself up for an Arkle clash at Cheltenham with the top English horse Sir Gino.
Labelled a “monster” by jockey Mark Walsh, Majborough followed up the first of Mullins’s three Grade One success on the card where Final Demand also impressed in the opening novice hurdle.
“He [Majborough] has always been a standout, for me, of his generation. We had Fact To File the year before, this fellah this year, and now Final Demand is now the younger generation coming on. They are nice horses to have,” the trainer said.
However, there will be no repeat this year of Mullins’s 2024 clean sweep of the DRF’s eight Grade One races. Gavin Cromwell made sure of that after Hello Neighbour kept his own unbeaten record in the Gannon’s Juvenile Hurdle.
Despite ranking among Irish jump racing’s ‘big four’ trainers it had been over four years since Cromwell had won a Grade One in this country. But he put that right with a vengeance with Hello Neighbour who now tops Ireland’s Triumph Hurdle team for Cheltenham.
Keith Donoghue boiled his long frame down to 11st and the effort was rewarded as Hello Neighbour cruised through at the last and subsequently held off Galileo Dame by three-parts of a length. It was a third career Grade victory for the jockey.
The Mullins favourite Sainte Lucie raced far too rank through the race and had nothing left after the second-last flight. She struggled home in last.
Flooring Porter at Christmas 2020 was Cromwell’s previous Grade One winner in Ireland and the Co Meath trainer, third in this season’s trainers' table, commented: “I’m just thrilled to win a Grade One. I haven’t won a Grade One in Ireland for over four years, that’s just the nature of how competitive it is here.
“I’ve had winners at Cheltenham but it’s just so hard to win a Grade One here, Willie has such a dominance on it – Willie and Gordon [Elliott] – but it’s fantastic.”
A mouthwatering clash with the top English juveniles Lulamba and East India Dock awaits in the Triumph and Cromwell commented: “He ticks all the boxes. He has the pedigree, he jumps well, he has the mind for it now, with the hood on today just to help him along. He’s not just a speed horse, he’ll stay very well.”
Perceval Legallois brought up the Cromwell double as he repeated his 2023 victory in the Listed handicap hurdle. The JP McManus runner carried his Paddy Power Chase winning form back to flights with success under Walsh.
“You wouldn’t think he was after running over fences,” Cromwell noted. “He was very nimble over hurdles. I thought coming here he’s a better chaser than he is a hurdler, but he was good there. He’s in the Grand National so we’ll have to consider it.”
The handicap chase went to Paul Nolan’s An Peann Dearg who proved seven lengths too good for Cromwell’s My Mate Mozzie.
An official attendance of 18,297 were at day one, just shy of the 18,500 capacity put on an all-ticket event. Despite that, some tickets were purchased at the gates by people arriving at the track. Track management said just over 100 of those were sold.
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