Cheltenham Festival sees Willie Mullins land 7,069/1 four-timer despite Galopin Des Champs' defeat in Gold Cup

Galopin Des Champs' bid to win a third successive Gold Cup ended in defeat as Inothewayurthinkin won jump racing's greatest prize at the Cheltenham Festival on Friday.

Willie Mullins landed a 7,069/1 four-timer on the final day of the meeting, but didn't win the race he wanted to most as Meath trainer Gavin Cromwell won the blue riband for the first time.

Galopin Des Champs was aiming to become the fifth horse to win the Gold Cup for a third time and join Arkle, Cottage Rake, Golden Miller Best Mate, who was the last horse to do it in 2004, in the history books.

But the JP McManus-owned and Mark Walsh-ridden Inothewayurthinkin (15/2), who the businessman paid £25,000 to supplement for the race, beat the 8/13 favourite, who finished second.

McManus said: “You have to enjoy these moments, they are so long in the making. We’ve had him since he was a foal, he was bred by (wife) Noreen. It’s a very exciting time and I will treasure it."

A delighted Cromwell commented: “I never thought I would have a horse good enough to run in the Gold Cup, let alone win. A huge thank you to JP and Noreen – to have horses like this is unbelievable.

“I think they were waiting for me to suggest (supplementing the horse) and I was waiting for them – and neither took much convincing.

“It’s going to take a while to sink in, but I’m absolutely thrilled."

He added: “I was a farrier for 20+ years and the latter few years of it I was part-time trainer and full-time farrier, and then as I got busier the roles reversed, and eventually I had to give up the farrier job.

"It’s well publicised I was Gordon Elliott’s farrier and I shod Don Cossack (2016 Gold Cup winner). I would often still stick on a shoe - not too often, but I still have the tool box and I still have the apron."

Connections will now decide if they will run Inothewayurthinkin in the Grand National at Aintree, which takes place three weeks from Saturday, with Cromwell admitting it is 'tempting'.

Only one horse - Golden Miller in 1934 - has won both races in the same season.

The Mouse Morris-trained Gentlemansgame finished third at 40/1 as Henry de Bromhead's Monty's Star (8/1) under Rachael Blackmore came fourth to complete an Irish 1-2-3-4 in the Gold Cup.

However, there was also sadness in the race for McManus as his other runner, Corbett's Cross, died after falling at the second last fence.

Earlier in the day, Mullins ran the equivalent of a full football team in the opening race as he saddled 11 of the 17 runners in the Triumph Hurdle.

And it paid off as 100/1 shot Poniros won under jockey Jonjo O'Neill Jr.

Poniros triumphed in the colours of Brighton & Hove Albion chairman and renowned gambler Tony Bloom in what was the horse's first ever run over hurdles.

Mullins admitted he "couldn’t believe it" after the race after the gelding got up late to beat the well-fancied pair of Lulamba (11/4) and East India Dock (5/4 favourite).

He said: "Did Tony Bloom back him? If he did, it wasn’t on my advice! We were hoping he would run well and be a nice horse for next year, so he’s ahead of schedule."

But one punter was hugely in the money after putting £100 each-way on Poniros with Irish bookmaker AK Bets at odds of 150/1, with the bet returning £18,200 (€21,629).

Mullins also recorded victories with Kargese (3/1 f) in the County Hurdle and Jasmin De Vaux (6/1) in the Albert Bartlett Novices' Hurdle. Both of those were ridden by Paul Townend, who was also aboard Galopin Des Champs.

Meanwhile, Dinoblue landed the Mares' Chase for the Closutton trainer under Walsh, who said after Inothewayurthinkin's win: "It’s brilliant - it’s something you dream of when you’re a kid wanting to be a jockey, winning the Gold Cup and the Grand National and things like that, so it’s a dream come true."

It was a clean sweep of Irish winners on day four as the Irish-trained pair of Wonderwall, for Tipperary's Sam Curling, and Wodhooh for Gordon Elliott won the Hunters' Chase and Martin Pipe respectively as the Meath trainer finally got his first winner of the week in the last race.

“I’m just thrilled. We’ve had a rough week, but I’m absolutely delighted," commented Elliott.

Mullins was crowned the leading trainer of the meeting for a 12th time and the seventh in succession with 10 winners as he took his tally of successes at the Festival to 113.

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“We really enjoy having winners here and it’s great to train winners for a range of different owners," he said.

“For me I enjoy that it gets spread out and it’s not just one owner and that’s the fun of it. I’m training winners here for people who could never have dreamed of having winners here and I remember being that soldier here once as well.

“It’s a huge team operation and it’s gone astronomical. No one would ever have dreamt someone would have that many horses to run at a Festival like this, but it’s something we concentrate on and it’s paying off for us.

“We’ll enjoy it while we can and things in sport have a habit of going up and down, but we’ll see how we go and keep enjoying the winners when they come.”

And Cork native Townend was the leading rider of the meeting, claiming four successes to tie with Walsh but take the title on accumulated placings.

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