Galopin Des Champs searches for greatness in Gold Cup

Galopin Des Champs may be standing on the edge of greatness, but Willie Mullins is doing his best to keep his feet on the ground ahead of his star chaser's bid for a Boodles Cheltenham Gold Cup hat-trick.

It is hard to believe it now, but for a long time the blue riband event eluded the master of Closutton. Indeed, after saddling the runner-up on six occasions, one of National Hunt racing's greatest ever trainers must have thought he was destined never to win the sport's most prestigious race.

But the curse was broken in 2019 by Al Boum Photo, who successfully defended his title before finishing third in his treble attempt, and just a few years later he has now unearthed another horse who will get the chance to become only the fifth horse to win three Gold Cups.

"To be associated with a horse like this, who is so well known now, is a huge honour," said Mullins.

"We're all delighted to be involved and we just hope the dream stays alive."

Without disparaging Al Boum Photo, Galopin Des Champs appears to be a different beast entirely, with Mullins' son Patrick describing him as "the masterpiece of Willie's career".

The nine-year-old will return to Prestbury Park seemingly at the peak of his powers, having won a second Savills Chase at Leopardstown in imperious style over Christmas before bringing the house down at the Foxrock track last month when clinching a third Irish Gold Cup.

"To me, his performance in the Irish Gold Cup was very good. I thought his performance at Christmas was way better, but the other day they jumped off very fast and then Paul (Townend) got to the front and steadily slowed it down," Mullins continued.

"I don't think he even got serious with him until he put it to bed after the last - that's the sort of reserves the horse has.

"I love it when I see horses do what he does in a race sometimes - he just takes a huge, tremendous jump and then lands at the far side of a fence and keeps galloping. It doesn't seem to take anything out of him.

"Paul has complete faith in the horse and always said to me this horse gallops and jumps. In his first Gold Cup, I wouldn't let him do that because at that time he was very free, but he learnt a lot from that and now he's very manageable and Paul is able to ride him wherever he wants him."

Galopin Des Champs is, of course, looking to join rarefied company. Golden Miller won five Gold Cups in the 1930s, Cottage Rake completed his hat-trick between 1948 and 1950, the mighty Arkle did the same between 1964 and 1966 and Best Mate won his three between 2002 and 2004.

Now, 21 years later, Mullins is hoping his brilliant gelding can write his name into the Prestbury Park history books.

"To us here, it's unbelievable we've got a horse that's going for a third Gold Cup and could be in the Best Mate/Arkle category," he said.

"I'm not dreaming it will happen. If you think it's going to happen, it probably won't, so I'm going in the opposite direction.

"If this horse can do what Arkle and Best Mate did, it's a once-in-a-lifetime job, isn't it? I think there was 40 years between them, so we're maybe 20 years too soon!"

Joseph O'Brien says he is "not afraid to lose" as he prepares to take on the might of Galopin Des Champs with King George hero Banbridge.

A multiple Grade One winner over varying distances, bookmakers make the nine-year-old the most likely to spoil the hat-trick party of Willie Mullins' superstar stayer.

He thrived when upped to three miles at Kempton on St Stephen's Day, staying on strongly to hunt down the free-going Il Est Francais in the Christmas feature.

That piece of evidence was central to connections' decision to roll the dice in the blue riband and after bravery was rewarded with Golden Ace's surprise success in Tuesday's Champion Hurdle, O'Brien is willing a similar outcome for Ronnie Bartlett's charge in Friday's centrepiece.

O'Brien said: "We're lucky, we've been really happy with all our horses all winter and it's always nice when your horses run well or you are lucky enough to have a winner on the first day, like we did, as you can breathe a sigh of relief.

"He's a King George winner, so people want to see him in the Gold Cup. Like we saw in the Champion Hurdle on Tuesday, if you're in those big races and you've earned your spot like he has, anything can happen.

"We're not afraid to lose, but we'll give it our best shot to win."

Gavin Cromwell's Inothewayurthinkin was supplemented for this at a cost of €28,000 after showing up well behind Galopin Des Champs in the Irish Gold Cup and is currently disputing favouritism for the Randox Grand National.

He is one of two representatives for the Festival's leading owner JP McManus, who also fields Emmet Mullins' Corbetts Cross, winner of the National Hunt Chase at the meeting 12 months ago.

"We didn't really get a clear run of things in the autumn, he wasn't right for the Betfair Chase and we kind of stumbled our way to the King George," said Mullins of a season that has yet to see the eight-year-old sparkle.

"I don't think the horse was right at Kempton when he didn't finish off his race. We just put a line through it when he didn't pick up in the home straight.

"Last season was a bit the same, we kind of trained him to bring him on and he did improve all season.

"If I could request it, I'd want soft ground, but he's a horse that beat Found A Fifty over just shy of two miles, so he's not a slow horse. He's just a very clean jumper and I suppose softer ground would help him out in that respect.

"If we can get him to peak again in Cheltenham, I'm not saying we'll beat Galopin Des Champs but we should be in the placings."

Also looking to peak on the big occasion is Monty's Star, who carries the colours of previous Gold Cup winner Minella Indo and bids to give Henry de Bromhead a third victory in the Festival feature.

De Bromhead said: "I'm delighted with him. He's had a really frustrating season at home training-wise, with a couple of setbacks, and we just haven't had a clear run with him at all.

"The Tramore run, we were always going to need. We hoped he'd have the class to win it anyway, but obviously the winner (Embassy Gardens) was very good that day.

"We managed to turn the form around with him at Leopardstown, but we still needed it a bit again. I thought he jumped and travelled really well and did everything really well, he just got a bit tired turning in, stayed on again and then got proper tired after the last.

"He ran very well around Cheltenham last year, he has good form with Fact To File and Jimmy Mangan's lovely horse (Spillane's Tower) and I think the extra couple of furlongs will suit him.

"Obviously, Galopin Des Champs is Galopin Des Champs and I'm not saying we'll beat him, but I think we'll run really well and who knows, it's a horse race isn't it?"

Mouse Morris' Gentlemansgame will also run for Ireland, with British representation provided by Patrick Neville's The Real Whacker, Venetia Williams' Royale Pagaille and Lucinda Russell's Ahoy Senor