Galopin Des Champs, trained by Willie Mullins and ridden by Paul Townend, has won the Cheltenham Gold Cup for the second time in a row.
The eight-year-old was sent off the 10-11 favourite to defend his Festival title and he did so in style, galloping away from Gerri Colombe up the Cheltenham hill.
🏆🏆 𝐆𝐀𝐋𝐎𝐏𝐈𝐍 𝐆𝐋𝐎𝐑𝐘
Back-to-back Boodles Cheltenham Gold Cups for Galopin Des Champs! #ITVRacing | #CheltenhamFestival pic.twitter.com/A81A4vr0hr— ITV Racing (@itvracing) March 15, 2024
Last year’s Grand National hero Corach Rambler stayed on gamely for third, but none of his 10 rivals could really trouble Galopin Des Champs who was a three-and-a-half-length winner.
Townend told ITV Racing: “Unbelievable. We had to draw on our reserves there. I rode him completely different to last year and he was just so brave for me.
“We were a bit in between at the last and I was afraid about going for it, but it was a Gold Cup and you had to – and he’s pulled out all the stops again.”
Mullins said: “I think he just put himself in the superstar category – to do what he did and the way he did it.
“The loose horse was there and Paul was just so positive on him. Hopefully we can come back next year to win a third one – he has the ability to do it and we just have to stay sound, I think.”
Winning owner Audrey Turley said: “I know he was favourite, but you never know with racing what’s going to happen and to win here today on the 100-year anniversary [of the Gold Cup], well that is very special.
“It’s just been fantastic and we’re so privileged to be here and so thrilled to be part of this magnificent team – Willie, Paul, Galopin and everyone else at Closutton, it’s just fantastic.”
Earlier, Sam Ewing and Stellar Story pounced in the very last stride to inflict Albert Bartlett Novices’ Hurdle agony on The Jukebox Man.
The Ben Pauling-trained 18-1 outsider, who is owned by Harry Redknapp, had led the field along from flag fall in the hands of Kielan Woods, with Gordon Elliott’s shock 33-1 winner amongst those to track the pace setter.
The sedate early gallop saw plenty in with chances as the runners descended towards two out, but one by one they dropped away as Woods upped the tempo aboard The Jukebox Man and made his bid for home.
Pauling’s charge held the advantage running down to the last, but the six-year-old got in tight and gave Ewing and Stellar Story a glimmer of hope and they took full advantage, rallying to reel in the brave runner-up in the shadow of the post.
It was Elliott’s second success of the week following on from Teahupoo’s Stayers’ Hurdle triumph on Thursday, but for the young rider Ewing, it was not only a first Cheltenham Festival success, but also a maiden strike at Grade One level.
Winning owner Michael O’Leary said: “We were very surprised and it makes up for a disappointing day yesterday, when my wife kept presenting trophies to other owners and wouldn’t give me any.
“It’s a great training performance by Gordon – this horse was supposed to go to Aintree, we only put him on the box two nights ago because Croke Park was taken out, so he was very much the reserve.
“It was a very strange race; we thought something would come from the back but the front two horses stayed in front the whole way round.”
Meanwhile, Paul Townend produced Absurde to perfection as last year’s Ebor hero got the better of L’Eau Du Sud in the BetMGM County Handicap Hurdle.
Willie Mullins and Dan Skelton have dominated this event in the last decade, winning eight of the last nine runnings between them, so it was no surprise to see the week’s top two trainers involved at the business end once again.
Paul Nicholls’ Afadil had led the field into the straight where Skelton’s 7-2 favourite L’Eau Du Sud appeared to be travelling supremely in the hands of the trainer’s brother, Harry.
However, Townend was weaving a passage to the front and after the last it was Closutton’s dual-purpose star who pulled out extra to land the spoils at 12-1.
As well as winning the Ebor when given an equally-inspired ride by Frankie Dettori, Absurde finished seventh in the Melbourne Cup, and Townend said: “I got a lot of satisfaction out of that one. What a horse to travel the world and then come back and put in a performance like that on that ground.
“I thought I’d have the pace of them all on his Flat form, but the ground was a big worry.”
Majborough announced himself as a star of the future as he toughed it out to land a Willie Mullins-dominated JCB Triumph Hurdle.
Held in the highest regard by the master of Closutton, the juvenile went into plenty of notebooks when an eyecatching third behind Kargese at the Dublin Racing Festival, and it was that duo who fought out the finish at Prestbury Park.
With Danny Mullins keen to keep a tight hold on Kargese, Mark Walsh cut a relaxed figure aboard the JP McManus-owned Majborough and after the second-last they were chief among the Mullins-trained battalion that emerged to swamp the forward-going Salver.
Heading to the last it appeared Kargese held the advantage as Majborough wandered around, but they jumped the final flight in unison, after which the stamina reserves of the 6-1 winner came into play as he was pushed out by his rider to strike by a length and a half.
It was McManus’ third win in the Triumph Hurdle following the victories of Ivanovich Gorbatov and Defi Du Seuil and it continues the Closutton dominance of the race, with Mullins winning it for the fourth time in five years.
He said: “I’m surprised at his price of 6-1 – I expected him to be favourite, he was my pick of this race.
“A lot of mine have been improving all season for their second run. I couldn’t get him out at Christmas, but I got him out at the Dublin Racing Festival and I think he needed that and I think Mark learned a lot about him.
“He came back in and said he was going to make all the running on him next time, which was the plan today and he was only fifth or sixth going round, so that shows how strong the pace was, but he jumped beautifully.
“When he came in the yard and they said he was a Triumph hope, I thought he looked more like a Gold Cup horse – he’s some beast.”
He went on: “Physically, he looks like a three-mile chaser.
“He’s a bit angular [at the moment] like all the French horses, but when he comes in from a summer’s grass he’s some beast.
“Who knows how good he could be? Sometimes with Triumph Hurdle horses, their juvenile year can be their best year, but this fellow is so untypical of that.
“He’s a big, jumping horse and normally you’d be going novice chasing next season. It’s not easy going novice chasing with a horse that young, but we’ll see.”
Of Kargese, Danny Mullins said: “She travelled well and I was able to hang on to her a bit, but Mark’s lad hit a flat spot and got going late on.
“My mare was good and tough and galloped all the way to the line. It was a solid run, but I suppose Majborough was the one to take out of the Leopardstown race.
“It was a long way up that hill and while it might have looked like I was hanging on to a bit, you are never home until you’re home in Cheltenham on the New course. You have to hold on to something, but Mark found a bit more.”
The Gary Moore-trained Salver kept at it to take third, looking strong in the finish as he did so.
Assistant trained Josh Moore said: “He’s run right through the line which is a good sign, especially when they do it at Cheltenham.
“We could have done with a stronger pace to run at, but he’s an exciting horse for the future, particularly when he goes over a fence.
“He will go out into the field now, and we’ll look to the future.”
