'He's going to take a lot of beating anywhere' - Paul Townend jubilant as Galopin Des Champs reverses form with Fact To File in style

A Savills Chase billed as a rematch was reduced to a procession thanks to another virtuoso display of unadulterated class from a dual Gold Cup winner who continues to enhance his right to be spoken of as one of the giants of modern-day steeplechasing. 

Galopin Des Champs posted one of the most striking visual demolition jobs in this Grade 1 a year ago and in the interim added a second Irish Gold Cup and Cheltenham Gold Cup to his haul.

However, defeats behind Fastorslow and Fact To File at Punchestown punctuated his journey once more. His Willie Mullins-trained stablemate Fact To File's victory over him in the John Durkan Memorial Chase last month had threatened a new dawn on the staying chasing front, but true champions die hard.

Back at his beloved Leopardstown over three miles, the market spoke in Galopin Des Champs' favour with an SP of 5-6 and he was utterly dominant. 

Paul Townend, left to his own devices in front, led the field a merry dance from the outset. Fact To File didn't help his prospects by racing keenly under Mark Walsh and he made a couple of mistakes, but such was the winner's sheer remorselessness that nothing ever managed to land a blow.

Galopin Des Champs had first run and a three-length lead under a motionless Townend as they swung away from the second-last fence, and, try as Walsh might on Fact To File, he couldn't even get the pretender to his girths.

Galopin Des Champs pinged the final fence and from there obliterated the runner-up to the tune of seven and a half lengths. It was an emphatic display of elemental quality, not to mention a merciless, unequivocal dismantling of the suggestion that he might actually be vulnerable.

Galopin Des Champs ridden by Paul Townend jumping the last fence to win the Savills ChaseCredit: Caroline Norris

Punchestown, it now seems, was a phoney war. This was a more accurate reflection of reality, and Mullins wasn't shy about calling it as much. 

Asked if the winner's second triumph in the €175,000 event was as good as the 23-length romp of the first, he offered a wry response. 

"No, not at all," he deadpanned. "It was way better. To me it was one of his best performances, if not the best performance of his career.

"I thought it was as good a performance as I've ever seen in a Savills. Maybe because we had the second horse this year and we know how good he is, but I thought this was better. Even I was going 'Wow', which I don't do much of." 

To his credit, Fact To File still emerged best of the rest, five lengths clear of the third Gentlemansgame, with Heart Wood a couple of lengths behind him. Whether JP McManus's seven-year-old has the resilience to be a proper Gold Cup horse remains to be seen, and Mullins was happy to make it clear just how high the bar is set.

"Until Fact To File beat Galopin [in these conditions], I wasn't going to desert his camp anyway. To me, he was the one, always was the one and still is after today. He is just the real deal," he said after his fourth win in a race in which his returning Grand National winner I Am Maximus was pulled up.

"For me, Galopin Des Champs was always the better horse. If Fact To File was going to take that mantle off him he had to go out and do it; he wasn't able to today. Whether he can change things around, that's another day's work. 

"If Fact To File settles he will probably stay further. He stayed well today but he just came up against an exceptional horse." 

Galopin Des Champs put in a superb round of jumpingCredit: Patrick McCann (racingpost.com/photos)

Twenty-one years ago, Best Mate returned to a hero's welcome from an adoring Irish crowd after winning the Savills. The warm reception Galopin Des Champs received here might not have quite reached those decibel levels, but, just as he used to do with Hurricane Fly after his Irish Champion Hurdle wins, Mullins brought Greg and Audrey Turley's handsome son of Timos to the railing in the winner's enclosure to meet his fans.

It was a lovely moment of affinity with a crowd who appreciate a good steeplechaser, and now all roads will lead back to emulating Best Mate by securing a third Gold Cup at Cheltenham, with Paddy Power going 6-5 (from 5-2) about him doing so. On the way, he will likely vie for a third success in the Irish equivalent as well. 

"You very seldom see that, the whole way around the parade ring," said a visibly moved Mullins in recognition of the applause. "He is a saint of a horse, he has a lovely temperament; he has everything you want in a horse, size, scope and personality."

The simplicity of Townend's riding style and his trademark calm disposition allow Galopin Des Champs' exuberance to flourish. They have a wonderful rapport, and, as had been the case on Banbridge in the King George on Thursday, Townend allowed himself an uncharacteristically triumphant punch of the air passing the post here. He is clearly enjoying himself. 

"What more can we say about him? He does all the talking himself," the multiple champion jockey said afterwards. "He has this will to win, he puts his head down and he was like a terrier up the straight.

"There's a good crop of horses coming, but that performance and the feel I was getting off him today, he's going to take a lot of beating anywhere."

Few would argue with that sentiment now. We might just be in the presence of greatness.

Cheltenham Gold Cup (Cheltenham, March 14)
Paddy Power: 6-5 Galopin Des Champs, 4 Fact To File, 14 Gerri Colombe, 16 Monty’s Star, 33 bar

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