'I reckon he’s a Gold Cup horse' - glorious Galopin has Mullins dreaming big

Fairyhouse: Sunday

Eleven months to go. St Patrick's Day, 2023. A Plus Tard v Galopin Des Champs. The master against the most precocious apprentice we have seen for some time.

The countdown has officially begun after Willie Mullins finally admitted his dark destroyer is going to be aimed at chasing's most prestigious prize next season.

"I reckon he’s a Gold Cup horse," acknowledged Mullins for the first time in the immediate aftermath of yet another delicious display from Galopin Des Champs, a flawless piece of poetry where everything rhymed. From the very first line to the last, gorgeous.

Mullins did have an impromptu check-up with his GP coming down to the last, as Galopin Des Champs tested his ticker by putting in an extra stride, but there was no cruel climax on this occasion, just a glorious realisation that the big staying chases next season are going to be spine-tingling.

Watch again: Galopin Des Champs immaculate at Fairyhouse

Paul Townend approached the final fence with no more than a six-length lead. He won by 18. The further he went the better he looked, and the 2-11 favourite was halfway to Ballyhack by the time he finally consented to stop galloping.

"I have to discuss it with Greg and Audrey [Turley, owners] but he looks a horse for the Gold Cup," said Mullins.

"He had a hard race at Cheltenham. Any horse who goes at that pace would have a hard race, but all his homework suggested he was fine and Paul was happy with him. I was going to wait and go over three miles at Punchestown, but then I thought a Grade 1 race over two and a half miles here was his thing and we took our chance today.

Galopin Des Champs was imperious again in victory at FairyhouseCredit: Patrick McCann

"Paul rode him differently down to the first than he did at Cheltenham and that made a big difference. To me it looked an ordinary pace and it looked like the other two elected to challenge him over the last three fences.

"Once he changed gear between the last two it was over bar jumping the last. He just seemed to be on a wrong stride and Paul let the horse decide. He put down lovely and got over it.

"He quickened away after the last and he couldn’t pull him up going around the bend."

Townend had the best seat in the house and the pair were in perfect harmony throughout, apart from that minor misunderstanding at the last.

Winning rider Paul Townend on Galopin Des Champs: 'He was an armchair ride'Credit: Patrick McCann

"He was an armchair ride, lobbing along and jumping for fun," said the winning rider, who was banishing the demons of his Turners torment, when a stumble after the final fence deprived him of a sixth winner at the festival.

"He was set to put in a massive performance at Cheltenham before his fall and the important thing is that he learned from it. I was so happy with him today. He knew what he was doing and looked a real professional."

On the late scare, he added: "I was after giving him a squeeze at the second-last and we were very long at the last, so it was kind of, 'Keep the revs up but sort yourself out'.

"He'd given me that feeling the whole way round, that he was looking at what he was doing and sorting himself out. I was just praying I was on his back at the end of it."

Townend was indeed still on his back at the end of it, and Ruby Walsh, who was on duty for Racing TV, was thinking the same way as Mullins.

Walsh said: "The Gold Cup is the dream for everybody, that's what people buy horses for, and I think this fella is the Gold Cup horse we have."

BoyleSports cannot split Galopin Des Champs and A Plus Tard and make them 4-1 joint-favourites for the 2023 Gold Cup.

That race is just 11 months away. Galopin Des Champs v A Plus Tard. On St Patrick's Day. What a time to be alive.

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