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Cheltenham Festival 2023 results: Galopin Des Champs bides time to win Gold Cup
By Marcus Armytage, at Cheltenham
Galopin Des Champs, the 7-5 favourite, rounded off the ‘perfect week’ for Willie Mullins when he galloped home strongly to run out a convincing winner of one of the most competitive Boodles Gold Cups in recent memory and prove to the doubters that stamina was not so much his weakness but actually his strength.
The Mullins-Paul Townend axis has been the dominant force this week with six winners for the trainer and five for the jockey but if Mullins reckoned he had never felt more pressure ahead of any race, then the jockey had ice running through his veins.
From the back Townend, winning it with Mullins for the third time, guided the seven-year-old, the youngest horse in the contest, through a race which had all the ingredients for a great Gold Cup; a quality field, relentless pace, drama and, at the end of it, a worthy winner who, given his age, can come back again. And again.
Last year Galopin Des Champs, who was bought out of France after winning an ordinary hurdle at Auteuil during the Covid lockdown, fell at the last on his Cheltenham debut with the Turners Novice Chase all but in the bag. The initial heartbreak of that fall was outweighed, Townend recalled, by relief that the horse was fine after initially catching a leg in his reins.
It remains the only blip in his steeplechasing career which now sees him otherwise unbeaten in two seasons. On Friday he returned a year older and wiser, the finished article and in Townend’s words a ‘proper, proper horse.’
This time he skipped over the last upsides Bravemansgame, running the best race of his life, but despite landing in unison it was clear the momentum was with the Irish horse and from there he powered away from the King George winner to win by seven lengths.
Conflated, a late spare ride for Sam Ewing after Davy Russell cried off with a sore collar bone, was third while Noble Yeats put in a very solid National trial staying on past Protektorat up the hill to grab fourth.
“It was messy for me,” admitted Townend whose first two Gold Cups came on Al Boum Photo. “I couldn’t get a clean passage early and he started jumping in the air a bit but when I got some room he came back into a rhythm and was very brave. I think he got me out of a hole - I was a lot further back than I wanted but it was just the ride I had to give him.
“There were horses going left of me and right of me (when Ahoy Senor fell and brought down Sounds Russian and nearly brought down A Plus Tard five out) and he always just found a leg and you need that luck in racing. I don’t think the horse understands how good he is. There’s no doubting his stamina now, anyway.
"He’s matured, he’s grown up, he’s the full package now. He had to be to come from where I came from.”
You might have thought after 94 Festival winners that Mullins was immune to pressure but no. “I didn’t realise the pressure I was under,” he said. “Paul gave him a peach of a ride. He had the confidence to drop him in and come through.
“I said to him I think you’re on the best horse and the fastest horse so long as he doesn’t get running with you. He said he’d tuck him in somewhere and put him to sleep and he did. We elected him as our Gold Cup horse and that puts you under pressure. The more pressure Paul’s under the better he rides. I wouldn’t say it ranks above our other Gold Cup winners, there was just more pressure, that’s all.
“A lot of people were saying he is not (a Gold Cup) horse as he had too much speed and no stamina but he had won over three miles as a novice and I was happy if a novice can do that over hurdles at that age they are only going to get stronger as an older horse.”
Looking back at when he started training in 1988, he added: “It is mind blowing. I can’t comprehend the numbers I have in training at home and I can’t comprehend the quality of horses we have at home. Until I got my licence if someone would have said to me you will have 60 horses every day for the rest of your training career I would have grabbed that because top trainers like Fred Winter, Fulke Walwyn, David Nicholson never had more than 60 or 65 (the number he annually brings to Cheltenham now) and you were lucky if you got a Grade One horse every year.
“Since being at Closutton every day I go through the barns and I pinch myself. We don’t take it for granted.” As of yesterday he has another Gold Cup winner to admire.
'I’m shaking, it’s just unbelievable' - Galopins Des Champs owner on a race to remember
By Jim White at Cheltenham
This is what it means to win the Gold Cup. After Galopins Des Champs moved from the back of the field to win Cheltenham’s most significant race by seven lengths, the horse’s owner was standing in the winner’s enclosure to greet her winner. And she could hardly breath, such was the profundity excitement. Told by her friend to take some deep breaths to stop her hyperventilating, Mrs Audrey Turley struggled to speak, never mind precisely articulate what she had just seen.
“It’s not too good on the heart,” she told Telegraph Sport. “I’m shaking, I don’t know what to say, I don’t know what to think. It’s just unbelievable.”
Before the race, the Turley party, including several friends sporting lime green fedoras in honour of St Patrick’s Day, was the noisiest, most excited group in the owners’ enclosure. It was little surprise that their response to victory was unrestrained: Mrs Turley was buried in the kind of celebratory scrum that would not look out of place at Lansdowne Road.
And no wonder. This was some turnaround for the horse and owner. Because this time last year at Cheltenham, Mrs Turley thought she was going to record her first victory at the Festival with the horse in the Turners Novice Chase. He was well out in front at the last fence, apparently destined for victory, when he tumbled, stuttered and fell. But now here she was, twelve months on, watching him negotiate his way through a challenging field with aplomb.
“We’re so thrilled,” she said. “Forget last year, it’s forgotten. It’s a beautiful, sunshine day. And he won.”
With that, she grabbed hold of the jockey Paul Townend’s outstretched hand as he eased the horse into the winners’ enclosure and made her way to the trophy presentation.
As Mrs Turley received the magnificent trophy from the Princess Royal, she was also handed the winners’ cheque for some £350,000. Though in truth she and her husband are not in urgent need of funds. Frankly, they are so wealthy their current account would barely notice if she had immediately repaired to the Bentley salesroom just beyond the winners’ enclosure and bought herself a couple of runarounds with their winnings. Greg Turley made his money in his family car rental business, which was sold to a private equity consortium in 2014. Since then he has been involved in the industrial manufacture of the alternative fuel bioethanol in Hungary; his firm ClonBio made £97million profit in 2021.
Not that Galopin Des Champs needed any extra fuel to drive him to victory.
“He is so well trained,” said Mrs Turley, giving appropriate acknowledgment to Willie Mullins, who was to record his third Gold Cup victory and his 94th Festival winner. She has a point. Galopin may have an impeccable pedigree, but Mullins has turned him around to ensure he is not just a champion in name only. When he won the admittedly less taxing Irish Gold Cup in February, his odds for the big one quickly began to shorten.
Many a punter took notice. Not least Zara Phillips, who, after dining with the Turleys on Thursday night, was moved to put a wager on the horse. It was money well spent. Mullins had instructed Townend to keep out of the fray, to bide his time. Watching on Mrs Turley said she was never in doubt the horse would have the final acceleration necessary.
As to what happens next for her magnificent horse, neither owner nor trainer was anxious to reveal.
“We’ll just enjoy this,” said Mrs Turley.
Mullins was no more effusive.
“We’re not even thinking of where he’s going next," he said. "He’s just done what we said he would do.” He did that all right.
Cheltenham Festival day four: as it happened
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Iroko wins the Martin Pipe!
It looked like No Ordinary Joe was going to do it, but the other horse in McManus colours Iroko produces a late burst off the back of the final hurdle. He was off the bridle quite a long way out, but just kept at it.
Third was Buddy One who ran a big race. Might I has beaten Imagine to fourth.
How we see the Martin Pipe which starts at 5.30
Telegraph Sport
A two-and-a-half mile handicap hurdle for conditional jockeys, this race concludes the Festival. The last two winners include Galopin Des Champs and Banbridge who have both progressed to better things. Favori De Champdou for Gordon Elliott fits the profile of Martin Pipe winners as a lightly-raced novice hurdler, but could run in the Albert Bartlett. So we're going for his stable-mate Imagine who looks very unexposed as a five-year-old.
Marlborough
23 year old jockey Michael O’Sullivan is having a week to remember, and he may not be finished just yet as he has picked up a plum ride in the Festival’s closing race via the Willie Mullins-trained Spanish Harlem, who has yet to win in 3 starts this term but looks a highly-promising hurdler, with a mark of 135 looking more than lenient. This will likely be a stiff test at the trip, which can suit Spanish Harlem down to the ground and, while this is far and away his stiffest test to date, he looks highly likely to take a step up here and round out a successful week for both his trainer and jockey.
Marcus Armytage
Iroko
Ed Chamberlin
No Ordinary Joe
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Impervious wins the Mares' chase
That race went according to the form book with Allegorie De Vassy and Impervious jumping the last side by side. It looked like the Mullins mare was going to get the better of it, but Impervious showed real appetite to battle back on the run-in. Just wanted it that bit more.
Our view on the upcoming Mares' Chase at 4.50pm
Telegraph Sport
One of the two Mares' races that was added to the schedule in 2021, with Willie Mullins winning both renewals. No surprise then, that Allegorie De Vassy of the Mullins yard is currently favourite after an unbeaten run of four races. She will be challenged by fellow Irish Mares Impervious and Jeremys Flame.
Marlborough
Many will have Allegorie De Vassy as one of their bankers of the day, if not the week, but it is perhaps notable that, in 4 starts for trainer Willie Mullins, she has been kept to right-handed tracks and has jumped to her right on occasion. If there is a chink in her armour, it could well be that and, if there is one to capitalise, it looks likely to be Impervious, who has taken beautifully to fences, winning each of her 3 starts this term, most recently when beating the boys to score at Grade 3 level. Testing ground will be no issue for her, and she can prove the one to beat.
Marcus Armytage
Jeremy's Flame
Ed Chamberlin
Allegorie De Vassy
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AP McCoy full of praise for Paul Townend
He says Townend produced the best big race ride he has ever seen on Galopin Des Champs.
Some jockeys would have tried to push him along when he was some 10 or 12 lengths off the pace, but he sat tight and made sure he had the fuel to kick on off the bend.
That's how Galopin Des Champs was able to answer any stamina questions, because he was always going to be the fastest in the race.
Willie Mullins on getting things right with Galopin tactically
We put ourselves under pressure by saying he had enough stamina to win a Gold Cup, he had enough class to win a Gold Cup.
I didn't realise how much pressure until about the third last. He flew through and I thought it is going to happen.
Through the race you are wondering if he is too far back but I had asked Paul to settle him. He had the fastest horse and just needed to ride him home and that is what he has done. Paul is so good under pressure and I have put him under pressure this week!
We don't do as much fast work this year, it is all about stamina. The horse is just relaxed, Paul gets them relaxed and puts them asleep, although I did wonder if we had overdone it at the halfway, we were a long way off.
We won the Gold Cup this year, you'd like to think we come back next year as favourite and win it but you need a lot of luck. I am just delighted he did what he did.
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Galopin's owner Audrey Turley
It is a dream come true. We never thought we would be here. It is such a wonderful horse. We are just so thrilled. The excitement has been high all week.
I don't know what to say or what to think. It is so unbelievable and wonderful. We have to thank Willie Mullins and the wonderful team, we wouldn't be here without them.
Paul Townend on waiting for his moment
It wasn't clean sailing that is for sure! Everywhere I went I was running into trouble. A proper, proper horse because he ran three different races and still won a Gold Cup.
I was delighted to see it all going on in front of me. It gave me a chance to fill him up after making up a lot of ground.
This race is just different. It brings winning to a different level.
Ahoy Senor is back on his feet after that fall
Concerns over Ahoy Senor's jumping proved to be justified. Lucinda Russell's horse was actually jumping well before the big mistake...but one mistake is all it takes. If he was a sound jumper he would have been half the price, that's the chance you take with Ahoy Senor.
Galopin Des Champs wins!
What a patient ride from Paul Townend. He bided his time and picked them off, running clear up the hill.
Bravemansgame ran a huge race and was with the favourite as they jumped the last but Galopin just had too much left in the tank.
Conflated has run on for third, Noble Yeats edged out Protektorat for fourth.
The Gold Cup runners are heading down to post
Galopin Des Champs looked very relaxed in the paddock and Mullins sounded confident he would stay the trip.
Bravemansgame is down at the post already. There will be increasing confidence that Paul Nicholls' fortunes are changing.
Ahoy Senor also looking quite keen.
Our guide to the big race plus tips
Telegraph Sport
Galopin Des Champs is the stand-out talent in the race, and would have romped home in last year's Turners Novices' Chase over two-and-a-half miles but for a slip after the last. Out-paced former Arkle runner-up Fakir D'oudairies at Punchestown this season, so speed is not in question. Has not run over the Gold Cup trip at Cheltenham, which is a question mark, but little evidence from previous runs to suggest he will struggle to stay. Mullins' second-string Stattler will need to reverse an eight-length deficit on his stable-mate from the run at Leopardstown but has solid claims.
A Plus Tard has just one run since winning, pulled up. King George winner Bravemansgame is maturing for Paul Nicholls, but has not run in a Cheltenham chase after ground conditions saw him pulled out last year. Noble Yeats and Protektorat probably need more testing ground. Ahoy Senor won the Cotswold Chase at Cheltenham in January, but his jumping is questionable and he veers right.
Marlborough
An intriguing renewal of this year’s Cheltenham Gold Cup, with the last two winners of this race coming forward amongst a host of exciting 2nd season chasers. Noble Yeats has come a slightly unconventional route into National Hunt racing’s Blue Riband, having landed a notable gamble in winning last year’s Grand National in first-time cheekpieces as a novice. The cheekpieces have been left off in four subsequent starts as he has made a smooth transition to Graded company this season, but they are re-applied as he bids to give his highly-respected trainer Emmet Mullins a first win in the Cheltenham Gold Cup. Noble Yeats looks set to run a career-best and can prove the one they all have to beat.
Marcus Armytage
Ahoy Senor
Ed Chamberlin
Stattler
Henrietta Knight (trainer of three time Gold Cup winner Best Mate)
Stattler
Sir Anthony McCoy (winning most jump jockey of all time)
Protektorat
Richard Johnson (former champion jump jockey)
A Plus Tard
Luke Harvey (ITV pundit)
Conflated
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Stay Away Fay wins!
Paul Nicholls is on the board again, and Harry Cobden rode him like the best horse in the race. Made all, and just could not be reeled in by a host of challengers up the hill. The British strike back in the novice hurdle division against the Irish.
There was some drama at the last where Corbett's Cross got squeezed between the hurdle and the outside rail and unseated rider Mark Walsh.
Three Card Brag could not find a turn of foot, despite travelling well. Affordable Fury finished second at 150/1!
How we see the Albert Bartlett
Telegraph Sport
This race for staying novice hurdlers is notoriously open and difficult to read. In fact, just one of the last nine winners have come at a single-figure price. Future Gold Cup winner Minella Indo won the race at odds of 50-1 in 2019. It is hard to find a British-trained horse at the front of the market this year, with Ireland dominating and no Festival form to fall back on. Corbetts Cross for Emmet Mullins has four wins and a second this season, including over three miles on soft to heavy ground at Fairyhouse in January. Willie Mullins' Embassy Gardens was grateful for the step up in trip when winning last time out at Thurles. Three Card Brag for Gordon Elliott is untested over this distance but looks a potential chaser in the making.
Marlborough
Plenty of unexposed, progressive young staying hurdlers come forward here and chances can be made for a few here. Having won his penultimate start over today’s distance of 3 miles, it was a very taking effort from Corbetts Cross to drop all the way back to 2 miles to take a Grade 2 novice hurdle at Naas last month and he should prove much more at home here back over 3 miles. He has done precious little wrong so far since switching to hurdles and looks to have plenty more to come; he rates a leading contender here.
Marcus Armytage
Rock My Way
Ed Chamberlin
Dawn Rising
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Faivoir wins!
So many with chances as they turned for home, but it turned into a head-to-head up the hill between Pied Piper and Faivoir, with the latter getting his head down and winning it by a short head.
Another handicap winner for the Skeltons, but not the one we were thinking. Bridget Andrews is the winning jockey, Davy Russell misses out in a photo on Pied Piper. Pembroke never got involved.
Full result with places on the way shortly.
Our guide to the County Hurdle
Telegraph Sport
Nicky Henderson's First Street was second to State Man by just over a length, but will carry an additional seven pounds for this year's race. Much of that is due to a commendable third behind Dashel Drasher and Marie's Rock over an extra half mile at Cheltenham on New Year's Day. Willie Mullins and Dan Skelton have produced six of the last seven winners. Skelton's Pembroke is well fancied, and is stepping back to the two-mile trip which has brought both of his wins this season. Finished second in a Grade Two Novices' Hurdle in January, and this is his first venture into the handicaps. Mullins' best chances appear Hunters Yarn and Winter Fog while Filey Bay for Emmet Mullins is currently favourite.
Marlborough
Furiously competitive handicap but one that can throw up Grade 1 horses of the future (as the last 3 winners have proven) and, if there is one in here that could be on his way to the top, it could very well be Filey Bay, who came close to winning last month’s Betfair Hurdle, but it would be little surprise if that race was purely a warm-up for this. His ultra-shrewd trainer Emmet Mullins has campaigned Filey Bay exclusively in the UK so far this term and, with a mark of 141 that looks more than workable, not to mention the addition of a first-time tongue tie, Filey Bay could take all the beating.
Marcus Armytage
Ballyadam
Ed Chamberlin
Pembroke
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The County Hurdle up next
Much like the Pertemps and the Coral Cup, always an exciting betting heat and big field handicap hurdle.
There has been a big move for the Skeltons' Pembroke, and they landed the Coral Cup with Langer Dan earlier in the week.
Multiple Group One winner Sharjah is surely a danger at 10-1.
I like the chances of First Street for Nicky Henderson, who finished second to State Man in this last year. Horses like Mill Green, Camprond and Langer Dan have come back for second bites at handicaps and run well this year, so let's hope First Street can do the same. Is higher up the weights this time around.
Paul Townend on Lossiemouth's run
I wasn't going to fight her too much, she wanted to get on with it. I didn't question her stamina, I just wanted to keep it an even gallop.
She is very good. She is very professional even though she hasn't got a whole lot of racing done.
Lossiemouth wins in impressive fashion!
The worry that Lossiemouth was doing too much, too early proved unfounded.
Paul Townend was holding the reins as she tanked along turning for home, with Zenta and Gala Marceau chasing.
Those two were always under more pressure though, and when Townend asked for Lossiemouth to produce she galloped on well up the hill to win by a comfortable few lengths.
Blood Destiny not in the frame.
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Our assessment of the first race today
Telegraph Sport
The race for speedy juvenile hurdlers, the Triumph has produced numerous future Champion Hurdle winners while, remarkably, twice Grand National winner Tiger Roll won this in 2014. Four of the last five winners have been Irish trained, and Willie Mullins has the three most-fancied runners this year: Blood Destiny and fillies Lossiemouth and Gala Marceau who will receive the three-pound allowance. The one piece of course form comes from Joseph Patrick O'Brien's Comfort Zone, who won the trial for this race at Cheltenham in January, though none of the three Mullins contenders ran that day.
Marlborough
The Irish have dominated any juvenile hurdle of note so far this season and it is little surprised to see them dominate the market in this year’s Triumph, not least due to the 7 runners Willie Mullins is sending forward in this 15-runner field. Blood Destiny has looked a horse of Grade 1 ability in winning both of his Irish starts over hurdles in facile fashion, with both formlines being franked nicely since. He looks to have his stablemates to beat, not least Lossiemouth, but Blood Destiny remains totally unexposed and looks the one to beat here.
Marcus Armytage
Blood Destiny
Ed Chamberlin
Blood Destiny
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This is one of the deepest Gold Cups in years
It is the final day of the 2023 Cheltenham Festival as punters prepare to go into battle one last time before the week is over for another year.
All eyes are of course on the Gold Cup, which promises to be one of the deepest and most high-quality renewals in many a year. There is real confidence in short-price favourite Galopin Des Champs, who looks the outstanding talent in the race and would have won the Turners by half the track last year had he not fallen at the last. Though he won over three miles at Leopardstown when he saw off Stattler, he has not gone three miles two furlongs up the Cheltenham hill. That's the question he has to answer.
A Plus Tard is the defending champion, but has not had the best preparation, running just once since when he was pulled up. However, the performances of Honeysuckle, Envoi Allen and Captain Guinness this week suggests Henry De Bromhead is on the rebound. If A Plus Tard gets close to last year's performance he will be in the frame.
Bravemansgame for Paul Nicholls is the King George winner and a maturing type, but has not run at Cheltenham over fences. Noble Yeats is last year's Grand National winner and the more of a stamina test this is the better. Protektorat was third in this last year and is a doughty stayer. The alluring horse in the race at a chunky price is Ahoy Senor, who is temperamental and an iffy jumper but could go close if things click. Ahoy Senor was second to L'Homme Presse by three lengths in last year's Browns Advisory Novices' Chase, and won the Cotswold Chase at Cheltenham in January, a race in which Noble Yeats and Protektorat ran on soft ground.
Before the Gold Cup, there is the test of speed the Triumph Hurdle, a stacked County Handicap Hurdle and the always open Albert Bartlett.