Galopin Des Champs: Five most memorable moments

Galopin Des Champs - Career in numbers

• Starts under NH Rules: 26
• Chase wins: 12
• Hurdle wins: 3
• Grade 1 wins: 12
• Cheltenham Festival wins: 3
• Cheltenham Gold Cup wins: 2

2021 Martin Pipe Conditional Jockeys’ Handicap Hurdle

A career highlight on Timeform ratings? Of course not, but the Martin Pipe is effectively where it all began for Galopin Des Champs and certainly where his association with the Cheltenham Festival is concerned.

The son of Timos, a winner over hurdles in France for Arnaud Chaillé-Chaillé before moving to Closutton, he was beaten narrowly on Irish debut at Gowran before something was clearly amiss when pulled-up by Danny Mullins in a Grade 2 race at Limerick.

A subsequent sixth in the 2m Grade 1 at the Dublin Racing Festival ensured he went to Cheltenham for the first time with a BHA rating of just 142 and the rest is history. Sean O’Keeffe rode the 8/1 shot and it looked something of an armchair ride, Galopin eventually proving far too classy for Langer Dan, who went on to become a Festival legend in his own right.

2023 Cheltenham Gold Cup

It had been coming after a sensational novice chase campaign which wasn’t without the odd bump in the road, having fallen at the last with the Turners in his grasp, but Galopin Des Champs cemented his legacy with a Gold Cup-winning performance of the ages in March 2023.

He brushed through the top of three-out but was soon back on the steel, popped the last two in good style and ultimately powered away to wallop Bravemansgame by seven lengths, with another six and a half back to Conflated back in third.

“A new chasing star gallops to glory,” claimed Simon Holt on commentary. How right he was.

2023 Savills Chase

Defeat for Galopin Des Champs at Punchestown in the spring and again on his seasonal debut at the same venue in the John Durkan on his seasonal debut set the cat amongst the pigeons, some even going as far as to suggest that the huge Gold Cup effort in the spring had taken too much out of him, but the response was immediate in the December of 2023.

This was a jaw-dropping piece of steeplechasing from start to finish, the seven-year-old travelling with enthusiasm close to the pace despite racing much wider on the track than outright leader Conflated.

Galopin Des Champs was set about his business approaching the second-last and he produced magnificent jump before gliding through the gears on the turn for home. It was a matter of how far as they straightened up and another neat leap at the last sealed a memorable 23-length win over the multiple Grade 1 winner, Gerri Colombe.

2024 Cheltenham Gold Cup

Doing it once is something special but in 2024 Willie Mullins’ ace joined an elite band of just eight horses to have won the Cheltenham Gold Cup on more than one occasion. He also emulated former stablemate Al Boum Photo by going back-to-back in the big one.

In even softer ground this time, the overall winning time was around 20 seconds slower than the previous spring, with old adversary Gerri Colombe able to get within three and a half lengths of Galopin Des Champs, but it all looked so simple for Paul Townend’s mount, who relished the conditions and another monumental jump at the final fence showed just how much he still had left in the tank.

2024 Savills Chase

Time finally appeared to be catching up with the big horse last season but you only have to go back to 2024/25 and he was still operating at the highest level with a trio of Grade 1 wins having struck in the Savills, Irish Gold Cup and recorded a first win in the Ladbrokes Punchestown Gold Cup.

For me, the most striking was the Savills again. He just oozed class on that Leopardstown configuration throughout his sparkling career and the way he slammed Fact To File by seven and a half lengths was a joy to watch, Paul Townend having grabbed the bull by the horns from an early stage and simply run them ragged.

Galopin Des Champs ends his time with Leopardstown chase form figures of 111111133.

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