Patrick Mullins feels Galopin Des Champs "has to be up there with the greats" after the horse powered to a another Savills Chase success at Leopardstown.
The Willie Mullins-trained eight-year-old justified strong market support under Paul Townend as he won the December 28 feature for the second year in succession, taking his career Grade 1 tally to 10 victories.
That list also features a couple of memorable wins in the Cheltenham Gold Cup and he's now clear-cut favourite for a three-peat in the Festival highlight on March 14 this coming spring.
Not many staying chasers scale the heights of Galopin Des Champs and Mullins, son and assistant to the winning-most Cheltenham Festival trainer, Willie, feels the horse's remarkable consistency at the highest level also makes him stand out from the crowd.
Mullins told Sporting Life: "What more does this horse have to do, he was extraordinary.
"I went out to the stands to watch the race with some friends and, watching him jump from fence to fence, I was wondering if they were going a bit slow as, for me, I think Fact To File is the faster horse, and he was jumping fine without taking lengths out of the field, but Galopin just seems to be a faster horse at Leopardstown.
"The jump he put in at the last was extraordinary, the energy he must have used to do that, it should have flattened him after that jump really, but you could see he was just taking off again and if the race was another 100 yards then he would have won by 10 lengths.
"Now, look, Gentlemansgame is in third, and I always look at the full form and I think that's roughly what he beat him in Punchestown last year, and I still think the performance he put in in the Savills last year was a better performance, but Fact To File is a fantastic horse and he's an extra horse that he (Galopin Des Champs) has conquered.
"I think he has to be up there with the greats, definitely."
'It was like watching Faugheen'
Not all was plain-sailing for the Mullins yard during the busy Christmas schedule, Lossiemouth and Ballyburn both looking outpaced and outclassed by Constitution Hill and Sir Gino respectively on lively enough ground at Kempton, while State Man blotted his Leopardstown copybook when bidding for a third straight victory in the Grade 1 Neville Hotels Hurdle.
Mullins has a lot of respect for the wide-margin Sunday winner, Brighterdaysahead, but would not be afraid to take her on again with the same horse at the Dublin Racing Festival, once he's back to top form which didn't seem to be the case this weekend.
He explained: "First and foremost, the mare was awesome. It was like watching Faugheen or Apple's Jade in their pomp. But look, Mystical Power didn't show up and State Man didn't show up. Winter Fog - albeit a very good 10-year-old with some high-class form - shouldn't be beating State Man.
"It wasn't that they (King Of Kingsfield and Brighterdaysahead) got away from him early. For me, Paul (Townend, on State Man) could never lie up and from down the back straight you're thinking 'we're not going here', as Paul wouldn't be giving them that much rope.
"So from very early on State Man wasn't himself and to me you just draw a line through it. He seems fine this morning so nothing's come to light at the moment, but I think a few of ours did under-perform through Christmas, a few of them ran below-par, even the likes of Lot Of Joy, Argento Boy was very disappointing as well.
"So I don't think we learned anything, other than Brighterdaysahead is better than I was giving her credit for! Although I'd still like another go at her with State Man in February."
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