A Grade One four-timer for the Willie Mullins stable would normally be good news for the punters, but there was a twist to the standard plotline of the County Carlow trainer’s dominance as his nephew, Danny, rode the first three winners at the Dublin Racing Festival at odds of 16-1, 7-2 and 6-1, before Galopin Des Champs, the 1-3 favourite, restored some order to the proceedings with a dominant success in the Irish Gold Cup.
Last year’s Cheltenham Gold Cup winner was the first – and only – successful clear favourite on the card, and the eight-year-old is now odds-on with most bookies to retain his crown as the sport’s best staying chaser at next month’s Festival.
Lingfield 1.00 Charlatan 1.32 Barenboim 2.02 Twilight Madness 2.37 Nine Tenths 3.12 Diligent Harry 3.45 Blue Prince 4.17 Red Walls
Musselburgh 1.20 Liari 1.50 Bollingerandkrug 2.25 Recoup 3.00 Absolute Notions 3.35 Petit Tonnerre 4.05 Sleeping Satellite 4.35 Getagin
Newcastle 5.00 Mighty Power 5.30 Aim For The Moon (nap) 6.00 Khabib 6.30 Tournelle 7.00 Zip 7.30 Blackcurrent (nb) 8.00 King Of The Jungle 8.30 Bonito Cavalo
Galopin Des Champs did not power many lengths clear of the runner-up as he had when successful in a Grade One event at the Christmas meeting, but he was not up against his familiar foe, Fastorslow, in December. Martin Brassil’s chaser, ridden by JJ Slevin, ensured it was much more of a contest on Saturday, and looked to be travelling well in the favourite’s slipstream three out. Once Paul Townend, Galopin Des Champs’s rider, started to draw out his considerable stamina, however, it was clear that he had more than enough left to get him home and having jumped the last just a length to the good, he was four and a half lengths clear at the post.
“Coming down over the sixth last, I said to someone next to me that I thought he was jumping fantastic,” Mullins said. “Then of course he went fiddling the next one, and the one after that. I thought if he kept jumping, he should have enough left in the tank to keep Fastorslow behind him, but certainly JJ was looking very confident over the second-last. Then after that, the signals started to come out that maybe he was getting on top.”
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The hill at Cheltenham will play even more to Galopin Des Champs’s strong suit and he is now top-priced at even money to record a second successive Gold Cup victory on 15 March, while Fastorslow, who had beaten the winner in two previous meetings over the last 10 months, is a 6-1 chance to reverse this result next month.
The combined odds for the Mullins yard’s four-timer were 711‑1, thanks to the considerable efforts of Townend’s No 2 in the first three races. Danny Mullins saw off a better-fancied stable companion aboard Dancing City in the opening novice hurdle, repeated the trick on Kargese in the juvenile hurdle that followed, and then made the most of a disappointing run by Marine Nationale, the previously unbeaten favourite for the Irish Arkle Novice Chase, getting Il Etait Temps home by a neck.
Mullins has now ridden a highly impressive 26 Grade One winners over the course of his career, and not one set off as the market leader.
Il Etait Temps was cut to around 5-1 for the Arkle Trophy at the Festival, in a market where Marine Nationale remains an uneasy favourite at 3-1.
“He settled, travelled, jumped and did everything right but after the second-last, he just didn’t get into gear like he normally does,” Michael O’Sullivan, Marine Nationale’s rider, said. “I hope something will show up as he’s better than that.”
At Sandown, Nickle Back, at 11-1, was a front-running winner of the Grade One Scilly Isles Chase, providing both Sarah Humphrey and James Best, his trainer and rider respectively, with a first winner at the highest level. The race was marred, however, by a fatal injury sustained by the hot favourite, Hermes Allen, in a fall at the second-last.
