Head through the gates at Cheltenham Racecourse and look to the left. There you’ll find a bronze statue of the legendary AP McCoy, a 20-time champion jockey and two-time Cheltenham Gold Cup winner. Behind him there is another statue, this one is of a horse. Just as legendary as McCoy but arguably even more successful. It is Best Mate, a triple Gold Cup winner who triumphed in three successive races between 2002 and 2004 to write his name in the history books and get his likeness sculpted in bronze.
Walk past Best Mate and head up the stairs to the viewing balcony adjacent to the Princess Royal Grandstand. Here you’ll find Golden Miller. The statue is smaller but the honours greater. He is the most successful racehorse to grace the Cheltenham Festival. The only horse to win five successive Gold Cups, which he did almost a century ago between 1932 and 1936.
Turn to the right and look out over the concourse. Watching over the winners enclosure and parade ring is Arkle. He was the third horse to win three consecutive Gold Cups and, at 212, his Timeform rating was the highest ever awarded to a steeplechaser.
Only four horses have won the Gold Cup three times in a row. Three of them have statues at Cheltenham, the fourth, Cottage Rake, has a bar named after him. The feats of these legends permeate and adorn the very structures of the racecourse. They are lasting reminders of the unbelievable deeds of these special horses and a permanent celebration of their accomplishments. The rarity of their triumphs is what makes them unique and why they will be forever linked with Cheltenham.
To emulate them is a near impossible task… enter Galopin Des Champs.
A French-bred, Irish-trained thoroughbred with a shimmering black coat, plaited mane and a distinguished tuft of white fur on his forehead. A champion racehorse whose date with destiny has bubbled away in the background of a fascinating week at Cheltenham.
Brought here for the first time as a five-year-old by trainer Willie Mullins, he won the Martin Pipe Handicap Hurdle in 2021. Major victories in Ireland followed but his return to Cheltenham a year later saw him fall in the Golden Miller Novices Chase and proved he wasn’t infallible.
Back-to-back Gold Cup victories came next though. Partnered with jockey Paul Townend, then already a two-time Gold Cup winner, Galopin Des Champs earned a seven-length victory over Bravemansgame in his first Gold Cup outing and a three-and-a-half-length win over Gerri Colombe in his second.
Those triumphs placed him on the brink of superstardom. Friday’s race, if he had won it, would have made him a legend.
Seeking to join the elite group of horses to win this race three times in a row, Galopin Des Champs entered the race as the 8/13 favourite. He is an eternally popular horse with the watching crowds who cheered as he paraded, applauded as he passed the grandstand and grieved when he lost.
The race seemingly shaped up perfectly for him. Ahoy Senor, the experienced old hand, led through the first circuit with the two-time champion sitting deep avoiding trouble. He jumped well, legs tucked in and cleared the fences with fluid grace. When the leader fell and tumbled into his path, Galopin Des Champs swept to the side and powered down the hill. He took to the front with two fences to jump on the final stretch.
His every move was tracked and matched by one of his main rivals. Inothewayurthinkin was a late addition to this race. Beaten twice by Galopin Des Champs in his last two outings he was ably handled by jockey Mark Walsh, racing in the colours of owner JP McManus.
The decibel levels ramped up as Galopin Des Champs thundered to the final fence before a collective intake of breath as Inothewayurthinkin went past him on the landing. Gavin Cromwell’s charge is two years younger and a fine runner at this distance. Throughout the race, Walsh hadn’t asked too much of him and it showed. He flew up the straight, distancing Galopin Des Champs with every stride.
He ran past the finishing post clear in first place. Galopin Des Champs next across in second. His pursuit of history, of a legacy sure to be sculpted in bronze, was over.
There were other fine winners on the day; Poniros shocking in the Triumph Hurdle at 100/1, Kargese taking the County Hurdle, favourite Dinoblue winning the Mares Chase and Jasmin De Vaux giving the Mullins-Townend duo another winner in the Albert Bartlett Novices Hurdle.
Wonderwall won the St James’ Place Hunters Chase and Wodhooh closed out the festival with victory in the Martin Pipe Handicap Hurdle but Friday belonged to Inothewayurthinkin. Trainer Cromwell was full of praise, saying: “I’m speechless. It is unbelievable. We have had great faith in this horse.”
As Galopin Des Champs’ quest for glory ended, his is just beginning. An outing at Aintree for the Grand National is to come next month and he will surely be among the favourites. He can match Golden Miller in a different way by becoming only the second horse to win both the Gold Cup and Grand National in the same year.
It would be a monumental feat and, if he achieves it, his own story may well end with a statue at Cheltenham.
