What does it mean to make history? To achieve such accomplishments in a lifetime that others are compelled to scribe down your achievements so that future generations know how extraordinary you were.
Most of us don’t come close to such recognition but for a select few there are moments when history comes knocking, when expectation weighs heavily on the shoulders and the spotlight of legacy shines firmly on them. This is the fate that awaits jockey Paul Townend and Galopin Des Champs at the Cheltenham Festival this week.
Back-to-back victories in the Gold Cup, in 2023 and 2024, have already secured their place as one of the festival’s magnificent duos. Gone is the need to prove they are winners, that they have mastered the three-mile two-and-a-half-furlong distance and that they know exactly how to tackle the Cheltenham hill with enough energy reserved to leave the competition behind. All that has been done before.
Now they seek to write a new chapter in their already legendary story. The goal is to join an elite group of horses and riders who’ve won the Gold Cup three times consecutively. It has only been done four times previously and only once, during Golden Miller’s historic run between 1932 and 1936, has a horse and rider won the race more than three times in a row.
Galopin Des Champs is the favourite to join the ranks of Cottage Rake, Best Mate, Arkle and the aforementioned Golden Miller. Ante-post bets had him at 8/13 to lift the Gold Cup again. Decent odds but not as overwhelming as some would expect, especially given his recent form.
His two outings at Punchestown, following last year’s win, saw him finish second and third respectively but he got back to winning ways in the Savills Chase in December and backed that up with a victory at the Irish Gold Cup at the beginning of February. Both were wins at Leopardstown against some of the closest rivals he’ll face again this week.
Townend, meanwhile, has been here before. His previous Gold Cup wins came atop Al Boum Photo in 2019 and 2020. The first as an outside bet, the second as the nailed-on favourite. Yet a third victory remained elusive. The pair finished third in 2021, beaten by better opposition in Jack Kennedy and Minella Indo as well as by Rachael Blackmore and A Plus Tard, who would go on to take the crown in 2022 while Townend and Al Boum Photo ended up sixth. Age and weight conspired against them, but such is the nature of horseracing and a reason why these feats are so rare.
Yet, Townend sits on the precipice of glory again. This time the factors of victory are in his favour. Galopin Des Champs is nine years old with plenty in the tank. He knows the course, enjoys the conditions and has beaten this field of opposition before. Surely now is the time to add a fifth name to the list of three-peat successes.
Maybe.
There are certainly other challengers for this crown this year.
Banbridge is the main one. Trained by 31-year-old Joseph Patrick O’Brien, the nine-year-old has six chase wins to his name including a victory in the King George in November where he beat the likes of Corbetts Cross and L’Homme Presse who will be in the field for Friday’s race. The biggest doubts over him are his stamina to compete up the final hill and his jockey. Townend rode Banbridge to victory in the King George, so he’ll need a new rider to guide him over the 22 fences at Cheltenham with JJ Slevin given the nod.
Inothewayurthinkin is another. The winner of the Kim Muir Handicap Chase in 2024 impressed with a clear victory and moved up in class to claim a first grade 1 win just a month later. Since then he’s had outings at Punchestown and two at Leopardstown against most of the Gold Cup field. Each race was an improvement on the last and if that trend continues he could be a surprise winner.
And don’t forget there’s always the possibility of a wild and unforeseen result. Of a huge underdog excelling in the conditions and putting in the ride of a lifetime to upset the apple cart. Yet that isn’t a situation that can be relied on.
What can be relied on is the desire from Townend to join the ranks of legendary jockeys, for Galopin Des Champs to tear up the turf with purpose, for the two of them to race up the straight to a chorus of cheers and adulation. Whether that is as three-time champions is yet to be revealed.
