Willie Mullins Galopin Des Champs did not make it four in a row in the Paddy Power Irish Gold Cup at Leopardstown.
The ten year old finished third behind Fact To File in first and Gaelic Warrior in second.
The first Grade One on today's card, the Novice Hurdle, went the way of 'Doctor Steinburg'.
Dave Keena reports
HRI review:
Willie Mullins isn’t ruling out JP McManus supplementing FACT TO FILE for the Cheltenham Gold Cup – just as the Limerick patron did to tremendous effect with Inothewayurthinkin last year - after the 2025 Ryanair Chase victor galloped to a dominant triumph in the Paddy Power Irish Gold Cup at Leopardstown today.
The Dublin Racing Festival concluded on the Bank Holiday and if there was a chill in the air, it was red hot on the track.
It has been a testing week for all involved in Leopardstown given the unprecedented rain that has fallen during the week, but a pleasing crowd attended for the programme rescheduled from Saturday, and they hailed a new champion.
They also feted the former kingpin, before and after, with Galopin Des Champs, winner of this illustrious prize on the last three renewals, running well in third and Mullins is not losing faith in his long-time stable star.
Meanwhile, another stablemate, Gaelic Warrior completed a 1-2-3 for the Carlow-based conditioner, who was winning the feature for the 15th time.
The Closutton colossus posted a treble of Grade 1 winners on the card and five in total over the two days but a significant characteristic of this yield was that four of that quintet were for owner JP McManus and were ridden by Mark Walsh.
It was a stunning 28 hours or so in particular for the Clane jockey, who will relinquish duties as McManus’ first jockey to Harry Cobden next season but he remains at the very peak of his powers will clearly continue to be in demand, not least in the green and gold. Mullins himself noted the upside for his operation of Walsh being more available to him in the future.
Gordon Elliott kept his bid for a maiden champion trainer’s title on an even keel with a double, Jack Kennedy doing the steering on both, and the Cullentra House man finished with five winners, while former champion jockey Kennedy has now hit the front in the riders’ table, having been led to the No 1 lollipop four times.
Two of those were Grade 1s and if yesterday’s heroine, Brighterdaysahead undoubtedly holds pride of place, the gutsy success of ROMEO COOLIO in today’s Goffs Irish Arkle Novice Chase was memorable too.
It was a day to remember too for jockey Niall Moore and trainer Philip Fenton, as they landed the €100,000 Listed Race And Stay At Leopardstown Handicap Hurdle with the courageous SAINT LE FORT.
File puts elite field to the sword in high-class affair
“Come on Paul,” they shouted. This was in the parade ring, as Paul Townend climbed aboard Galopin Des Champs, looking to make history by winning the Paddy Power Irish Gold Cup for a fourth straight season.
The atmosphere was febrile then and through the race, as Audrey Turley’s 10-year-old raced prominently throughout.
But as the Stones sang, you can’t always get what you want.
Nonetheless, the son of Timos was not given a hard time by his pilot once victory was out of the question half-way between the last two fences and held off Firefox to be third.
The racing public are a knowledgeable crew, however, and they gave easy winner, FACT TO FILE (9/2) and Mark Walsh a warm ovation as he took it up and pulled away by five lengths from Gaelic Warrior. They were equally generous when horse and jockey returned to the winner’s enclosure.
“A bit like Majborough yesterday, that’s the real Fact To File today. “He didn’t show up in (the King George), the ground was probably too quick for him. He was never happy and I was never happy on him in Kempton.
“He’s after showing us today what we always knew he could do, and he has done it.
“I was just a passenger, all I had to do was steer him. He’s so clever, you just leave it to him. He’s one of those horses that is a joy to ride.
“He was fairly keen here on his two runs last year over three miles behind Galopin Des Champs, but he has learned so much now. He’s the complete package now.
“When I jumped to the front four out, which was a mile too soon, I didn’t want to be there but I let him use his jumping. There’s no point in taking him back. I knew jumping the second-last when I gave him a little squeeze after it and he pricked his ears, and I said I had plenty left.
“Up the straight, you could see him after the last looking at the crowd and pricking his ears - there was plenty left.”
“That was a hell of a performance, both from Mark and the horse,” gushed Mullins. “He jumped from fence to fence and it was something to watch.
“I was wondering would he stay the trip going at that pace, because they went a fair lick from the start. He stayed every inch of it and galloped right through the line.
“I think it was one of the best chases run in Ireland or England this year. The class of horse that was in it was fantastic. It turned out to be as good as it looked.
“We had him in the Gold Cup but he was withdrawn, but he could always go in as a supplementary entry. I think that’s what last year’s winner was. We haven’t spoken and we’ll see what happens.
“The first thing Mark remarked to me when he got off the horse was that when he hit the front he pricked his ears, which tells us all that he had more in the tank.
“From the first day he came into the stable he just exuded the fact that he was a racehorse and he’s proved it today here.
“We had so many horses in the race that any one of them could have put up a performance. That was far and above what he had done before.”
Of Gaelic Warrior, Mullins said: “He ran too free. I thought he was running a great race. Down to the fifth-last I thought he had every chance of winning, but his exertions early on in the race just told.
“That doesn’t take away from him. At the pace he went there he could be a Ryanair horse, but he definitely stays a trip as well.”
As for Galopin?
“He ran a terrific race. The exertions at Christmas probably just told against him. He’ll have a much longer break now for the Gold Cup in Cheltenham. He’ll go there in good order, I hope, too.
“He was jumping well and he was doing a lot of racing, I think. It was his second run of the season and I said this before the race, my only worry was a horse’s second run… and he had a very hard race at Christmas. He ran two or even three races, coming where he came from.
“I wasn’t despondent. He was right there at the third-last, and it just told a bit but hopefully if I can get him back in the same form back at Cheltenham, hopefully he can run a good race.”
And he was glowing in his praise of Walsh.
“He’s a tip-top rider. He’s going to get some fantastic rides from JP, there’s a lot of horses there, and it’ll leave him more scope to ride horses for other yards, and more of my horses as well.
“Mark has always performed very well. I’ve never any doubt about Mark performing well… he’s ridden plenty of winners, plenty of Grade 1 winners for JP and me.”
Steinberg delivers Doctor’s orders
DOCTOR STEINBERG did a lot wrong but was still a facile winner of the day’s opener, the Grade 1 Nathaniel Lacy Solicitors Novice Hurdle.
The 7/4 favourite appeared to have plenty left in the tank at the line, which was quite something given how free he was on heavy ground. He pulled himself to the front at the second-last as the pacemaker Yeshil folded and was only kept up to his work with the minimum of persuasion by Paul Townend in the straight. That still was enough for him to pull right away by eight lengths for owners, Jodmart Construction.
“It was very impressive on that ground,” said Mullins, earning his third Grade 1 success of the festival after yesterday’s double.
Remarkably, that duo – Kaid D’authie and Majborough - were bought out of the same race in France in 2023.
Doctor Steinberg was one of a pair of horses bought the same year from renowned producer Walter Connors, in Closutton’s annual harvesting of the renowned Dungarvan nursery, Sluggara Farm. Kopek Des Bordes, a Grade 1 winner at last year’s Dublin Racing Festival, was the other.
“Every time we’ve gone up in trip, he seems to like it,” said trainer Willie Mullins. “He’s out of a Cyborg mare and that’s all stamina.
“I think we bought two off Walter that year, Kopek Des Bordes and this fella so it’s a 100 per cent record in Grade 1s which is fantastic.
“It was probably going to the last the first time before he relaxed. There was a horse up his backside everywhere he went and he was very free, but he kept galloping - the fact that he could pull like that and still be galloping at the end of two-miles-six on very tough ground.
“We thought he was a summer horse first so he goes on all sorts of ground, but he seems to be better when he has tougher conditions.”
While it was a third elite triumph of Dublin Racing Festival for Mullins to that point, it was a first for jockey Paul Townend.
“He just keeps getting better,” said the appreciative East Cork native.
Narciso Has all the answers
NARCISO HAS justified even money favouritism to land the Gannon´s City Recovery Juvenile Hurdle for the Mullins/McManus/Walsh triumvirate.
Long renowned as a master of the hold-up ride, Walsh replicated his tactics on Majborough 24 hours earlier in the Ladbrokes Dublin Chase by making the running.
Whereas the two-mile chaser burned all his rivals off with his relentless galloping and jumping, this was a more delicately judged affair, and Jack Kennedy did loom upsides approaching the second-last hurdle on Mange Tout, who had turned Narciso Has over on his Irish debut at the end of November.
Mange Tout was 4lb better off today but though Walsh was first to ask his partner for more effort, when Narciso Has went through the gears, Kennedy began to get lower in the saddle and by the line, Gordon Elliott’s mare had to settle for third, with the winner’s stablemate Selma De Vary running magnificently under a hold-up ride by Paul Townend to take the runner-up berth for Susannah Ricci, on his first outing on these shores.
It was all about Narciso Has though, who was making it two-in-a-row at Leopardstown and will now be a warm order to complete a Grade 1 double in the Triumph Hurdle at Cheltenham.
“He’s a different horse from the first day I rode him in Fairyhouse - his first run in Ireland, out of France, and he was a big baby and was behind the bridle the whole way,” Walsh reported.
“I made all the running there today and (he’s) just a different horse completely.
“I was good and long at the last - I could hear the boys coming, so I had to go for it and, in fairness to this lad, he has loads of scope. he came there and winged it.”
The champion trainer was suitably impressed.
“It was a very good performance, he did it the hard way from the front,” said Mullins.
“He settles lovely in front, jumps well in front, and has enough for a kick at the end. “He’s mature as well and, looking at him, I think he’s going to make into a nice chaser. He’s a fine, big, specimen of a horse.
“I liked him from the first day that he came in. He was very green the first day that he ran, but he’s learning all the time. He has his two ears pricked going down the back the whole way. He seemed well within himself and well able to handle himself.”
He was delighted with the runner-up too. “She missed a lot of time and I think she’ll improve a good bit for that run. She was a little bit green going to the last. Paul brought her wide, he didn’t want to get involved with the others.
“I think she’s a filly that has a big future.”
Wherefore art thou? Romeo prevails in thrillers
ROMEO COOLIO justified prohibitive odds of 4/9f but it wasn’t always comfortable viewing for those that got stuck in, not to mind owners KTDA Racing, enjoying their second triumph of the Dublin Racing Festival after Bowensonfire’s win yesterday.
It was a third winner for trainer Gordon Elliott and jockey Jack Kennedy, and second Grade 1, after Brighterdaysahead scored in yesterday’s Timeless Sash Windows Irish Champion Hurdle.
Kargese set a very strong gallop in the conditions under Paul Townend, but had Romeo Coolio upsides most of the way, with Downmexicoway booked for third place money by the second obstacle.
It wasn’t a surprise that Kennedy was the first of the riders to have to ask for serious effort, given the minimum trip does not play to his charge’s strengths. Stamina is Romeo Coolio’s forte and as they approached the last, he had hit the front, with the soft ground clearly having an impact.
It is a credit to Kargese, given her exertions in such testing going, that she battled back and the line came just in time for the winner, who according to his rider, had idled rather than got tired. Either way, the margin was reducing rapidly and only a neck separated them at the line.
“It was nerve-wracking but I’d say as a neutral it was a great race to watch,” Elliott opined. “It was a proper gallop all the way but our lad was gutsy. It was a proper race.
“Our lad needs every bit of the trip, he was flat out. The mare had us at it. He made a few mistakes, but he’s very gutsy and he digs deep. He pulled up when he got to the front then and I was glad the line came when it did.
“It’ll be interesting to see what Jack says. I’d say Jack maybe idled a bit as well, he thought he was home and hosed. He should have kept going, but thankfully we held on.
“I wouldn’t be shocked to see him stepping out in trip now.”
Kennedy confirmed that Romeo Coolio had been pushed out of his comfort zone but his intestinal fortitude got him home.
“We went a very strong gallop,” the Dingle man stated. “My lad's jumping was unbelievable until the ditch down the back and just made two little mistakes then.
"I was on the back foot really the whole way from there. I suppose his stamina kicked in down to the last and he probably got a bit lonely in front. To be fair to the mare, she was good and hardy to get back at him
"I was very happy with his jumping, I thought it was a lot sharper today until the ditch down the back. I met the next one lovely and I kind of just let him at it himself, thinking he would come and he just put in another little, short one.
"Thankfully, he got it done anyway.”
Moore holds the Fort off bottom weight
Niall Moore had to claim 5lb off 10 stone but he will enjoy his dinner tonight after managing to galvanise a renewed effort from SAINT LE FORT (10/1) to reel in Savante and prevail by a head in the Listed Race And Stay at Leopardstown Handicap Hurdle.
Moore took it up on the Philip Fenton-trained six-year-old two out but Callum Hogan looked to have timed his run to perfection on the Colm Murphy-trained Savante.
But Saint Le Fort rallied gamely to get back up, Moore excelling in the colours of CDL Racing.
“He’s a horse that’s improving,” said Moore. “As a young horse, you probably thought he was a lot sharper than what he is. He’s a very tough stayer. We found out that this year. And a French-bred horse, he loves soft ground.
“We got a really good start. Philip said to be handy and I don’t need to tell anyone, Philip Fenton rode enough winners here to tell you where to be in a race. And once you do as you’re told with Philip you’ll never be too far wrong.
“When I asked him to come alive for me, he was loving it.”
Fenton admitted to having a moment of worry when Moore hit the front so far out.
“When he took it up, I was thinking, ‘Are we there too soon?,’” said Fenton. “Niall knew what he was doing. He took the bull by the horns and it worked out.
“He’s in with me six days a week and is a great chap. He had to get down to 9st 9lb today, so that would be tough going. He wouldn’t have had much to eat over the last three or four days. He was adamant he’d do the weight, so fair dues to him for pulling it off.”
Elliott rounds off DRF with last two winners
JACOB’S LADDER (2/1f) and BROADWAY TED (18/1) won the last two races, the €100,000 Barberstown Castle Handicap Chase and the Grade 2 Paddy Power INH Flat Race to round off an excellent weekend for Gordon Elliott.
Jacob’s Ladder is a progressive staying novice and even though there were rivals travelling better turning for home, Jack Kennedy was able to use the Gigginstown gelding’s stamina, despite giving away lots of weight, including 13lb to runner-up and stablemate, Golden Joy.
To win by five lengths was impressive.
“I was a bit worried about the ground being so soft but I’m happy, it was a good performance,” Elliott said.
“I was happy the whole way, he looked comfortable the whole way. Jack got him in a lovely rhythm. I’d imagine he’ll go straight now for a handicap at Cheltenham, all being well.”
He was ecstatic to finish so well after a fantastic couple of days that maintained an electric season to date.
“It’s been unbelievable. I don’t know how many placed horses we’ve had as well and they’ve all run great.
“It was a good performance (by Broadway Ted, ridden by Barry O’Neill, who edged out stablemate With Nolimit by a short head, with another Elliott charge Charismatic Kid, the beaten 7/4f in third). They’re all nice horses. He’s a big, staying horse, that’s the kind of horse we have. To have five winners is unbelievable.”
