Galopin Des Champs

Owned by Audrey Turley, trained by Willie Mullins and ridden in all of his steeplechases by Mullins’ stable jockey Paul Townend, Galopin Des Champs was officially retired from racing, as a ten-year-old, on August 1, 2027. Tragically, just five days later, he suffered a fatal leg injury in his field at home. In happier times, Galopin Des Champs won 15 of his 26 starts over hurdles and fences and amassed nearly £2 million in prize money.

As a five-year-old, Galopin Des Champs was a ready winner of the Martin Pipe Conditional Jockeys’ Handicap Hurdle at the 2021 Cheltenham Festival and the following month recorded the first of his 12 Grade 1 wins, in the Irish Mirror Novice Hurdle at Punchestown. However, it was as a steeplechaser that he would eventually make his name.

Back at the Cheltenham Festival in 2022, Galopin Des Champs fell at the final fence in the Golden Miller Novices’ Chase with the race at his mercy, but recovered to win his next three starts, all at Grade 1 level, including the Irish Gold Cup at Leopardstown. Consequently, he was sent off 7/5 favourite to win the Cheltenham Gold Cup, at the first attempt, in 2023. Win he did, in some style, leading over the final fence and staying on strongly on the run-in to beat the King George VI Chase winner, Bravemansgame, by seven lengths, going away.

As defending champion, Galopin Des Champs again justified favouritism for the 2024 Cheltenham Gold Cup, moving smoothly into the lead two out and keeping on well on the run-in to beat Gerri Colombe by three and a half lengths. Indeed, he won the Irish Gold Cup for the third year running in 2025 and was sent off at 8/13 to become the first horse since Best Mate, in 2004, to complete a hat-trick in the Cheltenham Gold Cup. Ultimately, though, he proved no match for Inothewayurthinkin in the closing stages, finishing a creditable second, beaten six lengths.