Galopin Des Champs is the most experienced runner in Monday’s Paddy Power Irish Gold Cup but he’s not the oldest for the €250,000 highlight of the Dublin Racing Festival’s rescheduled second day at Leopardstown.
In fact, the dominant steeplechaser of recent years is the youngest of the four 10-year-old horses in the record 13-strong field.
All horses officially have a January 1st birthday, but their actual foaling date is more exact, and Galopin Des Champs came into the world on May 12th, 2016, marginally after his stable companions, I Am Maximus, Champ Kiely and Grangeclare West.
Since tiny margins famously matter at elite level, and amid a growing belief that Galopin must be on the slide now that his age has hit double-digits, his supporters will hope the old Picasso line about not growing older but riper can apply.
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If it does, the odds look to favour Willie Mullins’s star recording a unique four-in-a-row in the race. Mullins’s old favourite Florida Pearl pulled off a hat-trick between 1999 and 2001 before landing a fourth victory in 2004.
Age ultimately wearies everything and Galopin Des Champs has 25 career starts under his belt, more than any of his rivals. But presumption has been punished in the past by this remarkable horse.
After Inothewayurthinkin spoiled his hat-trick attempt in last season’s Cheltenham Gold Cup, some were prepared to dismiss his chances of ever landing a third blue riband. Just six weeks later came a Punchestown rout that suggested the big horse simply hadn’t been at his best in Cheltenham.
A similar vibe prevailed in some quarters after his delayed return to action here at Christmas when third to Affordale Fury in the Savills Chase. The faithful countered by pointing out how Galopin has always progressed from his first run of the season.
Whether that proves to be the case will be the focal point of what originally was an opening day programme on what is now day two of the festival with a unique Bank Holiday Monday date to boot.
Three other Grade One contests have the potential to establish an Irish pecking order for some Cheltenham races in six weeks’ time. Romeo Coolio in a three-runner Arkle and the Triumph Hurdle favourite Narciso Has will be of huge interest in themselves.
But central to all of it will be the progress of the black gelding in the brown and yellow silks when the big race is off at 3.30pm.
Mullins has seven other shots at the prize he has won 14 times in all. They include I Am Maximus, runner up in the Savills, and Fact To File, who Mark Walsh has opted for over Inothewayurthinkin. The mercurial Gaelic Warrior has the potential to upset any applecart on a going day.
The most straightforward interpretation might even be that Affordale Fury confirms his Savills form and heads to Cheltenham as Ireland’s No. 1 blue riband hope. Donagh Meyler is back on board him having missed out at Christmas due to suspension.
Galopin Des Champs around Leopardstown, though, is a formula that’s still hard to beat.
The card opens with the Grade One Lacy & Partners Novice Hurdle where Kazansky is Jack Kennedy’s pick from a Gordon Elliott quartet taking a pair of Mullins runners apparently topped by Doctor Steinberg.
Ultra-testing ground will make it a real stamina check and possibly Jalon d’Oudairies might prove a value betting option in the circumstances.
Even when the Mullins team didn’t appear to be firing on all cylinders over Christmas, Narciso Has was a singularly impressive festive winner. He’s back for the Gannon’s Juvenile Hurdle where his stable companion Selma de Vary is an interesting recruit to racing in Ireland and in receipt of a 7lbs sex allowance. Narciso Has might again prove a level above.
The festival hasn’t got a much-anticipated Arkle clash between Kopes Des Bordes and Romeo Coolio, but the latter will still have to be close to the top of his game to overcome Kargese and her own sex allowance.
The concluding Grade Two bumper has a notable record for producing top-flight prospects and It’s Only A Game could emerge on top. He overcame a troubled passage to score at Punchestown in November.
