Gold Cup hero Galopin all set for Punchestown return
State Man another Willie Mullins big gun due to run this weekend.
Paul Townend is relishing the prospect of being reunited with Galopin Des Champs this weekend, when the Cheltenham Gold Cup hero bids for back-to-back victories in the John Durkan Memorial Punchestown Chase. The Willie Mullins-trained seven-year-old kicked off a tremendous campaign with victory in the two-and-a-half-mile Grade One last season before going on to lift the Irish Gold Cup at Leopardstown and the blue riband at Prestbury Park in March. He suffered a shock defeat at the hands of Martin Brassil’s Fastorslow on his final start of the campaign in the Punchestown Gold Cup – and the pair are set to renew rivalry in the feature event on day two of the new-look Winter Festival in County Kildare.“He takes on Fastorslow, which won’t be an easy task. He beat us here at the Festival, so we’ll have to try to get our own back on him.” Galopin Des Champs and Fastorslow are two of nine horses in contention for the John Durkan, with Mullins also responsible for Appreciate It, Asterion Forlonge, Blue Lord and Stattler. Gordon Elliott’s pair of Conflated and Farouk D’alene, and French Dynamite from Mouse Morris’ yard, complete the potential field. Mullins and Elliott are the only two trainers represented in Saturday’s main event, the Unibet Morgiana Hurdle.
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