Mullins braced for Irish Gold Cup battle

Nick Robson
February 2, 2024 3:38 pm

‘It’s going to be a hell of a race,’ declares champion trainer.

Willie Mullins is anticipating another great race between Galopin Des Champs and the Martin Brassil-trained Fastorslow in the Paddy Power Irish Gold Cup at Leopardstown on Saturday.

The two have met three times in total, initially in the 2022 John Durkan, when Fastorslow was having his first run over fences in Ireland and he was 21 lengths behind Mullins’ runner.

Fast forward to last April and Galopin Des Champs was the new darling of Irish racing, having won the Gold Cup at Cheltenham, while Fastorslow stepped up to take him on at Punchestown having been beaten a neck by subsequent Grand National winner Corach Rambler in a handicap.

Fastorslow showed he was a much-improved performer there, though, coming out on top at 20-1 – and he proved that was no fluke by beating Galopin Des Champs again in the John Durkan when both made their reappearance this season.

What a race! 👏
A thrilling renewal of the Grade 1 John Durkan Memorial Punchestown Chase as Fastorslow confirms form with Galopin Des Champs, with the seven-year-old scoring narrowly from Appreciate It under the guidance of JJ Slevin for trainer Martin Brassil 🏆 pic.twitter.com/zOrSilqtDS

— Punchestown (@punchestownrace) November 26, 2023

Mullins believes a change in tactics helped Galopin Des Champs return to his best at Christmas, when Fastorslow came out on the morning of the Savills Chase due to the soft ground, and the Closutton handler is hoping for a blockbuster race between them again.

“It’s going to be a hell of a race. I hope it turns out well and that the two of us are coming to the second-last, or indeed even the last – it’s going to be a great race,” said the champion trainer.

“He put two middling performances behind him, we changed tactics on the day and it worked. Hopefully he hasn’t left his season behind him there, but it was a good enough race to win anyhow. Hopefully he can do the same again on Saturday and we can go on to Cheltenham after that.

“We’ve been very lucky in the race but I’ve always targeted the race, whereas some people miss it to go to Cheltenham. It’s the Irish Gold Cup, it’s got great prize money and we must support our own races, that’s my view.

“I remember coming home from the races one day and my wife Jackie asking me if we’d ever have a horse good enough to run in the race, never mind win it. I appreciate whenever we have a horse good enough to run them, I enter them and see what happens.”

Mullins also runs last season’s Irish Grand National winner I Am Maximus but he has over 30 lengths to find with his stablemate from Christmas.

J J Slevin with Fastorslow following the John Durkan (PA Wire)

For Brassil, who won the Grand National at Aintree with Numbersixvalverde in 2006, Fastorslow has catapulted him back into the big time.

“It’s easy to get up in the mornings when you have a horse like him, we have other nice horses as well but he’s the star attraction all right,” he said.

“Any horse that goes to Cheltenham and just comes up on the wrong side of the lollipop has to be a fair horse, he gave the National winner weight and he was a really strong National winner and it’s possible he could be in the Gold Cup too.

“He’s not short of pace, people don’t notice how fast he jumps, he’s very slick over a fence, he makes a bit of ground at every fence and over 16 or 18 fences it all adds up.

“I don’t think he’s underestimated after what he did in the John Durkan, he’s a solid second favourite and if he runs up to what is expected, we’d be happy.”

The field is completed by Gordon Elliott’s Conflated, the 2022 hero here and last season’s Savills Chase winner, who unshipped Sam Ewing when making a tired mistake at the last in that corresponding race over the festive period this term.

Elliott said: “There’s four left in it; Galopin Des Champs, I Am Maximus, Fastorslow and Conflated. Conflated, on ratings, should only be third but he’s in good form and seems to like going left-handed around Leopardstown, so we’re looking forward to running him.

“I was very impressed with Galopin Des Champs the last day, he was awesome and he seemed to relish a bit of soft ground, which he’ll get again. He’s the one we all have to beat but if you’re not in, you can’t win.”