Gallopin des Champs, the Cheltenham Gold Cup winner in 2022 and 2023, is the clear favorite to become the first to complete a hat-trick of steeplechasing championship events following a deeply impressive return to winning form in the Savills Chase since Best Met in 2004. Leopardstown.
Willie Mullins’ eight-year-old colt went into the race as 5-2 joint favorite for the Gold Cup alongside his stablemate Fact To File, who was also his main market rival for Saturday’s Grade One.
However, after tracking the front-runner Gallopin des Champs at second-last, Fact To File had no answer as Paul Townend moved through the gears on the 5-6 favorite and made a spectacular jump at the last to take the lead by seven. -Put a seal on it. Success by one and a half lengths.
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Greg Wood’s Sunday Racing Tips
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southwell 11.05 Rebel Empire 11.35 Carbine Harvester (Blink) 12.05 Dembe 12.40 Bowood 1.15 Muddy Mooy 1.50 My Mate Beatty 2.25 Gold Aura 3.35 Street Life
Doncaster 11.52 Matawana 12.27 Hurlerontheditch 1.02 Eternal Angel 1.38 Bride’s Hill 2.12 Chemical Warfare (NB) 2.47 Super Survivor 3.22 Willie Shake Hands
Kelso 12.18 Far From Over 12.53 Nab Wood 1.28 Ballyvango 2.03 Caithness 2.38 Bellbird 3.13 Senor Lombardi
Gallopin des Champs immediately moved from 4-5 to 4-5 on his way to a third consecutive Gold Cup win in March, while the win also helped ease concerns that all might not be well in Mullins’ normally effective operation. Could.
There were three winners from 47 starters at the stable on Saturday during a busy post-Christmas programme, but the day ended with a Grade One double following the success of Impaired At Passe in the feature event at Limerick.
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At Newbury, Dan Skelton’s The New Lion achieved success in the Grade One Chalco Novice Hurdle, defeating a strong field on paper under the hand ride of Harry Skelton. He was cut at around 4-1 (from 12-1) for the two-and-a-half mile Turner Novice Hurdle at Cheltenham in March and at 10-1 (from 16-1) for the Albert Bartlett Novice Hurdle. half a mile.