Unsurprisingly, Willie Mullins is right: the Gold Cup, or its equivalent at any racing festival should be the pinnacle and scheduled as such.
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Joe BloGGs
Galopin Des Champs deserved to be the last of the Dublin Racing Festival’s Grade 1 heroes, though it’s fair to say Saturday’s crowd certainly revelled in witnessing a truly great champion…
However, his was the crowning achievement of the weekend and the pedestal should have awaited when his fellow Grade 1-winning stablemates were safely back in their boxes. Cheltenham would have it be so, and so should any other major meeting.
Racing is unusual in heralding its stayers as the ultimate in glory. In athletics, the marathon winner may have registered the greatest feat, but the event is far less anticipated than the 100 metre finals, while it was the middle distance championships won by Coe, Cram and Ovett that were so coveted in the 1980s and 1990s over 800 and 1500 metres.
It is undeniable that the winner of the Gold Cup come Friday, 14th March will be the enduring storyline of the week. However, the Queen Mother Champion Chase and Ryanair Chase heroes will be no lesser Grade 1 winners when they romp home on Wednesday and Thursday.
The Ryanair Chase is bemoaned by many as having taken away some of the potential competition from the Gold Cup. Had it existed in the 1980s and 1990s, Desert Orchid may never have been haunted by Cheltenham hoodoo, nor would One Man have been so petrified of the Cheltenham Hill.
So, it is possible that the Gold Cup has not always been the very summit of the Cheltenham Festival in recent years. Let’s say we took the winners of the three open Grade 1 chases at the Cheltenham Festival and said they all had to run in the Gold Cup over 3m2f. Would the result still have been the same?
Below, I’ve highlighted all of said winners since 2008 (when the Ryanair became a Grade 1), and who I believe would win a rerun of that year’s Gold Cup…
Winners of the Open Grade 1 Chases & Who Would Win a Rerun Gold Cup
| Year | Champion Chase | Ryanair Chase | Gold Cup |
| 2008 | Master Minded | Our Vic | Denman |
| 2009 | Master Minded | Imperial Commander | Kauto Star |
| 2010 | Big Zeb | Albertas Run | Imperial Commander |
| 2011 | Sizing Europe | Albertas Run | Long Run |
| 2012 | Finian’s Rainbow | Riverside Theatre | Synchronised |
| 2013 | Sprinter Sacre | Cue Card | Bobs Worth |
| 2014 | Sire De Grugy | Dynaste | Lord Windermere |
| 2015 | Dodging Bullets | Uxizandre | Coneygree |
| 2016 | Sprinter Sacre | Vautour | Don Cossack |
| 2017 | Special Tiara | Un De Sceaux | Sizing John |
| 2018 | Altior | Balko Des Flos | Native River |
| 2019 | Altior | Frodon | Al Boum Photo |
| 2020 | Politologue | Min | Al Boum Photo |
| 2021 | Put The Kettle On | Allaho | Minella Indo |
| 2022 | Energumene | Allaho | A Plus Tard |
| 2023 | Energumene | Envoi Allen | Galopin Des Champs |
| 2024 | Captain Guinness | Protektorat | Galopin Des Champs |
| Champions | 1 | 2 | 14 |
Given the extreme distance, there has to be significant reasonable doubt to deny the Gold Cup hero their flowers. As a result, only three renewals of the Friday championship come under scrutiny and all in a condensed time period.
Even a horse with the ability and unknown staying power of Master Minded surely could not have lived with stablemates Denman and Kauto Star during their Cheltenham triumphs, while Imperial Commander and Long Run both beat Denman and Kauto Star en route to their Gold Cups. Had Sizing Europe, Imperial Commander himself, or Albertas Run hung around until 2012, they may well have had a case for denying Synchronised, but Riverside Theatre never stayed 3m let alone 3m2f, and Finian’s Rainbow was a mere predecessor among Nicky Henderson’s great two-milers.
The greatest of all of those was Sprinter Sacre, and though his nextdoor neighbour Bobs Worth ultimately ran out an authoritative winner of the 2013 Gold Cup, it was far from a vintage year. Sprinter Sacre may never have stepped beyond 2m4f, but when he ran over that distance, he obliterated Cue Card, another modern great, hard on the bridle and wasn’t stopping. It is impossible to prove, but difficult to deny that he could so easily have won any race of his choosing. And that’s what makes this fun.
Dynaste was a very talented horse if not quite top class, but 2014 was a funny year. Sire De Grugy was an out-and-out two-miler, while Lord Windermere is easily the weakest Gold Cup winner in this time period, probably this century, and possibly ever. Dynaste won a Grade 1 novice event over 3m1f and was second in a King George; he’d do for me in the betting of a fantasy rematch.
From Sizing John onwards, the Gold Cup greats have a stranglehold on history, even if Frodon and Allaho may have given Al Boum Photo and Minella Indo respectively a fair fright. 2016 is home to the last “Gold Cup of Reasonable Doubt” as while Don Cossack was a hulking brute of a horse, Vautour was the star of this era.
Yes, he got caught on the line in the King George and yes, Willie Mullins shirked the battle when deploying his gazelle in equine form to the Ryanair instead. But his was the grace and the breathtaker, and he adored Cheltenham. We were robbed of his presence in a Gold Cup.
In the stamina as king racing world, the Gold Cup would, more often than not, have it right. If anything, the fact that aspersions can be cast against three of past 17 champions given the disparity in distances between the three races says that the Ryanair and Champion Chases have impeded upon the spectacle.
If racing were not so predisposed to long distances though, the middle distance would surely be the fairest arena for kingmaking? For a second look, let’s say a one-off championship race between the three winners took place over 2m5f to determine the ultimate champion of Cheltenham chasing each year…
Winners of the Open Grade 1 Chases & Who Would Win a Middle Distance Championship
| Year | Champion Chase | Ryanair Chase | Gold Cup |
| 2008 | Master Minded | Our Vic | Denman |
| 2009 | Master Minded | Imperial Commander | Kauto Star |
| 2010 | Big Zeb | Albertas Run | Imperial Commander |
| 2011 | Sizing Europe | Albertas Run | Long Run |
| 2012 | Finian’s Rainbow | Riverside Theatre | Synchronised |
| 2013 | Sprinter Sacre | Cue Card | Bobs Worth |
| 2014 | Sire De Grugy | Dynaste | Lord Windermere |
| 2015 | Dodging Bullets | Uxizandre | Coneygree |
| 2016 | Sprinter Sacre | Vautour | Don Cossack |
| 2017 | Special Tiara | Un De Sceaux | Sizing John |
| 2018 | Altior | Balko Des Flos | Native River |
| 2019 | Altior | Frodon | Al Boum Photo |
| 2020 | Politologue | Min | Al Boum Photo |
| 2021 | Put The Kettle On | Allaho | Minella Indo |
| 2022 | Energumene | Allaho | A Plus Tard |
| 2023 | Energumene | Envoi Allen | Galopin Des Champs |
| 2024 | Captain Guinness | Protektorat | Galopin Des Champs |
| Champions | 5 | 5 | 7 |
As it should do, this gauge provides much more even results. The Ryanair may be the middle distance showpiece, but still the Gold Cup reigns supreme, with numerous winners likely to have been versatile enough stepping back in trip. Kauto Star, A Plus and Galopin Des Champs are all Grade 1 winners over shorter, while Imperial Commander made the leap directly from Ryanair to Gold Cup hero in 2009 and 2010.
Stepping up in distance, the likes of Master Minded and Altior could easily have won over 2m5f if they wanted for all we could not have known about their stamina for 3m+. Only Un De Sceaux, Min and Allaho could have successfully defended their middle distance honour, beyond the aforementioned Dynaste and Vautour.
In jumps racing’s bubble, there is no doubt the Gold Cup produces the worthiest champions, but we often value their doughtiness and spirit beyond their class. Yet, in the last three years, and the past two decades overall, the race has played host to the greatest talent too.
Listen to Willie Mullins. Put your Gold Cups at the end of the week, and treasure their winners above all.
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Wed 22 Jan 2025Fascinations & Irritations
The Dublin Racing Festival is a fascination all of itself, but a few choice moments stand out.
Fascination – The Timeliness of Greatness
This is not a specific dig at the Racing Post, but it is often the way that sporting greatness has a way of answering back in the most devastating fashion. Alan Hansen can never live down his “you can’t win anything with kids” quip, while a personal favourite of mine is Rickie Fowler winning the 2015 Players Championship the same week in which he was voted the most overrated player in the world by his peers.
In similar fashion, and just two days prior to Galopin Des Champs being met with chants of utter adulation, the Post had published an opinion piece suggesting the now three-time Irish Gold Cup hero had failed to make an impact on the public like his two-mile hurdling equivalent in Constitution Hill. Within 48 hours, Leopardstown erupted as few racecourses have in recent years to welcome back a gladiator extraordinaire.
Constitution Hill was greeted by hats in the air at Kempton, but he did not inspire masses to break out into song. Racing needs responses like that though, as it demonstrates to the outside that these are no ordinary superstars. Wins for either at Cheltenham will only evidence the timeliness of their greatness even further.
Irritation – The Inevitability of Short-Priced Cheltenham Favourites
Just as it looked like we may get some unusually open renewals of some of Cheltenham’s Grade 1 novice events, Willie Mullins unleashed two horses seemingly destined to be future superstars.
Kopek Des Bordes and Final Demand both won in splendid isolation. Their performances were fantastic to watch, but both are now priced up at odds shorter than 2/1 and you would be brave to back against either of them.
Salvator Mundi was a previous column irritation, by virtue purely of being the Supreme favourite, but at least he was a best price of 7/2 and was genuinely vulnerable. Now you have to make substantially more ambitious cases; maybe their Leopardstown contests were there for the taking, could the Brits actually have some fighting power in the division this year?
Even if the answer to both of those questions is yes, that does not make them that much more opposable. It is trickier for punters when races are 3/1 the field, but at least it makes the journey through the riddle that much more enjoyable.
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Wed 29 Jan 2025Tip for the Weekend
What’s betting if you don’t occasionally take a risk?
King William Rufus is the 66/1 rank outsider in the ante-post market for the newly-sponsored William Hill Handicap Hurdle (formerly the Betfair Hurdle) on Saturday. He is at the foot of the weights in the 23 entries, but is well within the handicap.
He won so impressively just two starts ago at Ascot, and may have been reappearing too soon when running just a week later at Chepstow. Hopefully he runs here rather than his other engagement at Warwick, as his facile Ascot victory remains in the memory, and he could have a part to play even up 10lb. The contest could easily cut up too, so he may well make the first four.