'You dream about these sort of things': Willie Mullins savours Cheltenham glory
Galopin The Willie The Press Cup Won Cheltenham Gold 1) And Townend Paul Des Boodles After (grade Face Mullins Photographers Chase Champs
In a week in which he became a Cheltenham centurion, it was only fitting that Willie Mullins marked the 100th anniversary of the first Gold Cup with a fourth win in six years and hot favourite Galopin Des Champs ensured he did just that with a classy performance in the Festival feature.
“You dream about these sort of things but you don’t dream of what has happened to Closutton [his training base] over the last 25 to 30 years,” Mullins said as he reflected on his latest golden moment.
Asked how another Gold Cup win compares to passing the 100 Festival winners mark, Mullins replied: “There’ll be very few people reach 100 [winners], there’s a Gold Cup every year. But I never aspired to have 100 winners, I never dreamt it, you don’t do that.”
A third treble of the week brought Mullins’ tally for the Festival to nine, one short of the record 10 he managed in 2022, justifying the confidence he felt in the build-up to Cheltenham.
“We thought our Cheltenham team was just in tip-top order and it proved to be. They’ve just come over here and run out of their skin.”
That they have.
Sadly Mullins’ beloved mother Maureen didn’t get to see her son’s latest Cheltenham exploits.
She died last month at the age of 94 and would no doubt have been in her element this week.
"I’d love to have had my mother and my father here, just for the week, never mind winning the Gold Cup. But it wasn’t to be, it wasn’t to be.”
Galopin Des Champs was ridden to victory by Midleton jockey Paul Townend, a man who made his own piece of Cheltenham history as his fourth Gold Cup win saw him join Arkle partner Pat Taffe as the race’s most successful rider.
“It’s amazing and it's all down to Willie,” Townend said after his sixth winner of the week.
“He brought me over here and gave me a lot of experience as a young rider behind Ruby (Walsh). I'm grateful to be able to repay him here with winners.”
Townend had earlier delighted his boss with a brilliant ride on Absurde in the day’s second race, the County Hurdle.
“What a rider that man is. There can’t be one bit of warm blood in his veins — it’s all cold I’d say. To ride it the way he rode it — to me that’s the ride of the week.”
After a blank Thursday, Mullins hit back in the opening race on Gold Cup day as Majborough won the Triumph Hurdle, a sign of things to come.
Gordon Elliott enjoyed a double as Stellar Story ran out a surprise winner of the Albert Bartlett Novices’ Hurdle before Better Days Ahead brought the Festival to a conclusion by winning the last race of the week.
Better Days Ahead was the sixth Irish-trained winner of the day — the Gavin Cromwell-trained Limerick Lace won the penultimate race — and ensured we retained the Prestbury Cup for a sixth successive year.
While the week ended on a high, there were some worrying signs for Cheltenham chiefs. The attendance on Wednesday was just 46,771, 3,616 less than last year.
A day later just shy of 54,000 people made the journey to Prestbury Park, 8,511 less than the equivalent day in 2023.
The drop in attendance was reflected in an unusually flat atmosphere both days.
Now might be a good time to reconsider the policy of fleecing racegoers.
Otherwise, people may continue to vote with their feet.
But those are concerns for another day.
For now, we can celebrate another successful trip to the Cotswolds.
Roll on 2025.