Cheltenham Gold Cup: Galopin Des Champs on track to face five domestic challengers | Racing news
Gallopin Des Champs chasing a hat-trick leads 19 entries for the Boodles Cheltenham Gold Cup, with just a record low five British contenders for March’s blue-ribbon competition.
Willie Mullins’ nine-year-old has been a Gold Cup powerhouse for the past two years and after defeating his rivals at Leopardstown over Christmas, he is favorite to replicate the big best friend and make it three Gold Cups in a row.
His main market rival appears to be stablemate Fact To File, who cut the colors of Galopin Des Champs in the John Durkan before seeing a turnaround in the Savills Chase.
He is, however, also among the leading contenders for the shorter Ryanair Chase after 34 of them put their names in the mix for the competition on Tuesday morning.
King George one-two Banbridge and Il Est Francais appear among the entries for the Gold Cup, while at the same time they also hold tickets for Ryanair and the Champion Chase, with Gordon Elliott’s Gerri Colombe and Henry de Bromhead’s Monty’s Star other notable names for Cheltenham’s main event .
The five charged with keeping British pride alive are festival hero Dan Skelton’s returning Gray Dawning, Betfair Chase winning pair Royale Pagaille and L’Homme Presse Venetia Williams, fourth King George The Real Whacker (Patrick Neville) and Lucinde Russell’s Ahoy Senor.
A surprise omission from the Gold Cup entries is Jimmy Mangan’s beaten favorite King George and John Durkan’s runner-up Spillane’s Tower, who has the only entry in the Ryanair Chase.
JP McManus-owned Jonbon leads the betting for the Champion Chase Queen Mother after being entered on the 26th.
His potential rivals include a strong Closutton hand with two-time winner Energumene, last year’s Arkle champion Gaelic Warrior and the beaten favorite in the race 12 months ago in the form of El Fabiola.
