The exciting Galopin Des Champs began his campaign towards the Cheltenham Gold Cup with a faultless round of jumping to win the John Durkan Memorial Chase at Punchestown on Monday.
He earned a ‘Wow’ from trainer Willie Mullins after he easily brushed aside the four-time Grade 1 winner Fakir D’oudairies to win by 13 lengths at odds of 2-9, for which he was cut to 2-1 favourite (from 5-2) for next year’s Gold Cup by Coral.
The victory took Galopin Des Champs’s record over fences to four wins from five starts under Paul Townend, their only defeat occurring in the Turners Novices’ Chase at the Cheltenham Festival when he crumpled on landing after the last fence when the race had looked in the bag.
