What is it that makes a champion? Is it enough to simply win or could their be more nuance to those on whom we bequeath the title?
There have been many winners of the Cheltenham Gold Cup but fewer champions. The race was first run in 1924 and, excepting a few occasions, has been run every year since.
The horses which history remembers as champions have triumphed in this race multiple times – Golden Miller, Arkle, Best Mate for example. Eight horses have won the race in consecutive years with Al Boum Photo (2019 and 2020) and Galopin Des Champs (2023 and 2024) the most recent achievers. In the 2000s Kauto Star become the only horse to regain the title, having first won it in 2007 before triumphing again in 2009.
That is a feat Galopin Des Champs would have tried to replicate this year, had he not suffered a setback before the Festival, but with Willie Mullins’ champion horse absent others had to fill the hole he left behind, to step into the spotlight and declare ‘this is my time’. And there were plenty that tried.
The Gold Cup is the grandest of horseraces and is staged at a racecourse that is the highlight of luxury and opulence. It almost feels like a remnant of a previous British age where prestige was defined by money or power and if you were bereft of those you had to earn recognition in other ways. You had to fight to be seen, not just as a winner, but as a champion. Winning here, and in this race, means more than a season of triumphs at lesser meetings. It is where champions are made.
Irish-trained horses had won nine of the last 10 runnings, with the British-trained Native River being the anomaly in 2018. They now have 10 from the last 11.
Gaelic Warrior, a former winner at Cheltenham – who took the Arkle in 2024 – now adds the Gold Cup to his repertoire. In Mullins, he has the best trainer, in Paul Townend he now officially has the best jockey to ever ride in the race, and in himself he had the best chance to be the successor to Galopin Des Champs. His two previous races of this quality, the King George VI Chase and the Irish Gold Cup, didn’t go his way but perhaps this was the one he was made for all along?
Townend rode superbly. With Haiti Couleurs setting a quick pace out front he positioned Gaelic Warrior on the rail and rode behind the leading trio of horses which included Grey Dawning and The Jukebox Man. Alongside the stayer of Jango Baie, Gaelic Warrior was eased further wide coming from the backside of the course towards the turn. He leapt the fourth from home and was asked to move past The Jukebox Man which he duly did.
Those behind him tried to respond but they couldn’t. There are levels to this horse, he is a champion in waiting, now a Gold Cup winner.
In the Guinness Village before the race ran there were many cries of support for The Jukebox Man. The horse owned by Harry Redknapp – a man from a working-class background and a champion in his own right.
For most of the week Redknapp has done a sterling job at building support for his contender, enthusing about his trainer, Ben Pauling, and his jockey, Ben Jones, and telling stories of his nan’s love of racing and his lucky tie. His charm and appeal helped make The Jukebox Man the horse of the everyman.
Despite being heavily backed there was still an underdog nature to him and the well wishes of many Cheltenham racegoers followed him for three miles and two furlongs. ‘Go on Jukebox!’ came cries from the Paddock as Redknapp watched his contender fall away.
And what about Inothewayurthinkin? He was the forgotten star, the one who bested Galopin Des Champs in this very race last year. Back then, with the cheers of the crowd fresh in his ears he would have believed he was on the path of champions. Not so.
A horrendous season has seen him easily beaten in the John Durkan and the Savills Chase before he fell during the Irish Gold Cup a month ago. Despite his third place finish, he now feels like just another Gold Cup winner who could fall into obscurity and never match the level of champion like the great Galopin.
Gaelic Warrior’s owner, Rich Ricci, had never had a Gold Cup winning horse. He does now.
“I’ve been trying to win this race for 21 years, it’s just magic. I’s been a great week, incredible, great racing, great winners, I’m pleased for the horse,” he enthused.
“I love the game, it’s kept me involved for all these years, the passion, the people, I’ve said before, the people take me as they find me, I’m loud, obnoxious, I love the sport, and long may it last.”
226,223 spectators attended the Festival this year in an uptick of almost 8,000 from the year before. 67,016 of those watched on from the concourses as Gaelic Warrior wrote his name into the history books.
If winning the Gold Cup once is good enough to become a champion then he has achieved to goal but if repeating that feat is the true marked of greatness, well, he’s now on his way.
