If destiny looked to play a role at the Cheltenham Festival this week, it went AWOL for Friday’s Boodles Gold Cup when Inothewayurthinkin quashed the three-in-a-row ambitions of Galopin Des Champs in steeplechasing’s greatest race.
The Gavin Cromwell-trained winner had finished behind Galopin three times previously this season but delivered when it counted most and gave owner JP McManus a second Blue Riband success.
The 15/2 shot had six lengths in hand to the 8/15 favourite at the line with outsider Gentlemansgame in third and another Irish runner, Monty’s Star, in fourth.
Some incredulity at the outcome was forgivable under the circumstances as Willie Mullins had swept through all four previous races on the day at accumulated odds of 7,069/1.
Another big day for Willie Mullins at Cheltenham despite Galopin Des Champs defeat
Cheltenham 2025 day four: Inothewayurthinkin wins Gold Cup – As it happened
JP McManus’s Inothewayurthinkin ends Galopin Des Champs’s hopes of Gold Cup hat-trick
Outstanding Galopin Des Champs aiming to seal his legacy with Cheltenham Gold Cup hat-trick
Momentum alone suggested Galopin Des Champs was set to be just the fifth horse to complete a Gold Cup hat-trick. But it wasn’t to be.
On the first circuit, Galopin Des Champs wasn’t as prominent as widely expected and at times didn’t jump as fluently as usual. When the front-running Ahoy Senor fell at the 15th, he was also carried wide by Monty’s Star’s evasive action to avoid being brought down.
Nevertheless, Paul Townend looked to have got him into Position A for his appointment with history by the fourth last and on the turn in it appeared the Gold Cup script was on.
By then Mark Walsh had smuggled Inothewayurthinkin into his slipstream, along with McManus’s other hope Corbetts Cross. Sadly, the latter took a horrible fall at the second last and suffered fatal injuries. Inthewayurthinkin took over before the last to rip up the script.
It was supreme vindication for McManus’s decision to supplement his horse into Gold Cup at a cost of almost €30,000, even by his standards perhaps the most rewarding investment of his racing life.
It also sets up the potential for a remarkable Gold Cup–Grand National double in three weeks’ time. Golden Miller, in 1934, is the only horse ever to win both races in one season. Bookmakers slashed Inothewayurthinkin to as low as 3/1 to emulate him.
McManus’s previous homebred Gold Cup winner Synchronised tried the double in 2012 only to sustain fatal injuries when running loose after falling.
Cromwell described the National option as “tempting” but understandably held fire on any decision as he enjoyed the greatest success of his career.
The ex-farrier from Co Meath, who just a decade ago trained a handful of horses, won the 2019 Champion Hurdle for McManus with Espoir d’Allen, also ridden by Walsh.
“I don’t know what to say as it is absolutely massive. I never thought I would have a horse good enough to run in a Gold Cup, let alone win,” said Cromwell.
“A huge thank you to JP and Noreen as to have horses like this is unbelievable. I think it was a little bit of them waiting for me to suggest it [supplementing him] and I was waiting for them, but neither took much convincing,” he added.
Walsh, as cool out of the saddle as in, grinned: “I’m dancing inside!
“It’s brilliant – something you dream of when you’re a kid wanting to be a jockey, winning the Gold Cup and the Grand National and things like that, so it’s a dream come true.
“I’d love him to go to Aintree, but the welfare of the horse comes first. We’ll have to see how he comes out of this, and that decision will be up to JP and Gavin.”
Gold Cup success meant Walsh pulled level with Paul Townend in the festival’s leading rider stakes, Townend ultimately edging it on placed efforts.
Walsh and McManus had earlier combined to win with Dinoblue in the Mares Chase, part of Mullins’s clean sweep. That momentum stopped at just the wrong time for Team Mullins.
“I didn’t think when Ahoy Senor fell it affected him too much, I felt he missed it all and I was hoping it might wake him up because he was laboured,” said Mullins.
“He just wasn’t jumping well enough, so I was hoping something would get beside him to wake him up.
“The only time he looked competitive was at the fourth-last at the top of the hill and then it looked all right, but he’d used up too much of his powder jumping too big – but a good horse won.”
Townend also pointed to the going as a possible contributor to Galopin Des Champs’ performance: “I was never really confident on him. Maybe the ground was a bit quicker than it has been over the years. I’m not making excuses – we were beaten on the day by a better, younger one.”
All seven winners on Friday were Irish trained and Gordon Elliott left it to the finale to win with Wodhooh. It meant Irish-trained horses won 20 of the 28 races this week.
