Galopin Des Champs Retains Cheltenham Gold Cup in 2024
Galopin Des Champs, trained by Willie Mullins and ridden by Paul Townend, won the 2024 Cheltenham Gold Cup on March 15, 2024, successfully defending his 2023 title and cementing his place as the outstanding staying chaser of his generation.
Key Takeaways
- Galopin Des Champs won the 2024 Cheltenham Gold Cup on March 15, 2024
- Galopin Des Champs trained by Willie Mullins and ridden by Paul Townend — the same connections that won in 2023
- The Gold Cup is run over 3 miles 2½ furlongs — the ultimate test in British and Irish jump racing
- Back-to-back Gold Cup victories confirm Galopin Des Champs as the dominant staying chaser of his era
- The Cheltenham Festival is the most important jump racing meeting in the world, staged in March each year
- Gold Cup Day attendance regularly exceeds 70,000 at Prestbury Park, Cheltenham
Why It Matters — Players
Why It Matters — Operators
Galopin Des Champs successfully defended his Cheltenham Gold Cup title on March 15, 2024, the final day of the Cheltenham Festival, trained by Willie Mullins and ridden by champion jockey Paul Townend. Back-to-back Gold Cup victories confirmed the horse as the outstanding staying chaser of his generation and gave Mullins — who already holds records for Cheltenham Festival winners — another landmark achievement in jump racing's most prestigious championship race.
The Cheltenham Gold Cup is run over 3 miles 2½ furlongs at Cheltenham Racecourse's Prestbury Park venue in Gloucestershire, England. The race's demanding distance and the Grade 1 quality of the field consistently assembled for the Festival mean that the Gold Cup winner is universally recognised as the champion staying chaser of that season.
Galopin Des Champs had established himself as one of the most dominant staying chasers in recent memory through his pre-Festival campaign, and his back-to-back Gold Cup victories placed him in the company of historic winners who have successfully defended the title — including Cottage Rake, Arkle (three consecutive wins, 1964-66), L'Escargot, and Best Mate (three consecutive wins, 2002-04).
The 2024 Cheltenham Festival drew record betting handle across UK, Irish, and international markets, with the Gold Cup as the headline race on the final day. Total Festival betting handle across all four days reached record levels at major UK bookmakers, reflecting continued growth in the legal UK online betting market and increased international interest in the meeting.
Paul Townend's Gold Cup victory on Galopin Des Champs was his second consecutive Gold Cup win as Willie Mullins' retained jockey, cementing the trainer-jockey partnership as the dominant force in modern jump racing.
- Source:
- Racing Post
- Published:
- March 15, 2024
- Original Article:
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