By Adam Houghton
In a week that had everything but rarely went to script, it was only fitting that the prize which means everything in this sport should provide one final twist in the Hollywood blockbuster otherwise known as the 2025 Cheltenham Festival, with leading man Galopin Des Champs (Fr) (Timos {Ger}) having to settle for the runner-up spot behind Inothewayurthinkin (Ire) (Walk In The Park {Ire}) in his quest for a third consecutive victory in the G1 Boodles Cheltenham Gold Cup.
After the black comedy that was the Champion Hurdle and the romance that was the Queen Mother Champion Chase, the Gold Cup was supposed to be the comfort watch, the one where you know the ending and yet it still gets sweeter with every viewing.
An emphatic winner of the Gold Cup in the two years previous, Galopin Des Champs seemed to loom so large over the field for this year's renewal that there was a sense of inevitability about what we were about to witness, more so after his trainer, Willie Mullins, won the first four races on the card, including the G1 JCB Triumph Hurdle which kicked off proceedings with 100-1 shot Poniros (GB). Even JRR Tolkein couldn't have come up with that one, but it was a trilogy to rival his own that we'd all flocked to Prestbury Park to see, with Galopin Des Champs expected to emulate Golden Miller, Cottage Rake, Arkle and Best Mate as a three-time winner of National Hunt racing's blue riband.
Instead, there is a new name on the Gold Cup trophy after this coming-of-age performance from 15-2 chance Inothewayurthinkin, who had been beaten by an aggregate margin of nearly 59 lengths in three previous starts this season, each time finishing behind Galopin Des Champs. The gulf in class appeared to be such that he wasn't even entered in the Gold Cup until last weekend, when trainer Gavin Cromwell and owner JP McManus made the bold decision to supplement him, sufficiently encouraged by his fourth-place finish in last month's G1 Irish Gold Cup at Leopardstown to stump up the £25,000 fee.
“He went to the Dublin Racing Festival and was only beaten seven lengths, staying on well,” Cromwell said of that display as he celebrated the biggest success of his training career to date. “It takes a long time to get him fit and he just seems to be a spring horse. He did a piece of work just over a week ago and we were delighted with him, so it was all systems go.
“It was probably my fault that he wasn't entered in the race because I thought it was going to come too soon in his career and we'd be better waiting for next year. But he went to the Dublin Racing Festival and ran such a big race and has come forward since that.”
Jumping had long been considered the Achilles heel of Inothewayurthinkin, but the seven-year-old showed a sound technique in the main here, back at the scene of his first victory over fences when landing a gamble as the 13-8 favourite in last year's Fulke Walwyn Kim Muir Challenge Cup Amateur Jockeys' Handicap Chase. Tracking the strong-travelling Galopin Des Champs on the approach to three out, he jumped the next almost upsides the 8-13 favourite, before drawing right away on the run-in to land the spoils by six lengths. It was another 12 lengths back to Gentlemansgame (GB) (Gentlewave {Ire}) in third, one place ahead of Monty's Star (Ire) (Walk In The Park {Ire}). McManus's other runner in the race, Corbett's Cross (Ire) (Gamut {Ire}), sadly suffered a fatal fall at the second last.
Cromwell added, “Galopin Des Champs was a dual Gold Cup winner, but we were coming here to try and win the race–we weren't coming to pick up the pieces and get place money. We thought we'd have a good chance if everything was right.
“To have a runner in the Gold Cup is fantastic. To win it is unbelievable. I'm so grateful to JP and Noreen for sending horses like this to me. I'm just delighted to be able to repay them by winning the Gold Cup.”
For McManus it was a second win in National Hunt racing's most prestigious prize after that of another homebred, Synchronised (Ire) (Sadler's Wells), back in 2012. Inothewayurthinkin is one of six winners from as many runners out of the Califet (Fr) mare Sway (Fr), a Listed scorer over hurdles at Auteuil as a three-year-old. The others include last year's G2 Mrs Paddy Power Mares' Chase heroine Limerick Lace (Ire) (Walk In The Park {Ire}), who finished fifth behind another McManus runner, Dinoblue (Fr), when attempting to defend her crown earlier on Friday's card.
Speaking after the Gold Cup, McManus said, “You have to enjoy these moments, they are so long in the making. We've had him since he was a foal–he was bred by Noreen [McManus's wife]. It's a very exciting time and I will treasure it. I would like to see it again, I don't think I took it all in, but it's an exciting day.”
McManus ended the Festival as the leading owner with six winners, but Gold Cup-winning rider Mark Walsh was pipped to the leading jockey award by Paul Townend, whose runner-up finish on Galopin Des Champs was enough to seal the title on countback after both men ended the week with four winners.
As for the leading trainer, that was a one-way street in favour of Mullins as he saddled 10 winners at the Festival for the second time in four years, having first set that record back in 2022. As well as Dinoblue, he was also responsible for William Hill County Handicap Hurdle scorer Kargese (Fr) (Jeu St Eloi {Fr}) and G1 Albert Bartlett Novices' Hurdle hero Jasmin de Vaux (Fr) (Tirwanako {Fr}) on Friday, after Poniros had got the ball rolling when making a remarkable start to life as a hurdler in the Triumph.
Formerly trained by Ralph Beckett for Amo Racing, Poniros failed to add to his debut win at Nottingham in seven further starts on the Flat, latterly finishing well beaten when sent off the 6-1 favourite for the Cambridgeshire at Newmarket in September. The son of Golden Horn (GB) had also finished tenth in the King George V Stakes at Royal Ascot, when finishing over five lengths ahead of paternal sibling and Triumph favourite East India Dock (GB). Whereas that horse had racked up three wins over hurdles this winter, Poniros had been kept under wraps at Closutton, after being bought by Mullins and bloodstock agent Harold Kirk, on behalf of owner Tony Bloom, for 200,000gns at the Tattersalls Autumn Horses-in-Training.
“We bought him in October, schooled him and gave him a break,” said Mullins, filling in the gaps since we last saw the four-year-old in competitive action. “We said we'd better drag him in from the field and get him ready for Cheltenham, and that's what we did. But I didn't expect any more than a nice run. I couldn't believe it when I saw him flying through the middle of them.”
At the line Poniros was a neck ahead of the well-touted Lulamba (Fr) (Nirvana du Berlais {Fr}), with East India Dock a further three quarters of a length back in third. The runner-up is now being considered for a chasing career next season, according to trainer Nicky Henderson, whereas Poniros and East India Dock are both likely to make a return to the Flat in the coming months, with Mullins already weighing up a potential trip to Australia with the winner.
He added, “I imagine he'll go to Punchestown and then we'll find something at Royal Ascot, perhaps. He was bought as a dual-purpose horse and I am hoping in time he might turn into a Melbourne Cup horse–that would be the long-term plan.”
Overbury Stud's Golden Horn, who was also responsible for Golden Ace (GB), the winner of that dramatic Champion Hurdle that now feels a lifetime ago, was still in search of that breakthrough horse at the top level at the start of this week. Like London buses, two have now come along at once, seeing him tie with Haras du Mesnil's Doctor Dino (Fr)–the sire of Dinoblue and Wednesday's Grand Annual winner Jazzy Matty (Fr)–as the leading stallion at this year's Festival, with the other 24 winners at the meeting all coming from different sources.
There was even a first Festival winner for the late Le Havre (Ire) as Wodhooh (Fr) maintained her unbeaten record in the Martin Pipe Conditional Jockeys' Handicap Hurdle which brought the curtain down on the meeting, much to the relief of trainer Gordon Elliott after he'd drawn a blank with his 47 runners in the 27 previous races.
“I'm just thrilled,” he said afterwards. “We've had a rough week, but I'm absolutely delighted. This has been the plan–we waited to come here, so it's worked out great. The crowd have given me a cheer in after what's been a tough week. It just didn't happen for us, didn't bounce for us, but we keep smiling.”
Keep smiling, indeed, advice which might be useful to many a punter at the end of a week which featured high-profile reversals for the likes of Majborough (Fr), Constitution Hill (GB), Ballyburn (Ire), Jonbon (Fr), Teahupoo (Fr) and, of course, Galopin des Champs.
A horror flick at times, perhaps, but in terms of drama the 2025 Cheltenham Festival delivered and then some.
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