Latest news with #Monty'sStar
Daily Mail
30-04-2025
- Sport
- Daily Mail
Can Galopin Des Champs finally get over the hump and win the Punchestwon Gold Cup? The gelding is a boosted 11/8 favourite to do so
The Punchestown Gold Cup takes place at 17:30 today - as an elite field of four battle it out over three miles and half-a-furlong at the famed Irish racecourse. Multiple-time Cheltenham Gold Cup and Irish Gold Cup winner Galopin Des Champs is a boosted favourite at 11/8 to finish first past the post. The French-bred horse has come agonisingly close to winning the Punchestown Gold Cup on two occasions, finishing second in both 2023 and 2024 by slim margins. Can the Willie Mullins-trained horse finally get over the hump and reign supreme in the Punchestown Gold Cup? Or, will he be upset once again? For those anticipating the latter, Spillane's Tower is perceived to be the biggest threat at 11/8. Spillane's Tower boasts solid course form, having won a Grade 3 and Grade 1 novice chase at Punchestown over the past 18 months. Meanwhile, if you're after an outsider, Banbridge and Monty's Star round out the field at 10/3 and 17/2 respectively. Sky Bet odds for the Punchestown Gold Cup today: Galopin Des Champs WAS 1/1 NOW 11/8 Spillane's Tower 3/1 Banbridge 10/3 Monty's Star 17/2 All odds are correct at the time of publication
Irish Times
30-04-2025
- Sport
- Irish Times
Galopin Des Champs trying to secure valuable ‘away' win in Punchestown Gold Cup
All four runners in Wednesday's Ladbrokes Punchestown Gold Cup are course winners, and yet despite that, for Galopin Des Champs it might feel like an 'away game'. For the last two years Galopin has pitched up for the €300,000 feature as reigning Cheltenham Gold Cup champion and twice has had to settle for the runner-up spot to Fastorslow. That rival is absent this time, and the horse described by Ruby Walsh as the best Irish steeplechaser since Arkle lost his Blue Riband title more than six weeks ago. What remains the case is general agreement that Punchestown isn't really his bag. It's some claim for a former Durkan winner, but just two victories in six starts here is a stat that supporters of Spillane's Tower, Banbridge and Monty's Star will be all over come 5.30pm. READ MORE So too will the ground element. On a soft surface there have been times during Galopin Des Champs's career when he's seemed all but unbeatable. His superb pair of Grade One successes at Leopardstown earlier this season underlined the point. Well able to operate on quicker ground, he nevertheless doesn't look quite as formidable on it, and he never looked happy in last month's Gold Cup. He plugged on gamely for second behind Inothewayurthinkin but the historic hat-trick only briefly looked on the cards. 'Obviously, he's trying to break his Punchestown Gold Cup hoodoo but there's not Fastorslow there this year, so hopefully he can finish out his season in style,' said Patrick Mullins. It means the horses-for-courses theory will be a recurring theme ahead of the day two festival feature. Willie Mullins is usually a subscriber to that, and to the premise that it's incumbent on connections to run their best horses in the most valuable races. Considering France's Gold Cup, the Grand Steeple-Chase de Paris, takes place at Auteuil in just over a fortnight, and is always run on soft ground, Galopin lining up here is not without significance. In contrast, this is very much Spillane Tower's prime Gold Cup target of a largely frustrating season. A place ahead of Galopin Des Champs in last November's Durkan, he was well behind Banbridge in the King George and hasn't been seen since. Derek O'Connor on Colcannon. Photograph: Morgan Treacy/Inpho Banbridge failed to fire at Cheltenham in the Gold Cup and is once again on a retrieval mission here. Last season he flopped in the Ryanair before dropping back in trip to land the two-mile Grade One. In terms of ground, trip and track, these look to be his ideal conditions. Monty's Star ran an honourable fourth in the Gold Cup but is lowest rated of the quartet, over a stone behind Galopin Des Champs. A heady 175 mark underlines his fundamental quality, and that class can win out despite circumstances. A pair of Willie Mullins's Grade One Cheltenham winners aim to secure the festival double on Wednesday. Bambino Fever will try to become the sixth horse to complete the Cheltenham-Punchestown Champion Bumper double when lining up under Jody Townend. The mare Fayonagh in 2017 is one of the elite handful to manage the feat. Colreevy in 2019 was the last mare to win. Mullins also saddles Copacabana, while Kalypso'chance is another that lined up at Cheltenham. One horse that didn't is Colcannon, who had run too many times in bumpers to qualify. Instead, Noel Meade has waited for this since Derek O'Connor's mount beat Sortudo at the Dublin Racing Festival. That should leave Colcannon fresher than most, which by the end of the season is always a plus. Wednesday's opening Grade One, the Channor Novice Hurdle, will see Jasmin De Vaux try to emulate The Nice Guy in 2022 by adding this to Cheltenham's Albert Bartlett. And in the process he'll have to persuade his trainer that he can jump properly. Even after winning at Cheltenham, Willie Mullins labelled Jasmin De Vaux as 'probably one of the worst jumpers in racing'. To underline the point, he also threw in 'so unnatural' into the mix. It didn't stop the 2023 Champion Bumper winner winning the Albert Bartlett, but Punchestown's tighter track is a different sort of test that's likely to put more pressure on his suspect technique. Honesty Policy is a Grade One winner from Aintree, although a value alternative to both could prove to be Fleur In The Park who shapes as likely to benefit from stepping up in trip to this three-mile test. Seo Linn overcame her free-running tendencies to win at Aintree. If she races kindly, the concluding Mares' Bumper looks a fine opportunity for Paddy Twomey's runner.
Telegraph
04-03-2025
- Sport
- Telegraph
Cheltenham Gold Cup 2025 – latest odds and betting news
There are no surprises at the head of the market for the 2025 Cheltenham Gold Cup. Galopin Des Champs is 8/15 favourite to return to the winner's enclosure on Friday week as only the fifth horse to complete a hat-trick of consecutive victories in the 101-year history of the race. Jockey Paul Townend and trainer Willie Mullins are both chasing their fifth Gold Cup wins, which would be an outright record for a rider and a joint record for a handler. They have teamed up to win the race twice before with Al Boum Photo, who was third when bidding for his hat-trick bid in 2021. In this article, we look at the market leaders and each-way shots for this year's Cheltenham Gold Cup, as well as some of the race trends that might help you to pick the winner. Cheltenham Gold Cup 2025 odds Horse Odds Chance of victory Galopin Des Champs 8/15 65.2% Banbridge 6/1 14.3% Fact to File 10/1 9.1% Monty's Star 12/1 7.7% Corbetts Cross 20/1 4.8% Grangeclare West 25/1 3.8% Grey Dawning 25/1 3.8% Jungle Boogie 33/1 2.9% L'Homme Presse 33/1 2.9% Ahoy Senor 66/1 1.5% Gentlemansgame 66/1 1.5% Hewick 66/1 1.5% The Real Whacker 66/1 1.5% Royal Pagaille 100/1 1.0% Conflated 150/1 0.7% Each-way 1/5 odds 1-2-3. Prices courtesy of bet365 and correct at time of writing. Chance of victory as implied by bookmakers' odds. Cheltenham Gold Cup 2025 – Market leaders Favourites have won four of the past five Gold Cups and the expectation is that statistic will become five out of six on Friday week. Galopin Des Champs is the 8/15 favourite at the time of writing and there is already a sense of deja vu about the nine-year-old's build-up to the big race. Last season, Willie Mullins' charge was beaten into third in the Punchestown Chase in November, then recovered to win his next two Grade 1 assignments, the Savills Chase and Irish Gold Cup Chase at Leopardstown, before retaining the Gold Cup with a 3½-length victory at Cheltenham. His path to Prestbury Park this in 2024-25 has been uncannily similar – third behind Fact or File at Punchestown before emphatically turning the tables on that rival twice at Leopardstown. It is hard to look beyond him joining Cottage Rake, Arkle and Best Mate as a three-time champion. The Joseph O'Brien-trained Banbridge finished a distant fourth at Navan and unseated rider Richard Deegan in the Hilly Way Chase at Cork before lining up for the King George VI Chase at Kempton Park on Boxing Day, but he landed that Grade 1 prize in impressive fashion and is 6/1 second favourite. At this stage it may be more likely that he lines up in the Ryanair Chase on Thursday, but if the going is looking officially 'good', then connections might take their chance at the bigger prize on Friday. Fact to File (10/1) beat Galopin Des Champs over 2m 3½f at Punchestown but was put in his place in both rematches over 3m½f at Leopardstown. The 2m 4f Ryanair Chase is a likelier Festival target for the eight-year-old. Monty's Star (12/1) was second in the Brown Advisory Novices' Chase in 2024 but has too much to do to turn the tables after finishing fifth behind the favourite in the Irish Gold Cup. Cheltenham Gold Cup 2025 – Each-way shots Five horses are currently priced between 20/1 and 33/1, offering value for each-way backers. Of these, Corbetts Cross (20/1) looks to have too much ground to make up on the evidence of his sixth behind Banbridge in the King George, but trainer Emmet Mullins will have him peaking for March, and the extra distance plus any substantial ease in the ground will sway the task in his favour. Grangeclare West was second behind stablemate Galopin Des Champs in the Savills Chase but the 25/1 shot ran disappointingly at Navan last time out. That leaves Grey Dawning (25/1) and the 33/1 shots Jungle Boogie and L'Homme Presse. Of these, the last may reward an each-way interest – providing he jumps soundly – after winning the Grade 2 Cotswold Chase over 3m 1½f at Cheltenham last month, finishing 10 lengths clear of Corbetts Cross. Jungle Boogie is the biggest unknown and the least exposed runner, having raced only seven times despite being an 11-year-old. However, he is entered in all three Grade 1 open company chases so it is unclear what his target is at this stage. Cheltenham Gold Cup 2025 – Five pointers If you're the kind of punter who swerves the form book in favour of trends, here are five statistics that may help you to decide which horse to back in the Gold Cup. 5 – Favourites who have won the Gold Cup in the past 10 years: Gordon Elliott's Don Cossack (2016), plus Willie Mullins' pair Al Boum Photo (2018 and 2019) and Galopin Des Champs (2023 and 2024). 4 – Number of Gold Cup victories for jockey Paul Townend. The 34-year-old Irishman has ridden in the race a dozen times and has also placed on five occasions. 3 – Horses aged 10 or over to win the Gold Cup in the past 35 years. They are the famous white horse Desert Orchid (1989), Cool Ground (1992) and Cool Dawn (1998). 2 – Number of non-Irish trainers to saddle a Gold Cup winner in the past decade: the late Mark Bradstock with Coneygree in 2015 and Colin Tizzard with Native River three years later. 1 – Rachael Blackmore remains the only woman to ride a Gold Cup winner and she is likely to be on board the 12/1 shot Monty's Star for trainer Henry De Bromhead. Cheltenham Gold Cup – past 10 winners
