Road To Cheltenham: McManus Massive lying in wait for Galopin

As you may already have seen if you’re able to watch TV at 10am on a Thursday, Ruby Walsh and I today resumed our annual Anglo-Irish tour of the best jumping action in the form of our weekly Road To Cheltenham  show.

Whereas that programme conducted a whistlestop tour of where we stand with the chasers, whether Queen Mum-bound or Savills types, this first edition of my accompanying column addresses the stayers in greater detail. 

The class of 2023/24, graduating from novice company into the big league this season, appears a great deal more threatening to the status quo – in number and ability – than their predecessors of 12 months ago. The past two seasons’ officially top-rated chaser

Galopin Des Champs

is also another year older – albeit somehow still only eight – and many will argue his three defeats by Fastorslow imply a susceptibility. 

This is surely a recipe for a compelling season, but it’s also worth noting the majority of this next wave of talent either reside in the same stable as the dual Gold Cup winner, or else are owned by JP McManus, or – in the case of

Fact To File

– both. 

Starkly, as things stand only one of them,

Grey Dawning

, is trained in Britain – although the intermediate distance is admittedly less bereft of domestic hopefuls, with Ginny’s Destiny attempting to make the grade in this Saturday’s Paddy Power Gold Cup against the Ryanair hero Protektorat, who is wielding top-weight. 

Yet aside from sparkling French talent Il Est Français – whose connections rightly have the King George VI Chase on their mind after his top-drawer Kauto Star success last December – those horses at this stage vying for open Grade One staying honours are all based in Ireland. No wonder has taken out a Stena Line season ticket. The bad news for the Brits is that he’s unlikely to be alone on those ferries. 

Yet of course, Irish racing must grapple with the reciprocal problem: a surfeit of Mullins, as was played out in most of their top contests last season. Take Two: the Closutton master’s immediate plans have a familiar ring to them. 

Last year’s repositioning of the John Durkan in the race calendar – bringing it forward from mid-December to late November and thereby activating it as a Savills or King George stepping-stone (among other targets) – was so fully embraced by the Closutton trainer that he fielded all bar one of the six runners, the Martin Brassil-trained winner Fastorslow. 

In a recent sportinglife.com stable tour, Mullins again earmarked that 2m4f Punchestown Grade One as the jumping-off point for no fewer than five of his inmates – Galopin Des Champs, I Am Maximus, Fact To File, Il Etait Temps and “back to his best here in Closutton” (embarrassed cough) Blue Lord. 

(And that quintet merely comprised those deemed worthy of an extended briefing. Appreciate It, last year’s John Durkan runner-up and comfortably ranked among the top 40 chasers in the Anglo-Irish classifications, didn’t make that particular cut. He’s a disappointing horse by the standards of his yard and it’s doubtless difficult to map out an effective campaign for him. #FirstWorldProblems) 

Interestingly, in the same piece Mullins also reported Galopin Des Champs had sustained “a small issue” during his pre-season training, causing him to have “missed a couple of weeks last month”. This is the first such notifiable news about this horse that I can ever recall in his largely smooth career to date. (Don’t mention the Turners; I’m still trying to forget.) Depending on Paul Townend’s feedback from a decision-making gallop you’d judge to be next week, it might be we don’t see this horse until the Savills. 

In his stable tour, Mullins also belatedly recalled “letting him roll” helps Galopin Des Champs jump better by “attacking the first few fences and getting into his rhythm quicker”. This was the mantra after his scruffy seasonal debut last year – behind Fastorslow in the John Durkan – inspiring that change of tactics and also generating all-comers’ performance of the season over Christmas at Leopardstown. 

Yes, that method served him impeccably well . . . until collective amnesia seemed to overcome trainer and jockey at Punchestown last May, playing into the hands of Fastorslow in the Punchestown Gold Cup. Of course, it was the chat beforehand – and became enshrined as a universal truth afterwards – that Galopin Des Champs isn’t as effective (a) on good-to-soft and/or (b) at Punchestown. 

Theory (a) requires you to ignore he won his first Gold Cup by seven lengths on good-to-soft ground, his second-best or equal-best career effort. Theory (b) can be unpicked on a race-by-race basis. April 2023: did too much too soon, pressing on with other top-flight horses too far out; November 2023: trip too short and tactics wrong; May 2024: tactics wrong and pace too slow with seven horses in contention approaching two out, including some rivals better measured by their Christmas trouncing. 

To my eyes, Galopin Des Champs got outpaced by a better positioned rival when the pace lifted. Immediately afterwards, Mullins felt Townend was “going as fast as he could at all stages” and “wasn’t jumping well enough to make the running”. 

Yet the horse was steadied approaching the first three fences, inspiring predictably stuttering jumps at the second and third, and enabling JJ Slevin on Fastorslow to assume the catbird seat from fence three. Thus, the winner was better placed to pounce on typically left jumping Conflated at the third last. 

Don’t get me wrong: I think Fastorslow is a very smart horse and Galopin Des Champs would always need to be on his A-game to beat him. 

He ought again to be a serious threat at all points en route to the Gold Cup, during it and beyond. His unseat there in March appeared straight-up unfortunate, nodding on landing at the wrong moment for Slevin’s momentum and decanting him right when still going well at the 16th. We know from his narrow defeat by Corach Rambler, when conceding him 4lbs in the 2023 Ultima, that the undulations of are not an issue. 

At the business end of that race, Galopin Des Champs may have appeared less impressive in defeating

Gerri Colombe

by three-and-a-half lengths than 12 months earlier when beating a peak

Bravemansgame

by twice that distance. 

Yet last term’s Gold Cup was an attritional affair, due both to the heaviness of the ground – among the most testing conditions in recent memory of the race – and the almost unrelenting nature of the top-class pace. You can sport the moment around halfway when the hammer wasn’t hard down as that’s when Harry Cobden makes his forward move on Bravemansgame. 

Some horses – like the now-retired Corach Rambler, Jungle Boogie, Monkfish and Nassalam – couldn’t wear that tempo, whereas others went too hard for their capacity – such as front-running The Real Whacker in a first-time visor and the admirable L’Homme Presse, who pressed on three out – too far, too far – and had little left a fence later. 

Yet Galopin Des Champs thrived on it, never out of the first three and travelling so well on the home turn and into the straight that Townend could push-button position him to keep Gerri Colombe trapped on his inner behind L’Homme Presse and the loose Fastorslow. Jack Kennedy was forced to switch inside at the second last, his mount landing a shade awkwardly due to a lack of room. By the time Gerri had regained his balance, the winner had made his decisive move. 

Both of Galopin Des Champs’ Cheltenham triumphs are among the better Gold Cup performances of the past 15 years, meaning he sets a high bar for any opponent seeking to thwart his bid to emulate Best Mate’s hat-trick of successes in 2002-4. However, the fact Mullins has been moved to mention a hold-up in his training is significant. This is the Closutton Order, where silence is preferable. I’m expecting him to need his first run back, whenever that is. 

Unless they encounter him then, it’s not evident to me why either Gerri Colombe or L’Homme Presse should turn around the Gold Cup form. However, based on last season’s work, they should still have the capability to win a significant prize somewhere along the way. 

Injury-beset L’Homme Presse had been sidelined for more than a year when returning at Lingfield in late January and took a step backwards in the Ascot Chase prior to his doughty Gold Cup fourth. Granted a clean run at this season – not a given, bearing in mind his track record – he is potentially under-considered at 25/1 for the King George – a race in which he would have finished second bar for unseating at the last behind Bravemansgame in 2022. 

Gerri Colombe might have finished closer in the Gold Cup but for being caught in that pocket in the latter stages but he’s habitually half a stride less pacey, particularly exiting his fences, than an on-song Galopin, who’s an equally strong stayer. Even that great big klutz Ahoy Senor – admittedly at his best at Aintree – was swifter away from the back of the last before Gerri tenaciously got back up to win. 

However, his comeback this season when merely third in Down Royal’s Champion Chase was distinctly underwhelming, finishing a muted thirteen-and-a-half lengths adrift of Envoi Allen, the horse he’d nailed near the line in the same race 12 months earlier. Whereas then he’d got away with those right-angled turns at that almost square-shaped track, he appeared unhappy from an early stage and his habit of adjusting left was more pronounced. 

Trainer Gordon Elliott was candid in his disappointment but has since reported having “found a couple of little things” to iron out to “have him right for Christmas, all being well”. “He never took hold of the bridle and to me he looked beat after a couple of fences,” he reflected. Prior to that, Elliott had planned a campaign similar to last year, meaning we might only see this horse once, in the Savills, prior to the Gold Cup and just four times in total. Unless he’s fragile, this would seem on the sparse side. 

Whilst Gerri was finishing outside the front two for the first time in his 14-race career two Saturdays ago, Envoi Allen was putting his Down Royal record straight with a fifth win in six years. Last year’s Ryanair runner-up, who’d won that prize the preceding year, looked as good as ever despite rising eleven years of age – travelling strongly, moving smoothly up to challenge front-running Hewick and recovering from a less-than-fluent final leap. 

The half-length runner-up was in peak form, too, having benefitted from a pipe-opener at Punchestown the previous month. He’d got all bar the winner on the stretch under an assertive, mostly front-running ride from Jordan Gainford, throwing in some brave leaps. Winner of a sub-standard but eventful King George last term with a last-to-first burst in the straight, his best form is high class but beatable at the highest grade. 

Bravemansgame chased him home at Kempton last December with one of his better efforts amid a season in which he failed to fire. He was taken to the dark side by tougher competitors towards the end of the 2022/23 season – getting distinctly the worst of a duel with Galopin Des Champs in the Gold Cup and doing too much too soon when mixing it with that rival and Envoi Allen at Punchestown prior to belting the last. Perhaps he never recovered? 

He ended up in cheekpieces for his final start behind Gerri at Aintree, but folded when headed two out and was reported to have made a respiratory noise. A third breathing operation followed but his reappearance on suitable ground in the Charlie Hall offered little encouragement for an imminent recovery. He’s gone from treading water to not waving but drowning. He needs to drop in grade and ratings, and perhaps to be ridden positively over a shorter trip. 

Meanwhile, in the hands of Brian Hughes for the first time and wearing a tongue-tie for the second, The Real Whacker recovered the alacrity for jumping he’d shown as a novice – including when clinging on from the rallying Gerri Colombe in the 2023 Brown Advisory. Taking over from Conflated up front from the fourth at Wetherby, he jumped smartly and never let his rivals even land a blow in the straight. 

He ran far better than it appears in last year’s Gold Cup, ultimately pulling up after going hard at the fore in heavy ground with a first-time visor. On that evidence, trainer Patrick Neville would be better off pulling the Protektorat move and aiming for the Ryanair this season, where that sort of positive ride won’t eat away at The Whacker’s stamina and – frankly – the waters are less deep. 

However, like Minella Drama’s Old Roan success a week earlier – well-targeted by trainer Donald McCain, another well-executed controlling ride from Hughes (even if you were left wondering what Ahoy Senor might have done had Derek Fox asked for his effort entering the straight rather than a fence later) – everything we’ve seen in this division so far has the feel of early-season skirmishes. You sense the most critical battles ahead will feature younger legs. 

And so, to the McManus Massive. Although he’s not strictly nouvelle vague, on ratings I must start with the utterly dominant Grand National winner I Am Maximus, whose mercurial jumping was not tested in a becalmed edition of the race. 

His trainer was increasingly impressed with him last season, speaking of the Gold Cup in the immediate aftermath at Aintree, but his more recent communications suggest an identical campaign to last season – John Durkan, Savills, Irish Gold Cup, Bobbyjo and National – despite reporting him to have “come back better than ever” at the age of just eight. 

As an aside, the greatest modern-day Jumps trainer noted in his sportinglife.com stable tour: “To go for a Grand National you need four or five runs under your belt just to be fit enough for that type of a contest. It’s a very hard race to win first or second time out; you need race fitness.” Something to bear in mind when your long-range fancy for the race is skiddling about over hurdles or standing in their box until mid-February. 

But the green-and-gold-hoops also have reinforcements, perhaps headed by Fact To File. Fast-tracked from bumpers to fences last season, he amassed a strong portfolio of work including a smart-on-the-clock match defeat of Gaelic Warrior and a ready brushing aside of Monty's Star in a steadily run edition of the Brown Advisory. He did not need to produce his best to win the latter Grade One comfortably. 

As Mullins has acknowledged, he presented as the complete chaser whilst still just a novice. I guess that might lead you to wonder whether he was just more mature than his peers and won’t make the same progress in his second season over fences, but that’s far from his trainer’s mind. 

“I think he couldn’t be much better than he was last year physically. He developed quite early. If he could hold the same type of muscle he had last year, I’d be happy,” Mullins said. “I think he has so much ability. It’s always a hard year transitioning from novice to open company, and I think this fellow has all the attributes you’d need to be an Open horse.” 

Distance is the doubt with Fact To File. That was his first attempt at three miles and he must go the best part of two furlongs further in the Gold Cup; he can also be keen and habitually adjusts right, so could be wasting energy when navigating new territory against a strong-staying titleholder. His pedigree perhaps raises some doubts, too, although his sire has produced stayers in Don Poli and the much-missed Sire Du Berlais. 

Indeed, you could craft the strongest of theoretical cases for the Ryanair at 16/1, but if the horse is top-class and trained by Mullins, he runs in the Gold Cup. That said, if McManus still has a range of pieces in play come March, there could be much late movement around the board. 

Next on my order of preference in the McManus Massive is Spillane’s Tower, who improved with each start over fences over a seven-race campaign. Started out over two miles, he was upped to 3m1f for his final outing in Punchestown’s Champion Novice and proved best-equipped to deal with a staying contest that turned into a sprint. 

All seven horses were in contention on the home turn – admittedly some going better than others – but, switched towards the inner off the home turn, Spillane’s Tower made smooth headway and breezed past his rivals in the sprint to the last. Admittedly, his closest pursuers – Monty’s Star and Three Card Brag, the latter remaining qualified as a novice this season – look like thorough stayers and so would have been unsuited by how this panned out. 

However, Spillane’s Tower has learnt his craft well and boasts a touch of versatility. To date, his very best form is on right-handed tracks, as I mentioned on the opening Road To Cheltenham show of the series, but I’ve since reminded myself that he chased home Blood Destiny over two miles at left-handed Navan without any seeming bother. I’m excited to see what Jimmy Mangan can do with this carefully nurtured talent. 

It strikes me that Monty’s Star couldn’t seem to buy a strongly run race for love nor money when it mattered at the back end of the season, encountering sedate contests at both Cheltenham and Punchestown. It might be that he finds some improvement for a stamina test with an end-to-end gallop because he jumps well, too. 

The remaining two McManus missiles must smarten up their jumping if they’re going to hold their own in big-boy races. Both Inothewayurthinkin and Corbetts Cross managed to win significant targets last season despite their spluttering cold starts; if you take too long to warm up in the King George or Gold Cup in particular, your race is over before you’re begun. 

It was Derek O’Connor’s intention to sit handily on the inside on Inothewayurthinkin in the Kim Muir, yet after his mount jumped slowly, airily and to the right over the first two fences, he was third last of a 22-strong field. Unlike at the Dublin Racing Festival where he lost all chance with a first-fence blunder, upped to 3m2f he had the time and ability to work his way back into the race. Of course, it also helped he was so screamingly well-handicapped after three novice starts over inadequate trips when as good as labelled Do Not Open Until March. 

However, he then stepped up to Grade One company at Aintree and, despite again ballooning to the right in the early stages and even being none too efficient four and three out, he surged to the front approaching the last. Admittedly, he was helped by Broadway Boy softening up Chianti Classico when the two of them crossed swords from early in the back straight, meaning the pace couldn’t hold and perhaps exacerbating a lack of stamina from Heart Wood. But the winner is clearly progressive. 

Corbetts Cross was a ponderous jumper all last season but a first-time hood, markedly circumspect tempo on heavy ground and inferior rivals in the NH Chase saw him happily keep pace with the field. Combined with his innate ability, this enabled him to produce a barnstorming finish in which he drew 17 lengths clear of Embassy Gardens with a strong finishing sectional. 

It was a performance that indicated he should have been in Grade One Brown Advisory instead – and as of this year, he would be with the NH Chase turned into a 0-145 handicap. The fact Corbetts Cross finished a competitive third next time in open Grade One company for the Aintree Bowl only underlines the point. 

There, he was slow and airy in the early stages but loomed up threateningly approaching two out and was still scrapping with Gerri Colombe and Ahoy Senor at the last, only to get away from that obstacle the slowest of the trio. In the opening Road To Cheltenham of the series, Ruby Walsh suggested Emmet Mullins – so deft with headgear – might be moved to remove the hood if Corbetts Cross lines up for next week’s Betfair Chase. 

Grey Dawning is a potential rival there, having skipped the Charlie Hall due to the ground being too quick. He got the better of his auld rival Ginny’s Destiny in a scrap for the Turners in March, during which I formed the impression live that the runner-up might have been able to get away from the winner with his smart jumping had the ground been nearer good. Grey Dawning is unexposed over three miles, shapes as though he’ll do better for it, and – provided he continues to develop – I see him as a real Gold Cup contender. 

Both those horses might not have fully recovered from the Turners when downed by the perpetually underestimated Il Etait Temps at Aintree next time out; equally, that could just be the measure of them at the trip as they did finish tellingly close together as they did all season. 

That winner had previously brought his tally of lesser Cheltenham Festival performances to three with a staying-on third behind Gaelic Warrior in the Arkle – a race that I’ll reflect on it greater detail next week along with the rest of the two-mile division. 

A smaller-scale model, Il Etait Temps may also have struggled to jump out of the heavy ground at Cheltenham as he also scalped his conqueror on that occasion, perhaps with the superior tactical ride, at Punchestown in May. 

And so, we finish this division where we started with more Mullins. The final shout goes out to perma-crock Grangeclare West, whose Grade One Neville Hotels success at Leopardstown last Christmas marked him out as a prime novice-chasing talent. However, he is also yet to see out a full season of targets. Mullins is open-minded. 

“There might be a nice big handicap in him in the early part of the season. We could look at handicap chases mixed with graded chases,” he said “We’ll see what suits him best. He could have a nice handicap mark for something like the Coral Gold Cup or even the Thyestes in Gowran. 

“I think there's improvement still in him. He's rated 159 and could easily get into the high-160s, so he's a horse, come Cheltenham time, who could be going for one of the bigger races.” 

There will be no respite. Brace, everyone, brace.