Savills Chase: Alex Scott's race preview and tip

There is no getting away from the fact that this €175,000 race revolves around the first two home in the Cheltenham Gold Cup.

At the time of writing on Saturday afternoon, Inothewayurthinkin and Galopin Des Champs are both a best-priced 2-1, although Gavin Cromwell's charge is available at as short as 13-8. The handicapper cannot split them either, with the pair both rated 176, but they come into the race with different preparations.

Then there is the presence of Fastorslow, who is rated 168 and has got the better of Galopin Des Champs on three occasions, and cannot be ruled out after finishing third in the John Durkan last time after a year off the track. An intriguing contest awaits.

Willie Mullins's nine-year-old has won this for the past two years, each time second start of the campaign.

This time, however, he makes his seasonal reappearance after suffering a minor hold-up in his preparation and Mullins was on record as saying earlier this year that a lighter campaign may be on his agenda anyway.

Whilst he has improved for his first run back in the past two seasons, his opening efforts in 2023 and 2024 were in the John Durkan over a trip well short of his optimum, and finishing third both times were not bad efforts. He did, however, win the John Durkan on his seasonal bow in 2022 when the race was staged just before Christmas.

If race fitness is one concern, then his course record is a big positive. He is unbeaten in seven starts over fences at Leopardstown, with his cumulative winning distances totalling over 78 lengths. Six of those seven races have been at Grade One level.

His win in this last year was particularly impressive, as he made all to beat Fact To File by seven and a half lengths, with Inothewayurthinkin more than double that distance further back in fifth.

He does though, have six lengths to find with Inothewayurthinkin on their March form, with JP McManus's seven-year-old running out an impressive winner of the Gold Cup at Cheltenham.

The defending champion never looked truly comfortable during the race, and did not jump and travel with his usual fluency, though he did still manage to beat his seven other rivals by some margin and he followed that up with a 22-length success at Punchestown.

Unlike Galopin Des Champs, Inothewayurthinkin arrives in Dublin having had a recent run. Connections were seemingly more than happy with his 53-length defeat behind Gaelic Warrior and Fact To File in the John Durkan last month and, having been sent off at odds of 18-1, it was clear they felt that was very much a stepping stone to this race and future targets over a more suitable distance. It is worth remembering that he was last of those to finish in the John Durkan last year, too.

We did not see too much of him in that race either, as whilst Gaelic Warrior went steaming off in front, the Gold Cup hero was ridden patiently towards the rear. The RaceiQ data tells us that, whilst he did not do anything particularly impressive there, he did show a tremendous turn of foot to win Jump racing's blue-riband the time previously.

His final half-mile in the Gold Cup is the fourth fastest over fences at Cheltenham from 1,034 horses in the RaceiQ database, with only Lossiemouth and Poniros clocking faster half miles at the Festival this year.

So he is clearly tremendously talented at his best, one that is not short of tactical speed, and one that stays well and has plenty of miles left on the clock. The nagging concern is that it has been over three years since he last won a race in Ireland, though he has clearly been trained to peak at Cheltenham and Aintree for the past two years, so that statistic may not be so relevant. 

What about the rest of the contenders? A further ten horses have been declared, headed by Fastorslow, who is the obvious main danger to the front two in the market. Martin Brassil's charge got the better of his old adversary Galopin Des Champs in both the 2023 and 2024 runnings of the Punchestown Gold Cup. Now rivals in Ireland, six years ago they were stablemates in France, having both been bought out of Arnaud Chaille-Chaille's yard in Royan.

Having finished just under four lengths behind Galopin Des Champs in last year's John Durkan, runner-up behind him in the 2024 Irish Gold Cup over this course and distance, and unseating JJ Slevin seven from home in the 2024 Cheltenham Gold Cup, the scores now stand at 3-2 in the son of Timos's favour.

He jumped very well on his reappearance last time, when, despite finishing a remote third behind Gaelic Warrior and Fact To File, he recorded a RaceiQ Jump Index of 9.1 and gained over ten lengths in the air. He finished over 20 lengths ahead of the re-opposing Inothewayurthinkin, but one imagines they will be much closer together on this occasion.

Of those not yet mentioned, Willie Mullins has four other candidates in Lecky Watson, Grangeclare West and I Am Maximus (who finished seventh, eighth and ninth in the John Durkan last time), plus Champ Kiely. The latter finished a narrow second behind Only By Night last time when giving plenty of weight away and ought to appreciate this step back up from two miles, though he still has plenty to find on the figures.

Others with outside chances include Gerri Colombe, a top notch three-mile chaser in his own right, having finished second behind Galopin Des Champs in both the 2023 running of this, followed by the 2024 Gold Cup, before he then won the Bowl at Aintree. He will need to improve markedly on his third-place effort in Down Royal's Champion Chase when last seen, and that was also more than 13 months ago.

Second in this year's Down Royal Grade One was Affordale Fury, who will represent Noel Meade. He went one place better at Thurles last time, comfortably getting the better of Appreciate It, albeit in receipt of 10lb. Monty's Star, Stellar Story and Croke Park complete the line-up.

This is a really intriguing contest and strong cases can be made for the front three in the market, but marginal preference is for GALOPIN DES CHAMPS. He has needed the run on his reappearance over the past couple of seasons, but they were over shorter trips and his record around Leopardstown over three miles is second to none. He can win this for a third year in a row ahead of his Gold Cup conqueror Inothewayurthinkin and Fastorslow, who shaped with promise on his return to action last month.

1 GALOPIN DES CHAMPS. 2 INOTHEWAYURTHINKIN. 3 FASTORSLOW.