RACING has been plunged into mourning following the shock death of Gold Cup king Galopin Des Champs – just days after he was retired.
Willie Mullins and owners the Turley family praised their ‘horse of a lifetime’ just last Friday after his awesome career came to an end.
Sadly he never got to live out much of the post-racing life he so richly deserved after suffering an injury this morning.
Galopin Des Champs won two Gold Cups while being trained by Mullins and the biggest trainer in the sport regarded him as one of the very best to ever come from Closutton.
His death aged ten comes at a time when punters are starting to look forward to the return of the jumps – and casts a huge shadow as an entire sport comes to terms with his passing.
A statement from Ruby Walsh read: “Sadly Galopin Des Champs suffered an injury in his field this morning and could not be saved.
“He was checked a few times throughout the morning but late in the morning when I went to get him for exercise I found him with a severe injury, high up on his near front leg.
“He was attended to by our vets immediately but x-rays revealed extensive unrepairable damage.
“He was a fabulous racehorse whose short time with us has left lots of broken hearts but none more so than those of Greg, Audrey and Sarah Turley and Adam Connolly who looked after him for so long.
“He will be sadly missed.”
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Galopin Des Champs was last seen finishing third in the Paddy Power Gold Cup at Leopardstown last February.
Ever brave in defeat, he didn’t make it to Cheltenham afterwards for one last shot at a third Gold Cup.
Galopin Des Champs bows out having earned just shy of £2million in prize money.
His glittering CV, one of the greatest in the modern age, includes 12 Grade 1s, the last of which was a 22-length Punchestown Gold Cup win in April last year.
Perhaps his crowning moment was his first Cheltenham Festival Gold Cup win in March 2023.
He and the Paul Nicholls-trained Bravemansgame jumped the last together only for Galopin Des Champs to power away up the hill and win by seven lengths.
A three-time Grade 1 monster and 14-length King George winner at the time, Bravemansgame never tasted victory again.
Mullins told Sporting Life the decision to retire Galopin Des Champs – made in conjunction with owner Audrey Turley – came because he could no longer ‘do himself justice at the level he was used to’.
said: “We took a collective decision to retire Galopin Des Champs at his age because we felt he could not do himself justice at the level he was used to.
“He retires a good, sound horse who will hopefully have a good second career as a sport horse.”
Galopin Des Champs won 15 of his 26 career races and the worst he ever finished, when completing, was sixth.
That came when sent off what, in hindsight, seems a ridiculous 100-1 for a 2m Grade 1 novice hurdle at Leopardstown in February 2021.
In his next run he downed Dan Skelton’s perennial Cheltenham Festival plot job Langer Dan in the Martin Pipe.
That confirmed Galopin Des Champs a group horse in a handicap and he duly bolted up at Grade 1 level on his next run at Punchestown.
After that he was always at the top of Mullins’ pecking order for the big races but suffered disaster on his return to Cheltenham 12 months on when infamously falling in the Turners Novices’ Chase.
Sent off 5-6 fav under Paul Townend, the duo were 12 lengths clear at the last when knuckling on landing.
That allowed Rachael Blackmore on Festival legend Bob Olinger to pick up the pieces and win, with a staggering 40 lengths back to Busselton in second.
He never suffered another blip after that, going on a four-race winning streak that culminated in his first Gold Cup.
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Hailed ‘the horse of a lifetime’ by Mullins and his owners, Timeform rank Galopin Des Champs as the second greatest the iconic handler ever trained with a rating of 181.
That put him just one behind former Arkle winner Douvan.