Willie Mullins is considering fitting cheekpieces to Galopin Des Champs for the Boodles Cheltenham Gold Cup next month — and if he does, the two-time champion would join a surprisingly short list of horses to tackle jump racing’s biggest prize with headgear on.
The news, confirmed by assistant trainer Patrick Mullins, comes after a disappointing third in the Irish Gold Cup at Leopardstown on February 2, where Galopin Des Champs was beaten eight and a half lengths. It was his second consecutive third-place finish at the Dublin track, following a similar effort in the Savills Chase over Christmas.
The Leopardstown Problem
The numbers paint a clear picture. Galopin Des Champs has raced ten times at Leopardstown, winning seven — but his three defeats have all come at the venue. Patrick Mullins pointed to the wide, galloping layout as part of the issue: the horse gets “lit up” without an inside rail to keep him tight and settled.
Contrast that with Cheltenham, where the tight, undulating track plays entirely to his strengths. In five runs at Prestbury Park, he’s won three times, fell when 11 lengths clear in the 2022 Turners Novice Chase, and finished a creditable second in last year’s Gold Cup. His average finishing position at Cheltenham — discounting the fall — is 1.25. At Leopardstown, it’s 1.9. At Punchestown, 1.86.
He simply runs better when the track does the settling for him.
Cheekpieces And The Gold Cup: A Mixed History
First-time cheekpieces on a two-time Gold Cup winner would raise eyebrows, but there’s precedent. SmartForm data shows that since 2003, only a handful of horses have placed in the Gold Cup wearing any form of headgear. The standout? Native River, who won the 2018 Gold Cup in cheekpieces and finished third wearing them the year before. Santini ran second in cheekpieces in 2020, and Minella Rocco was runner-up in them in 2017.
It’s a short list, but it’s not a losing one. Native River’s 2018 win — making all the running in desperate ground — showed that cheekpieces can help a strong-travelling horse maintain focus through the Cheltenham test. That’s exactly the scenario Mullins is trying to engineer for Galopin Des Champs.
Can He Really Win It Back?
At around 8/1, Galopin Des Champs is drifting in the market behind Fact To File and Jango Baie. Two underwhelming efforts in Ireland have shaken confidence. But the evidence suggests those runs need context rather than panic.
Both defeats came at Leopardstown — the track that has always given him most trouble settling. Both came in ground described as heavy or yielding. And crucially, his two Gold Cup victories at Cheltenham came in contrasting styles: held up and produced late in 2023, then more prominently placed in 2024. He’s adaptable.
A win would put him alongside Kauto Star as the only horse to lose the Gold Cup and win it back — and make him a three-time winner, joining Arkle, Best Mate and Golden Miller in the pantheon.
Paul Townend, who has partnered him throughout, was typically measured: “It would be hard to get off Galopin Des Champs and I don’t think he is finished yet.”
The Bottom Line
Cheekpieces or not, the data says don’t write off Galopin Des Champs based on his Leopardstown form. This is a horse who has won or been in the process of winning four of his five Cheltenham starts. The track does half the job for him. If the headgear helps him settle that fraction earlier, 8/1 could look generous come Gold Cup day.