MOST of the Grade 1s over first two days of Cheltenham were underwhelming in terms of competitiveness; while State Man, Lossiemouth, Ballyburn and Fact To File are very good horses, none faced any adversity in winning their respective races, short-priced punters enjoying a comfortable watch throughout.

Thankfully, the competitiveness ratcheted up on the Thursday and Friday, with Galopin Des Champs providing the signature performance of the meeting.

His form claims and price might suggest his task was no more difficult than his stablemates mentioned above but he was competing in a Gold Cup, a race where repeat winners are unusual, while he was also after a season where he had run in almost every available Grade 1, the only exception being the Down Royal Champion Chase where his trainer rarely has runners.

The race itself perhaps lacked the drama of 2023 when Galopin Des Champs had to come from behind while overcoming jumping errors, as this time he was always well-positioned and impressed at his fences, especially the last when he was staying on strongly. Rather, his achievement was in the route he had taken over the last 12 months.

Past winners

He achieved something no horse in the modern era had in winning both Leopardstown open Grade 1 three-mile chases before taking the Cheltenham Gold Cup and looking at the past winners of the three races shows how hard it is to win even two of those races.

Since 1997, Beef Of Salmon (twice) and Delta Work were the only horses to win the two Leopardstown races in the same season while only Best Mate, Denman, Synchronised, Sizing John and Galopin Des Champs himself had won one of the Leopardstown races before following up at Cheltenham.

To win all three, especially as one came with the brilliance of his Christmas performance was an historic achievement, the only comparable efforts being some of Kauto Star’s campaigns and Sizing John’s three Gold Cups in three months in 2017.

There is the promise of more to come too, not just next season but also at Punchestown in May where he may bid to emulate the Harrington horse, and he will face his share of adversity there having lost his last two starts at the track against a rival in Fastorslow who is a little fresher and seems well-suited by going right-handed.

DECISION-making is central to horse racing from jockeys deciding what gap to go for to punters choosing one or other of the possible picks from their shortlist to connections doing race selection with their various horses.

No one could have gotten the last aspect more correct that Robcour did at Cheltenham last week.

Their seven runners at the meeting yielded form figures of:1271B2P, the one that was brought down (Saint Felicien) going well at the time in the Plate.

The move to avoid Ballyburn with Slade Steel came to fruition in the Supreme while switching Irish Point to the Champion Hurdle from the longer race worked out about as well as it could have, and he can step back up in trip again later in the spring.

They took a different approach with Gerri Colombe this season, campaigning him more sparingly than in 2022/’23 when he thrived on racing, and that change brought about a career best in the Gold Cup.

Crown

The jewel in the crown, however, was the win of Teahupoo in the Stayers’ Hurdle. He was barely past the post in the Hatton’s Grace in December when Gordon Elliott and Brian Acheson said he would go straight to Cheltenham, forgoing a second attempt at the Galmoy and swerving Leopardstown at Christmas, a track that he has never run at, unusual for a top-flight Irish jumps horse.

Their argument that he was best fresh proved to be spot on, something that is not always the case in both winter and spring, and he has plenty of options for the rest of the season if the weather plays ball.

WILLIE Mullins rightly got the training plaudits last week, winning his one 100th Cheltenham Festival race in the Bumper on Wednesday, before adding three more on Friday, while Dan Skelton had the notable achievement of four winners.

Henry de Bromhead too had a fine meeting, especially in the Grade 1s where his runners finished with form figures:1823421206, while a number of his handicappers shaped better than the bare result, among them Popova (met trouble in the Pertemps), Arctic Bresil (didn’t get home in the Plate) and Waterford Whispers (went like the best horse for much of the Martin Pipe).

In his career, de Bromhead has had 23 Festival winners and it is notable that six of them were able to come back and win at least once more at the meeting: Sizing Europe, A Plus Tard, Minella Indo, Put The Kettle On, Honeysuckle and Envoi Allen are all multiple Festival winners while many of them ran well in defeat at the meeting on other occasions.

With that in mind, it would be no surprise if Supreme winner Slade Steel was able to win at the meeting again, particularly over fences, though I would be less keen to be with the de Bromhead Festival winners should they run again this season.

Those 23 Cheltenham winners had form figures of:3F2243141571P4 if they ran again the season of their victory, the only winners being Honeysuckle (twice) and Minella Indo.

They have often peaked for the season, and it might take until next year for them to return to that level.

TESTING ground was a consistent feature throughout the Festival, and after a brief reprieve in the weather early on Thursday’s card, the rain came for the New Course too and made conditions tough. It was the kind of ground where a bad run can be forgiven and while some apparent good ground horses like Absurde were able to get away with the surface, many others underperformed.

Horses that were keen struggled to get home while a position on the outer part of the track was often an advantage, particularly as the meeting went on. Banbridge is an obvious one that didn’t get his ground while it was similar with Ashroe Diamond on the Tuesday, who compounded things by over-racing and pressing on too soon.

More ability

In the handicaps, Guard Your Dreams is one that may retain more ability than his down the field finish in the Coral Cup suggests, and his mark is sure to drop for this, while Solness was never able to get into a jumping rhythm in the Grand Annual on ground he doesn’t like, unsuited by being held up in a steadily-run race too.

Hyland travelled well for a long way in the Pertemps on the inner, his run coming at a time when his yard pulled out many of their horses. Whacker Clan went well in a competitive Kim Muir on ground slower than ideal.