FOR the second season running, Galopin Des Champs has been crowned the best National Hunt horse in training across Britain and Ireland for 2023/’24, with Willie Mullins and his fellow Irish trainers unsurprisingly to the fore in the end-of-season standings.
A mark of 179 for Galopin Des Champs mirrors his rating from last term, though the Irish handicapping team are rueful of Fastorslow’s unseat in the Cheltenham Gold Cup, believing a more comprehensive assessment of the staying chase division could have been established but for the unfortunate exit.
A total of 8lb separates Willie Mullins’ superstar and Fastorslow (171), with Gerri Colombe next in the standings on 170 in the staying chase category.
Senior IHRB National Hunt handicapper Sandy Shaw said: “Galopin Des Champs’ best performance was probably in the Savills Chase when beating Gerri Colombe by 23 lengths. At Cheltenham, he ran to the same mark as a year earlier of 179.
“The biggest disappointment for me this season was that Fastorslow came down at Cheltenham. I’d love to have seen what would have happened. It would have told us a lot more than what it’s telling us now.
“With an impressive bunch of young novice chasers waiting in the wings, along with Fastorslow and Gerri Colombe, he will need to be at his best in his attempt to emulate Best Mate by winning three consecutive Cheltenham Gold Cups.”
As for novices in the staying chase division, Corbetts Cross is the top rated on 166, ahead of fellow J.P. McManus-owned Cheltenham winner Fact To File (162). The former’s run against senior rivals when third to Gerri Colombe in the Bowl at Aintree gave the assessors an opportunity to rate him higher than Fact To File.
Shaw added: “Corbetts Cross deserves to be top, on what he’s done so far. My own opinion is that while he’s 4lb below, there’s every chance Fact To File could improve on that and rise above Corbetts Cross next season.”
Jonbon (170) leads the way in the middle-distance chasing category, a division where the top novice is Il Etait Temps (160), while El Fabiolo (175) leads the way in the two-mile standings through his impressive Dublin Racing Festival success. Gaelic Warrior (166) is best of the two-mile novice chasers.
British drop-off
BHA steeplechase handicap team leader Martin Greenwood said of the overall landscape: “From a GB perspective, this is the third year we’ve gone with requiring a rating of 150+ to make the classification. The total when we started was 53 GB runners and is now down to 42, after being 48 last year.
“The novices are down from 14 to six, having been seven last season. I don’t think anyone will be surprised by those figures.”
The picture was similar over hurdles, according to BHA hurdle handicap team leader Andrew Mealor, with nearly 30% of all hurdlers rated above 150 trained by Willie Mullins.
“Of the six categories - three in open company and three in novice - Willie has the top horse in five of them,” Mealor noted.
With Constitution Hill having only been seen once in the season, the all-conquering State Man rules the roost in the two-mile hurdling standings on 169.
IHRB National Hunt handicapper Shay Quinn said: “To put his figure into context, it’s good but still 6lb below Constitution Hill last year and 7lb below Istabraq. He’s in line with Binocular in 2009.”
His biggest threat could come from within his own stable, according to Quinn. Lossiemouth earned a mark of 156 in the middle-distance hurdling division, making her the joint-leader in the category alongside Impaire Et Passe (163) when factoring in the 7lb mares’ allowance.
High-flying mare
“We still don’t know how good Lossiemouth really is, and she’s only five,” said Quinn.
“It’s hard to rate her when she’s winning on the bridle every time. State Man needs to improve to beat Constitution Hill at his best. I think Lossiemouth will be State Man’s biggest danger. I like her a lot.”
Teahupoo emerged at the head of the staying hurdle rankings on 164, rated 4lb superior to the same connections’ Irish Point (160), whose peak performance of the season was deemed to have come at the Leopardstown Christmas Festival.
Quinn added: “I can’t see anything knocking Teahupoo off his perch next season. It’s a pretty weak division and I’m not sure there’s a novice coming through.”
In the novice hurdling categories, Willie Mullins swept the boards by supplying the leading two-miler, Mystical Power (154), middle-distance novice, Ballyburn (162) and staying novice, Dancing City (150).
Sir Gino was the top British-rated novice in the hurdles standings, an unusual achievement for a juvenile hurdler, while Caldwell Potter was technically the only other British-trained novice hurdler in the classification despite not yet racing for Paul Nicholls.
Quinn said: “Ballyburn was the clear top novice for the season after demolishing the field by 13 lengths in the Baring Bingham. He has all the attributes required to become an exceptional chaser should connections go down that route.”
Ballyburn received the fourth-highest rating for a novice hurdler since classifications began 25 years ago.