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Fact To File enters the stratosphere as Galopin Des Champs’ Leopardstown monopoly is broken.
The script was written for a coronation, but Fact To File clearly hadn’t read it. In a performance that sent shockwaves from Leopardstown to the betting shops of Cheltenham, the JP McManus-owned nine-year-old didn’t just beat Galopin Des Champs; he dismantled the aura of a modern great.
Galopin Des Champs arrived at the Dublin Racing Festival seeking a historic fourth consecutive Paddy Power Irish Gold Cup, a feat that would have moved him past even the great Florida Pearl in the pantheon of Leopardstown legends. Instead, he finished a weary third, beaten 13 and a half lengths, as the “New King” of Closutton announced himself in emphatic style.
Under a cool-as-ice steer from Mark Walsh, Fact To File travelled with a menacing ease that has become his trademark. While Affordale Fury set a testing gallop in the rain-softened ground, Fact To File sat in the slipstream, jumping with the precision of a metronome.
When Paul Townend asked Galopin Des Champs for his characteristic late surge turning for home, the engine simply wasn’t there. He was briefly out-battled for second by the enigmatic Gaelic Warrior, leaving the 15/8 favorite to settle for the bronze medal in a Willie Mullins 1-2-3.
The fallout for the Boodles Cheltenham Gold Cup is immediate and chaotic. Fact To File does not currently hold an entry for the Friday showpiece, but the talk of a £25,000 supplementary fee began before Mark Walsh had even unsaddled.
For Galopin Des Champs, the dream of a Cheltenham Gold Cup hat-trick remains alive, but the invincibility has vanished. Whether it was the soft ground or the cumulative effect of a long career at the top, he looked a shadow of the horse that blew the field away in 2024.
Willie Mullins was typically measured in the aftermath:
“Fact To File was terrific—he just jumped his way into it. As for Galopin, he’s run a brave race, but he met a younger, fresher horse today. We’ve been here before with him; he’s a fighter, and we won’t be giving up on March just yet.”
The defeat of the reigning champion, coupled with a tired fall at the last for Inothewayurthinkin, has left the Gold Cup market in its most volatile state for years. The Jukebox Man and Jango Baie will lead a rejuvenated British challenge, but the eyes of the racing world are now firmly fixed on Fact To File.
If he is supplemented, the 10/1 currently available for Galopin Des Champs at Cheltenham might look like a huge price—or the start of a very long goodbye.
