Willie Mullins is doing his best not to think Galopin Des Champs is going to match Arkle and Best Mate with a third Cheltenham Gold Cup – but he knows a "once in a lifetime" achievement is tantalisingly close.
Golden Miller famously won the race five times in the 1930s while Cottage Rake was a hat-trick hero between 1948 and 1950, but Arkle and Best Mate have defined the modern era of the storied staying chase.
While Arkle will always stand on his own in National Hunt folklore, it takes a genuine great to win the blue riband three times in a row and the Henrietta Knight-trained Best Mate was the last to do it, between 2002 and 2004.
The nine-year-old Galopin Des Champs landed his third Irish Gold Cup at the weekend, and now all roads lead to his date with destiny in the Boodles-sponsored showpiece on March 14.
"The reception Galopin Des Champs got in Leopardstown was huge, I've never seen anything like it I think. It was just a tremendous reception," said Mullins.
"The Gold Cup is five weeks on Friday and I’d love another week. With those staying chasers you’d like a minimum of six weeks, but the race the other day was our Irish Gold Cup and to me if you have a horse good enough for it, you must respect the race and the meeting and go there.
"To us here it’s unbelievable that we’ve got a horse that’s going for a third Gold Cup and could be in the Best Mate/Arkle category.
"To be associated with a horse like this who is so well known now is a huge honour. We’re all delighted to be involved and we just hope the dream stays alive.
"We’ve got five plus weeks for that day to come and I’m not dreaming it will happen. If you think it’s going to happen it probably won’t, so I’m going in the opposite direction.
"If this horse can do what Arkle and Best Mate did, it’s a once in a lifetime job, isn’t it? I think there was 40 years between them, so we’re maybe 20 years too soon!
"We had a go with Al Boum Photo, but he couldn’t win the third. I think we’ve a bit more of a chance this year."
Stateman makes it three Irish Champion Hurdle wins, taking advantage of the fall by stablemate and biggest rival Lossiemouth
— RTÉ Sport (@RTEsport) February 2, 2025
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Mullins also said that he has a plan in his head on how best to beat Constitution Hill with State Man in the Unibet Champion Hurdle – but he is not going to reveal it to anyone.
The pair have met once before when Nicky Henderson's superstar won the 2023 running by nine lengths, but while Constitution Hill has only run four times since then, State Man subsequently rattled off a sequence of six Grade One strikes.
That included last year’s Champion Hurdle in Constitution Hill’s absence, and State Man heads to Cheltenham to defend his crown on the back of winning a third successive Irish Champion Hurdle at the weekend.
Of course, that race turned into something of an anti-climax, with stablemate Lossiemouth falling down the back straight, but they both remain on target.
"The Irish Champion Hurdle was going to be a hell of a race. I watched a head-on of Lossiemouth’s fall and a flock of seagulls took off just before she approached the hurdle, did that affect her? Something took her eye because she pricked her ears two strides before and just didn’t get up," said Mullins.
"Thankfully, she’s good after the race, Danny (Mullins) is good, he was just winded, he was holding his wrist but he was just winded, and how lucky was State Man not to fall or pick up an injury when four metal shoes were sticking up in the air, I’ve seen lots of horses get injured that way.
"We were very lucky to win the race, and that both of them didn’t fall.
"At the moment, we’re going for the Champion with Lossiemouth, we’re not steering away from it, we’ve been training her for it for two years."
Despite Lossiemouth being sent off favourite on Sunday, Mullins does not envisage stable jockey Paul Townend riding the mare next month.
"Paul has never hidden his admiration for State Man, obviously a lot can happen between now and then but I can’t see Paul getting off State Man," he said.
When asked if he had a plan to beat Constitution Hill, the Closutton maestro replied: "I made a plan when Constitution Hill beat him the first year and I still have it in my head – and that is where it is staying!"
Mullins also disputes the suggestion that Lossiemouth fell because she was taken out of her comfort zone at Leopardstown, as had been the case at Kempton when second in the Christmas Hurdle behind Constitution Hill.
"If I want to sharpen her up, I could, but if you remember in the Triumph Hurdle, she ran away with Paul coming down the hill. We’ve been training her to settle, as we’ve been running her over two and a half miles," he said.
"If you go back to the Hatton’s Grace, it was a pedestrian race, so at Kempton she thought she was just cantering to the first hurdle but they had gone and she thought 'what’s happening here?’.
"That’s the way I read the race. When we want to kick her up to that speed, it will be no problem, I’m fairly confident anyway."
Mullins revealed he received notable approval for the victory of Kopek Des Bordes at the Dublin Racing Festival.
His performance in the Tattersalls Ireland Novice Hurdle has left him positioned firmly at the top of the market for the Supreme Novices' Hurdle on day one of the Cheltenham Festival.
'You should not be able to do what he has done there'
— RTÉ Sport (@RTEsport) February 2, 2025
Kopek Des Bordes blows the opposition away in the Tattersalls Ireland Novice Hurdle.
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"What he did the other day…Ted Walsh rang me the following morning and he said he hadn’t seen a performance like that since Golden Cygnet, which is huge for someone like Ted to say," said Mullins, who added "Ted Walsh is never wrong" when asked for the banker of his squad for the week.
Mullins had previously headed the Supreme market with Salvator Mundi, who did not impress all onlookers when winning the Moscow Flyer Novice Hurdle at Punchestown.
He added: "I think he’s a horse with a lot of tactical speed and he didn’t jump well because they were going so slow the other day.
"It’s going to be interesting which one Paul (Townend) rides, we haven’t talked about it yet, but this fellow will need to do a lot at home, I think."
Another in winning action at the weekend was Final Demand, who seems set for the Turners Novices’ Hurdle.
Mullins said: "The Albert Bartlett wouldn’t be a race I’d want to go for with him. He’s only had two runs, and I’d like a horse who started earlier in the season for that one.
"I think it’s a tough race on horses for the rest of their career and I don’t think he needs that. I think two-miles-five on that track at Cheltenham in the Turners, up that hill, is very tough on a horse and that would be a big enough question to ask him at this stage."
Mullins hinted that Gaelic Warrior and El Fabiolo could both swerve taking on Jonbon in the Queen Mother Champion Chase and head for the Ryanair instead.
Gaelic Warrior was an impressive winner of last year’s Arkle but has yet to hit the target this term, twice chasing home Solness at Leopardstown.
The trainer said: "I was just disappointed with Gaelic Warrior on Sunday, disappointed in the overall context but I thought he looked to be going so average about the fifth last and it looked to everyone like Paul might pull him up.
"Paul actually said the same to me that he was going to pull him up and then he just seemed to get his second wind and stayed on well, so the Ryanair comes into the equation now after that.
"It could just be a bit too fast going down the back side for him (at Leopardstown), but I’m just wondering has he some other issue, which I’m trying to look into at the moment. I’ve a few things I want to look into and I want to check him before I say any more."
The Simon Munir and Isaac Souede-owned El Fabiolo was pulled up when a short-priced favourite for last year’s Champion Chase before proving no match for Jonbon in the Celebration at Sandown.
He fell at the second fence on his seasonal reappearance in the Dublin Chase and Mullins said: "It was disappointing that he came down the other day, but he’s in the Champion Chase and the Ryanair and my feeling is that he should go up in trip for the Ryanair. That’s where I’ll be aiming for and I’ll see if Simon and Isaac agree with that."
Energumene is set to bid for a third Champion Chase triumph, having taken top honours in 2022 and 2023 before sitting out last season through injury.
After landing the Hilly Way at Cork on his comeback, the 11-year-old found Jonbon too good at Ascot in the Clarence House but Mullins is hoping for a different outcome at Cheltenham.
He said: "I’d say he’ll be better at Cheltenham, or that’s what I hope anyway. I think the ground at Ascot was goodish that day and I think our fella might want it softer, that would be a plus for him. So, we’ll stick with that plan and we’ll pray for rain."
As for this year’s Arkle, Majborough remains on course for a mouth-watering showdown with Sir Gino after claiming the Irish equivalent under Mark Walsh at Leopardstown.
Mullins said: "He’s a fantastic horse, he looks a really nice horse in the making and he’s only five. He does things so naturally.
"Funnily enough, last week I wanted to school him and Mark wasn’t around, so I said to Paul (Townend) to get up on him, which he wouldn’t normally do.
"Paul got down off him and he just couldn’t get over the power of him, so Paul was very taken with him and his schooling at home. So, when you impress someone like Paul, I thought that was a huge statement on a schooling morning."
