Kopek Des Bordes lays down marker for Cheltenham

Galopin Des Champs may have taken a significant step towards steeplechasing greatness by winning a third Irish Gold Cup on Saturday – a three-peat matched by State Man in Sunday’s dramatic but ultimately uninformative Irish Champion Hurdle – but if a star was born at this year’s Dublin Racing Festival it was their stablemate Kopek Des Bordes.

The unbeaten five-year-old is still some way off the finished article but had given an indication of his potential when he won his maiden hurdle at Leopardstown at Christmas despite a poor round of jumping.

He is still slightly edgy, prone to sweat up beforehand and takes a fierce grip of his jockey, but the improvement in his jumping suggested he is maturing quickly and he sauntered clear here under Paul Townend to win the Tattersalls Ireland Novice Hurdle by 13 lengths. He will now go to Cheltenham as one of the Irish bankers of the meeting in the Supreme Novices’ Hurdle, for which he is the 6-4 favourite.

“He was huge,” said winning trainer Willie Mullins. “The horse was very keen and free the whole way but Paul just let him have his head going down to his hurdles and he jumped way better than at Christmas.

“Then, when he looked to be in a lovely position, the loose horse [Eastern Legend, who unseated four out] came and I knew well what was going to happen. Paul doesn’t normally go on three furlongs out. You could see the loose horse was going to run by at the second-last and Paul had to yank him back and he thought he’d fall out through the hurdle, but he put in a huge jump. Then he just galloped up the straight. It was a tremendous performance.”

State Man was matching Lossiemouth stride for stride when the grey mare took a heavy fall three out in the Irish Champion; only luck and a deft sidestep saved the reigning Champion Hurdle hero from being brought down, but the pair had been so far clear of their rivals that State Man went on to win in a procession.

It had all come a bit quick for Ballyburn against Sir Gino over two miles at Kempton, but back up in trip to an extended two miles and five furlongs, the combination of time spent on the schooling ground and the slower pace helped him produce a faultless round of jumping in the Ladbrokes Novice Chase. Though Croke Park briefly headed him at the last, he was five lengths clear and going away at the finish, suggesting the Brown Advisory’s three miles and half a furlong at the Cheltenham Festival will be even more suitable for him.

“I loved what he did from the last,” said Mullins. “Compared to Kempton, he jumped fantastic, he wasn’t having to go the same speed but he’s all about stamina. We’re back on track although he still has a lot to learn about settling in a race.”

Joseph O’Brien joined Gavin Cromwell and Mullins on the Grade One scoresheet for the weekend when Solness, on whom Danny Mullins injected some pace into proceedings at halfway and had his rivals on the back foot thereon, won the Ladbroke Dublin Chase.

A 10-1 shot for the Champion Chase, on decent ground that would appear to be good value for a horse who has won his last two Grade Ones and whose style of racing may get the more fancied horses out of their comfort zone mid-race at Cheltenham.

Having failed to capture the imagination despite winning two Gold Cups, Galopin Des Champs is finally now getting the admiration and accolades he deserves. If, as seems likely, he wins a third and joins Cottage Rake, Arkle and Best Mate as post-war three-time winners, it will raise the roof off the grandstands.