Horses for courses is an old racing adage but rarely has one relished a track like Fastorslow appears to love Punchestown after once again beating his old rival Galopin Des Champs to secure back-to-back successes in the Ladbrokes Gold Cup on Wednesday.
Having memorably upset the odds with a 20-1 defeat of his Cheltenham Gold Cup-winning rival a year previously, the Martin Brassil-trained star repeated the dose in style in the €300,000 festival feature.
Jockey JJ Slevin guided the 7-2 shot to a 1¼ length defeat of an illustrious foe that seven weeks previously had recorded back-back victories in the Cheltenham Gold Cup.
Slevin was left rueing his luck on that occasion, unseated from Fastorslow at the 16th fence in a ‘Blue Riband’ that turned into a gruelling slog on very soft ground. Coming after Galopin Des Champs’ convincing success at February’s Dublin Racing Festival, it suggested a rivalry only going one way.
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But back at Punchestown, and on a quicker surface, Fastorslow got his revenge in style. If Slevin adopted patient tactics a year ago, and when beating ‘Galopin’ around Punchestown in November’s John Durkan, this time he was determined to take the initiative.
Fastorslow didn’t take long to get ahead of the 1-2 favourite and jumped for fun behind the wayward pacesetter, Conflated. Behind him, Galopin Des Champs’ normally fluent jumping was absent too often for comfort, leading to Paul Townend sending out distress signals from three out.
That ‘Galopin’ has grit to go with his class was underlined by how he persistently closed the gap to the line. Behind him, Hewick’s famed perseverance took him into third. But ultimately there was an authority to Fastorslow that reflected a top talent in his element.
“It’s Fastorslow’s track here, isn’t it,” pointed out a disappointed Townend who’d earlier landed Grade One success with Dancing City. If that was a somewhat underwhelming sole success in pursuit of Jack Kennedy for the jockeys’ title, then Slevin had both an air of victory and vindication.
Enough flak swirled around him after the Cheltenham unseat to make his reaction so impressive. Intense Raffles began April with Irish National success while Slevin secured more big-race success on Banbridge just 24 hours previously. Fastorslow’s success, though, smacked of some redemption.
“Today lessens the Cheltenham incident, I try not to think about it too much,” he said before recalling: “He jumped the fence, his head disappeared, and next thing I’m getting up off the ground.”
The score in Fastorslow’s head-to-head with Galopin Des Champs now stands at 3-3 with all of Fastorslow’s wins at Punchestown. Despite an exciting crop of novices emerging on the scene, the pair still represent the benchmark among staying chasers going into next season.
“He’s an absolute monster, by far the best horse I’ve ever ridden. He was actually keen for the first mile and I was very worried about that. He had a bit of a go at the first down the back and came out of my hands, but he’s an absolute machine,” Slevin continued.
“It was a long way home [from Cheltenham] but, at the end of the day, it is a horse race and you have to move on. There’s a lot of people in worse situations,” he added.
At the end of a busy season, Willie Mullins praised Galopin Des Champs’ effort and said: “Fastorslow is always good around this time of year and around this track. JJ gave him a very brave ride. He didn’t wait around for our fellow. He went out and took the race by the scruff of the neck and it worked for him.
“Our fellow ran a great race and was staying on at the end. Paul set out to make the running and the race sort of overtook him. There is no point in forcing a horse to make the running and I don’t think he jumped well enough to make the running either.”
Separately, it proved a red-letter day for Paul and Jody Townend as the siblings each recorded Grade One victories for Mullins.
Experience won out in the Grade One Champion Bumper as the oldest horse in the race, Redemption Day, burst more than a few reputational balloons, not least that of his Cheltenham-winning stable companion Jasmin De Vaux.
The 6-4 favourite proved a bitter disappointment, fading quickly when the tempo heated up in what turned into a slowly-run tactical affair.
That could have been bad news for Redemption Day given his previous headstrong tendencies. But at the age of seven, and on his seventh bumper start, the message appeared to click as he settled at the rear of the field for Jody Townend.
The 9-2 winner made his debut at Christmas 2021 and finished runner-up to Facile Vega in this race in 2022. However, the decision to keep such a relatively senior citizen in bumpers paid off in spades as he looped the field to provide Townend with a first top-flight success.
“Once he settles, he has some engine. He has the turn of foot of a Flat horse. With the turn of foot he has, once he settled I actually didn’t mind what they did!” she said.
Henry de Bromhead recorded a double through Gorgeous Tom and Lets Go Champ.
But Day Two of the festival ended in some controversy as Familiar Dreams held the Grade Three bumper in the stewards room despite hanging alarmingly left up the straight and carrying the runner-up Mozzies Sister with her for much of it.
Just half a length eventually separated them at the line but officials decided the winner didn’t improve her position through the interference.
♦ If Jack Kennedy holds off Paul Townend for the jockeys’ championship, he will have plenty time to celebrate after picking up a 16-day suspension from the Punchestown stewards on Wednesday for breaching whip rules on Stellar Story, fourth to Dancing City in the Channor Champion Novice Hurdle.
It was a fourth breach of the whip regulations for Kennedy who leads Townend 122-117 ahead of Saturday’s season finale. On Tuesday, Kennedy got eight days for breaking whip rules on Firefox.
Wednesday’s official Punchestown festival attendance reached 21,652, up on last year’s corresponding figure of 20,354.
