Dual Gold Cup hero Galopin Des Champs retired from racing

The dual Cheltenham Gold Cup hero Galopin Des Champs was officially retired on Thursday morning after a glittering career and his owner Audrey Turley paid tribute to the 'one of a kind' horse.

Owner Audrey Turley paid a heartfelt tribute to Galopin Des Champs after the superstar chaser’s retirement was confirmed on Thursday.

The Willie Mullins-trained 10-year-old will go down as one of the most popular National Hunt horses of recent times, with his haul of 12 Grade One victories including back-to-back Cheltenham Gold Cup wins in 2023 and 2024 and a hat-trick of Irish Gold Cups between 2023 and 2025.

He was beaten into third place when bidding for a fourth Irish Gold Cup win in February and that proved to be his final career start as he was ruled out of a sixth appearance at the Cheltenham Festival in March after suffering a setback.

In all Galopin Des Champs won 15 of his 26 career outings and Turley, who ran the black gelding together with her husband, Greg, will always cherish memories that will last a lifetime.

Turley told the Press Association: "We've had the best time of our lives, we really have.

"We never thought this would happen to us. We've had the most wonderful time."

When asked if one day stood out above the rest, she said: "Three Irish Gold Cups and the two at Cheltenham, it's hard to pick out one. Every time it was just a wonderful surprise, it was just magnificent.

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"I don't know if I could say one day, maybe the first Cheltenham Gold Cup as that was just extraordinary - like something out of a dream, the joy it brought.

"The other day was in Leopardstown when he won the third (Irish) Gold Cup. Everybody was singing, 'ole, ole, ole' and that just made the hair stand up on the back of our necks.

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