Before the latest instalment of their intense rivalry in the Ladbrokes Punchestown Gold Cup, familiar rivals Galopin Des Champs and Fastorslow are said to be in good spirits.
When Fastorslow finished 21 lengths behind Galopin Des Champs as a 66-1 outsider in December 2022, there were few indications of what was to come. However, Martin Brassil's charge rallied to take a 2-1 lead via victories in this race one year prior and the John Durkan last November at the same venue.
But when Fastorslow lost out to J.J. Slevin at the sixteenth of twenty-two fences in the Irish Gold Cup in February at Leopardstown, Willie Mullins' superstar made another statement and won the blue riband event at Cheltenham.
For this year's Punchestown Festival day two feature, the big two are once again heavily favoured in the betting, and Mullins, who also rides longshots Appreciate It and Capodanno, has nothing but respect for the opposition.
Mullins said: “It’s good for racing to have battles like that. Sean and Bernardine Mulryan (Fastorslow’s owners) are fantastic patrons of the game and it was fantastic to see their horse winning, even though beating mine! It’s something to look forward to, going back for the rematch. We’re hoping this year we can beat him in Punchestown, but you never know, it depends how the race pans out and what else is in the race. We’re fit and well, they’re fit and well. They love winning in Punchestown and so do we. We’ll both toast each other whichever horse wins, hopefully one of us wins.”
Last term, Fastorslow belied odds of 20-1 to win this prize, but Brassil is certain that the incident at Cheltenham "definitely wouldn't have left a mark" and there's no way he could sneak in this time.
The Dunmurray-based handler reported: “We’re very happy with him and looking forward to the challenge again. He has no ill-effects from Cheltenham and it’s been a trouble-free passage to get him where he is now and it’s all systems go. I don’t know what it is but he knows the place well anyway. He seems to act really well out there. He’s never been out of the first couple at Punchestown, bar his first run over fences for me.”