Gaelic Warrior wins Cheltenham Gold Cup for Paul Townend and Willie Mullins
Gaelic Warrior, with Paul Townend up, jumps the last on the way to winning the Boodles Cheltenham Gold Cup Chase. Pic: Harry Murphy/Sportsfile
Gaelic Warrior made Paul Townend the most successful jockey in Gold Cup history when winning the Cheltenham Festival feature on Friday.
Townend went into the race sharing the honour with the great Pat Taaffe, who famously partnered the legendary Arkle to a Gold Cup hat-trick between 1964 and 1966 before adding another blue riband to his CV with Fort Leney in 1968.
Townend ended Willie Mullins’ long wait for a first Gold Cup win in 2019 and followed up a year later before the Corkman claimed another double success courtesy of Galopin Des Champs in 2023 and 2024.
Galopin Des Champs fell short of emulating Arkle’s treble last year and a late setback ruled him out of this year’s Festival, paving the way for Townend to partner Gaelic Warrior and the eight-year-old delivered in terrific style to give Townend a fifth Gold Cup win.
