'I experience Galopin Des Champs’ races as if he still belongs to me' - the remarkable origin story of the Gold Cup hero

For at least the last 12 months, Galopin Des Champs had looked like a Cheltenham Gold Cup winner in waiting. Last Friday his destiny was fulfilled when he stormed up the most famous hill in jump racing for an emphatic seven-length success. 

But while his National Hunt superstar status is now assured, the origins of his story paint a different picture altogether, as he is by an obscure, little-used stallion, was raised among trotters and once changed hands for a mere €6,000. 

The Willie Mullins-trained seven-year-old was bred in France under the banner of GAEC Des Champs, the nom de plume of Hubert Bunel, whose operation is based at Thue et Mue, just to the west of Caen. Although the farm can boast of having produced the highest-rated chaser of his generation, Bunel’s primary focus has been the production of harness racers.