Was Mullins right to be impressed by Galopin Des Champs? Graeme Rodway's view

That was as smooth as silk from Galopin Des Champs and Willie Mullins appeared to be absolutely delighted with the performance. But was he right to be so wildly impressed?

It was a faultless reappearance in that his jumping was sound, he travelled beautifully and quickly put the race to bed when asked, but let’s not get carried away. This wasn’t the performance of a Gold Cup winner just yet and he still has a long way to go to hit that level.

It’s a fact that Fakir D’Oudairies is a four-time Grade 1 winner, but he didn’t put up a Grade 1 performance here. In reality, he was never going and ran well below his best.