Bob Olinger was handed the Turners Novices' Chase by the last fence fall of rival Galopin Des Champs.
The leader was going to run out a wide-margin winner of the Grade One contest having run and jumped his rival ragged. He was quick at the final obstacle too only to crumple on landing. Thankfully he walked away fine afterwards.
That left the 6/5 winner clear to win as he liked from Busselton and El Barra who were tailed off from early on the second circuit.
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On the Betfair betting exchange Galopin Des Champs was matched at the basement price of 1.01 for £39,488. Bob Olinger was matched at the ceiling price of 1000 for £10.
Bob Olinger’s rider Rachael Blackmore felt her mount was some way from his brilliant best, even though he added another Festival victory after winning last year’s Ballymore Novices’ Hurdle.
She said: “It’s fantastic to win but nobody likes winning in those circumstances and it was brilliant to see Paul and Galopin Des Champs get up. I was happy with him, he made one or two little errors, so there’s definitely room for improvement there, but four out I wasn’t delighted and I thought I’d be travelling better.
“I don’t know if it was the true Bob Olinger today, even coming up the hill it wasn’t the fashion of last year and I was never going to catch Paul. It’s strange emotions but unbelievable to get another winner here.
“I think he’s a Gold Cup horse, he’s one of the best in Henry’s yard so I wouldn’t be too disheartened today as I know that wasn’t the true Bob, for whatever reason I don’t know, but we’re lucky to have him. The ground might have blunted him but it’s just soft, jumping ground so I wouldn’t use that as an excuse as he’s won on heavy the last day.”
👏 Galopin Des Champs is back on his feet and fine after his nasty fall at the last. A brilliant run until that point and future victories are sure to come.pic.twitter.com/zbaY1Dd60N
— Sporting Life Racing (@SportingLife) March 17, 2022
Paddy Power and Betfair halved Galopin Des Champs in price to 3/1 for next year's Boodles Cheltenham Gold Cup. Sky Bet are 7/2 from 6/1 and they left Bob Olinger unchanged at 12/1.
De Bromhead said: “You never want to win in those circumstances,but this game – always expect the unexpected and we’re delighted to win and we need to show a bit of joy as well. I was surprised to see him off the bridle so soon, obviously the other one is something else. I never thought I’d see another horse do that to him.
“He made a couple of mistakes so we still have to work on the jumping, but he jumped well on the first circuit. He’s still a work in progress, it was still only his third run over fences and he’s won a Grade Three and a Grade One. You don’t like to win a race like that, though.”
Mullins reported Galopin Des Champs to be unscathed after his fall and is optimistic about what the future now holds.
He said: “He’s fine. The reins just got caught around his leg and he panicked a little bit and it took a while to get it all sorted. I think Paul is probably sorer than the horse is. Paul just said he landed well and slipped on his next stride. We move on.
“I’m very pleased with the performance and I suppose we’re getting used to horses falling at the last around here – first of all Adamant Approach and then Annie Power and Benie Des Dieux.
“It’s disappointing, but we have a sound jockey and a sound horse and we live to fight another day – and I’m sure we’ve been on the other end of the scale as well. It’s tough, but it looks like we could have a very special on horse on our hands. I’m delighted I ran him in that race because I can go back to two miles now – we can do anything we want with him. It has always been in the back of my mind that we could go back in trip with him.”
