Gold Cup-winning jockey Richard Johnson is tipping a surprise in today’s big race – but does not think it come from the winning horse.
Johnson fully expects Galopin Des Champs to triumph yet again but is optimistic a big-priced horse could place.
He told Genting Casino: « For me, Galopin Des Champs will win the Cheltenham Gold Cup again, if he runs the same race he did at Christmas he will win. I thought he was really impressive.
« Actually, I thought he was nearly as impressive as I’ve seen him in any of his races before in the build-up to the Gold Cup. At Christmas this year, he jumped the last and looked like he had plenty left. He stayed on very, very strongly.
« If he turns up fit and well, I would be amazed if he gets beaten. Willie Mullins knows the horse really, really well. He always gets him absolutely cherry ripe for the day.
« It’s a little bit boring, but I think he’s going to be very hard to beat. I think there’s a very good chance this year that one of the placed horses could be a 66/1 shot. Horses like Royale Pagaille stay well.
« I think there’s going to be a lot of big-priced horses in the race and, yeah, I think we could easily get a big-priced horse finishing second or third but for me Galopin Des Champs is definitely the horse every jockey would want to get on. »
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