Remember last year? Savills Chase, Leopardstown, 28th December 2024, when Galopin Des Champs led from flagfall and they couldn't catch him?

It was a performance that lit up Leopardstown’s Christmas Festival and radiated through the entire National Hunt season, and it was a joy to watch. Galopin Des Champs in that metronomic rhythm, in front, at ease under a motionless Paul Townend.

Stride, stride, jump. Stride, stride, jump.

There was a small gap between Willie Mullins’ horse and his rivals when they turned at the top of the track and faced up to the second last fence, and there was a slightly larger gap between him and his rivals when they rounded the home turn and faced up to the last. Paul Townend eased him over towards the stands rail and gave him a squeeze.

The rider saw his stride a long way from the final fence. He asked his horse to meet it, and Galopin Des Champs soared. Fact To File tried to respond, but how do you contain the uncontainable? And then the Leopardstown hill that he loves. Galopin Des Champs has come up that Leopardstown hill on the steeplechase track seven times now, and never has he not been in front when he has got to the top of it.

It was only after he landed over the final fences that his rider asked him for maximum effort. How much have you got left? Lots.

Lots and lots.

The cheer from the crowd as he came clear up the run-in sent a shiver from the base of your spine to the nape of your neck, and it reached a crescendo when Galopin Des Champs’ nose hit the line, seven and a half lengths in front of his closest pursuer. Paul Townend has won just about every major race on the National Hunt calendar on both sides of the Irish Sea. Gold Cup, Grand National, King George, Champion Hurdle, Stayers’ Hurdle, Champion Chase. He doesn't do animation lightly. And yet, even he punched the air, saluted the crowd. His smile told you how much this victory meant even to a champion jockey who had won it all.

You could see how much it meant to the racegoers too. There were over 17,000 people at Leopardstown on the day, and the vast majority of them wended their way back to the parade ring, back to the winner’s enclosure, to give the victors the reception that they deserved when they came back in. It was a reception that filled the whole space, unrestrained, whole-hearted in appreciation. We were there. It is rare that you witness a reception like that on an Irish racecourse. Think Hurricane Fly. Think Faugheen. That is the club in which Galopin Des Champs belongs.

And Audrey Turley’s horse will be back again at Leopardstown this Sunday, back in his bid to win the Savills Chase for a third time. It is a race that boasts a proud tradition. One of the most important races on the National Hunt racing calendar, it has been won in the past by luminaries of the sport, from Imperial Call and Dorans Pride and Best Mate, to Beef Or Salmon and Denman and Synchronised and A Plus Tard. And yet, only Beef Or Salmon has won the race three times. Galopin Des Champs will be bidding to bridge a 20-year gap. He will also be bidding for a little piece of history. No horse has ever won three Savills Chases in a row.

His preparation has been a little different this year. When Galopin Des Champs won his first Savills Chase in 2023, he was racing for the second time that season, having made his seasonal debut in the John Durkan Chase the previous month. Same in 2024. This year, he will be racing for the first time this season in the Savills Chase. He hasn’t raced since he won the Punchestown Gold Cup in April. But he is trained by Willie Mullins, and he is reportedly all set.

He is going to be tested, that’s for sure because, once again this year, the Savills Chase is shaping up to be a deep, deep race. Inothewayurthinkin is on track. Gavin Cromwell’s horse was brilliant in winning the Cheltenham Gold Cup in March, when he thwarted Galopin Des Champs’ bid to emulate Arkle and Best Mate by winning a third Gold Cup.

Inothewayurthinkin was well beaten on his return this season in the John Durkan Chase at Punchestown, but that was his first run since his Gold Cup victory in March. He should come on significantly for that. Also, the John Durkan is run over two miles and three and a half furlongs. JP McManus’ horse should be much happier over the extended three miles of the Savills Chase.

Fastorslow is set to take his chance on Sunday too. Second behind Galopin Des Champs in the Irish Gold Cup in 2024, Martin Brassil’s horse won the Punchestown Gold Cup in 2023 and in 2024. He could finish only third behind Gaelic Warrior and Fact To File in the John Durkan Chase on his debut this season, but that was his first run in 364 days, and he still had Inothewayurthinkin behind him. That run should bring him forward too, and he is another who will be well suited by the step back up in trip.

Add Champ Kiely and Lecky Watson, stable companions of Galopin Des Champs, and the Noel Meade-trained Affordale Fury, as well as the Henry de Bromhead-trained Heart Wood, and others. We’re all set for another cracking renewal of the Savills Chase, all laced with the possibility of a little piece of history.