Records are made to be broken but, while Paul Townend is not yet thinking about the possibility of one day eclipsing Ruby Walsh’s 59 Cheltenham Festival winners, he does have his sights set on becoming the first jockey to win the Gold Cup five times.
The 35-year-old Corkman has 38 Festival winners to his name and looks certain to narrow the gap on the man he replaced as Willie Mullins’ main jockey at Prestbury Park next month.
However, having won the Gold Cup twice with both Al Boum Photo (2019, 2020) and Galopin Des Champs (2023, 2024), he believes a more realistic target is to claim outright ownership of a record he currently shares with the late Pat Taaffe.
“I think it’s a bit far away,” Townend said of Walsh’s record tally of winners. “We just ride as many as we can there. I don’t like setting numbers for Cheltenham or winners for the season or trying to get to targets. I just find that you set yourself up for disappointment.
“The Gold Cup — that’s one I have looked at and I wouldn’t mind putting my name at the top of that list! I think there’s a better chance of riding one of them than however many to catch Ruby. It would be a special thing to do but four is no mean feat either.”
For all his brilliance in the saddle, Walsh never managed to win a Gold Cup or a Champion Chase for Mullins. Townend has since ticked both of those boxes and, asked whether he gets a kick out of achieving feats beyond his predecessor, he replied: “He didn’t leave too much. It’s obviously hard to follow someone who’s done a lot like that, and you’re compared all the time.
“He didn’t leave a lot to be done so to be able to repay Willie, who has given me rides since I started — I’ve only ever had one job and he trusted me to put me up on Hurricane Fly when I was 18 — so to be able to give big winners in races that Ruby hadn’t managed to is nice.”
While he says “nothing is impossible”, the thought of deserting Galopin Des Champs for stablemate Gaelic Warrior in the Gold Cup only to see the 10-year-old emulate racing royalty like Arkle and Best Mate by winning the race for a third time would drive him nuts.
“It would be very hard, I don’t think Galopin is finished yet. I’m not saying I would get off him but if I got off him and he went by me up the hill I’d be keeping a wide berth of me on the plane ride home.”
Another star in the Mullins’ camp heading to Cheltenham is Kopek Des Bordes, who has been installed as Arkle second-favourite despite just one race over fences in his career.
“It’s a worry going there with just one run, but he had enough runs as a hurdler and was there at Cheltenham as a hurdler as well which takes a bit of the worry out of it,” Townend said.
“The owners are a great bunch who enjoy it so much and he’s a horse of a lifetime for them.
“Charlie (McCarthy, owner) has been in racing a long time looking for one like him and he’s going to enjoy it now he has one. He’s an exciting horse and you’d rather have him than be taking him on.”
Time will tell whether Townend can realistically get close enough to eclipse Walsh’s Festival record before he retires but his hunger for winners on the biggest of the racing calendar remains undimmed.
“It gets better every time, it’s addictive. I remember the first time I rode a winner at Cheltenham, it was brilliant. I kind of didn’t know what to expect or what to do. I think when I won my first Gold Cup I thought nothing would ever top that and the next year it was better. It’s hard to describe to someone who hasn’t experienced it.”
