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.”