Galopin Des Champs named Horse of the Season again at Timeform Jumps Awards
Willie Mullins-trained Galopin Des Champs has retained both the Horse of the Season and Top Chaser titles at the second annual Timeform Jumps Awards, with British-trained novices The New Lion and Sir Gino also taking top honours.
Timeform has announced the winners of its second Jumps Awards, with Galopin Des Champs repeating last year’s success by being named Horse of the Season on Monday 12 May 2025.
The nine-year-old, trained by Willie Mullins, was selected by a Timeform panel from a shortlist of eight that included Champion Chase winner Marine Nationale, Cheltenham Gold Cup victor Inothewayurthinkin and Grand National winner Nick Rockett. Galopin Des Champs reached a season-high Timeform rating of 175 after a 22-length win in the Grade 1 Punchestown Gold Cup, following defeat in the Cheltenham Gold Cup earlier in the year. Further Grade 1 wins in the Savills Chase and Irish Gold Cup helped him secure the Top Chaser award for a second consecutive year.
Patrick Mullins, assistant trainer at Closutton, described the horse as a “phenomenal beast”, while Timeform’s lead jumps analyst Dan Barber said the horse’s Punchestown Gold Cup victory underlined his continued dominance despite the Cheltenham setback.
Mullins claims four awards, but British horses take novice titles
Willie Mullins-trained horses picked up four of the seven awards on offer. State Man retained his Top Hurdler title following two Grade 1 wins, including victory in the Punchestown Champion Hurdle, while Lossiemouth was named Top Mare after Grade 1 successes at Fairyhouse, Cheltenham and Aintree.
However, both novice categories went to British-trained horses. The New Lion, trained by the Skelton team and unbeaten in five career starts, won Top Novice Hurdler after his Grade 1 Turners’ Novices Hurdle triumph, earning a Timeform rating of 161p. Sir Gino was named Top Novice Chaser after defeating Ballyburn in the Grade 2 Wayward Lad Novices’ Chase, achieving a rating of 163p.
New award recognises major rating improvement
David Pipe-trained Chemical Warfare won the newly introduced Special Recognition Award after improving his Timeform rating by 28lb to 118, following seven wins during the season.
The Irish Gold Cup, run at Leopardstown’s Dublin Racing Festival in February, was named Race of the Season for the second year running. The award is based on the average Timeform master rating of the first three finishers, with Galopin Des Champs, Grangeclare West and Fact To File making up the podium.
The full list of winners includes Galopin Des Champs (Horse of the Season and Top Chaser), State Man (Top Hurdler), Lossiemouth (Top Mare), The New Lion (Top Novice Hurdler), Sir Gino (Top Novice Chaser), Chemical Warfare (Special Recognition) and the Irish Gold Cup (Race of the Season).