Irish Gold Cup 2026 Preview: Key Runners and Tips for Dublin Racing Festival Feature

With superstars aplenty, there is no doubt Saturday’s feature race, the Irish Gold Cup, is one of the races of the 2025/26 Jumps season. The first day of the Dublin Racing Festival promises plenty of excitement, but in no contest more than this one, and Billy Grimshaw was licking his lips penning this preview, taking you through the chances of the main protagonists before landing on a confident selection.

The 2026 Irish Gold Cup will do well to have a finish quite as exciting as the 2025 King George, but on paper with the declarations now through this looks the race of the season. Even without what presumably would've been the pace angle, Haiti Couleurs, the field is star studded and packed with horses who are at home in these Grade 1 showdowns. The surprise name in the final field is Gaelic Warrior, a horse who most assumed - including odds compilers given he was 16/1 antepost and is now second favourite - he would skip this en-route to Cheltenham.

He obviously has a chance but with this looking a bit of an afterthought and his record, which is the polar opposite of his shorter priced and more decorated stablemate GALOPIN DES CHAMPS, around Leopardstown not inspiring he is an easy swerve for tipping purposes. Willie Mullins had the 1-2-3 last season and the same trio are back to contest the race once more, with Grangeclare West again disrespected in the opinion of this humble scribe in the odds lists. He rallied late to beat Fact To File for the silver medal in last year's renewal and while he may be beaten by younger legs in 2026, he is a ridiculous price at 25/1 each-way.

I'm intrigued to see who wins the battle of Fact To File and Gaelic Warrior as they once again lock horns, but truth be told I don't see either of the 8/1 chances being involved in the finish. The same can be said for the almost comically unpopular - given he is the reigning Gold Cup champion - Inothewayurthinkin, with his trainer Gavin Cromwell having turned a corner of late but the suspicion being his horse is being trained with one day only in mind. A plugging on fourth or fifth, you suspect, would leave connections delighted.

I Am Maximus is ten now, the same age as Galopin Des Champs and Grangeclare West who he beat intothird and fourth respectively when second in the Savills last time out and could be another each-way play if you believe some of the shorter priced youngsters will not necessarily be primed to the minute for this contest. Ruby Walsh, who of course has more than a bit of an ear to the ground in the Mullins yard, has tipped this Grand National winner for the Cheltenham Gold Cup this season and that is worth taking note of, but with his age he will surely be giving his all for every Grade 1 on offer. He's no back number.

With Galopin Des Champs third and I Am Maximus second, it was Affordale Fury who came home first in the Savills last time out and someone, somewhere, certainly knew this performance from Noel Meade's star was coming. He was very, very well backed for the Leopardstown showpiece staying chase and ran a comfortable career best to claim the prize with relative ease. He was over three lengths clear of Galopin Des Champs that day and I do believe he rates the chief threat to the history hunting Mullins superstar here, but I cannot see him upholding the form.

Galopin Des Champs has a phenomenal record at Leopardstown, with six wins all in Grade 1s and a single third place, the aforementioned Savills. Importantly, every season he seems to come on markedly for his first run. In past seasons that first run has been in the John Durkan, but this year it was here in the Savills and he lost his unbeaten Leopardstown record.

The ground being soft holds no fear for the ten year old, so the question we all must ask is - do all these factors equate to the three lengths Galopin was beaten in the Savills by Affordale Fury?

The answer in my eyes is a resounding yes. Noel Meade's runner was obviously off for his life that day, with the trainer confirming he’d never had him better. The same could not be said for most of the Mullins mob, but given this will be Galopin's last run before attempting to regain his Gold Cup, usurp the great Kauto Star and match Best Mate with three of racing's Blue Ribands, I cannot see him being anything below 95% of his best. That is not withstanding he is hunting history today in gunning for a fourth Irish Gold Cup, so even with the age trends against him he rates a strong Saturday bet for me in what is hopefully a thrilling race with a decisive winner.

It would be remiss of me to complete this preview without mentioning Spindleberry, for all I love the idea of ending with a rallying cry to get behind a modern great like Galopin. She is a mare who has done very little wrong, unbeaten over fences and defying a worrying drift at Doncaster last time to easily land the spoils. Her ceiling has not been sighted yet, however with her owner crowing about a Gold Cup bid and her trainer blatantly more keen to give her a penalty kick in the Mares' Chase, I suspect she will be brave in defeat here before aiming for the Mares' in March.