Gaelic Warrior has ended the season as the highest-rated jumps horse in training Cheltenham Gold Cup hero Gaelic Warrior has ended the season as the highest-rated jumps horse in training with a figure of 180 awarded at the end-of-season Anglo Irish Jumps Classification. Trained by Willie Mullins, the eight-year-old also won the John Durkan Chase, the Punchestown Gold Cup and just missed out on the King George at Kempton in a pulsating finish with The Jukebox Man and Banbridge. In achieving his lofty rating, he becomes the first horse since A Plus Tard in 2021-22 to achieve a mark of 180, which is the joint-highest since Sprinter Sacre reached 188 in 2012-13. Second on the list was stablemate and Queen Mother Champion Chase winner Il Etait Temps on 174, with another stable companion, Fact To File, who had Gaelic Warrior in third when winning the Irish Gold Cup, on 173. Ben Pauling’s The Jukebox Man was awarded 168, the same as Nicky Henderson’s Jango Baie. Kopek Des Bordes (161), also trained by Mullins, was the top novice chaser, while Champion Hurdle heroine Lossiemouth and Teahupoo shared top billing over hurdles with a rating of 162. Joining Elite Company in the Classifications Shay Quinn, senior National Hunt handicapper for the Irish Horseracing Regulatory Board, said: “Willie Mullins and Paul Townend’s fairytale season saw them complete an extraordinary set of achievements, winning the Champion Hurdle, Champion Chase and Gold Cup at both Cheltenham and Punchestown, while also adding the Grand National to an unforgettable campaign. “Yet for all those remarkable accomplishments, the 2025/26 season ultimately belonged to Gaelic Warrior. “What makes Gaelic Warrior even more remarkable is the breadth of his accomplishments. An Arkle winner over two miles, a John Durkan winner over two and a half miles, an Aintree Bowl winner over three miles, and now a Gold Cup winner over three miles and two furlongs up the demanding Cheltenham hill, he has shown a level of versatility rarely seen in the modern era. “Still only eight, Gaelic Warrior has time firmly on his side and every chance to establish himself as the outstanding staying chaser of his generation.”
