CHELTENHAM, England (AP) — Galopin Des Champs was denied a third straight win in horse racing's Cheltenham Gold Cup when he was beaten by Inothewayurthinkin in the prestigious jumps race on Friday.
Only four horses, including greats Arkle and Best Mate, have won three Gold Cups in a row in the race's 101-year history.
Galopin Des Champs, the 8-13 favorite, was put in a great position to become the fifth but was overtaken at the last fence by Inothewayurthinkin, which pulled away to defeat the champion by six lengths.
“He was just not happy, everything was a bit of an effort," said Paul Townend, the jockey for Galopin Des Champs. “He still gave it a crack and gave them something to shout about for a long way.”
Galopin Des Champs' trainer, Willie Mullins, was looking to claim a remarkable fifth straight race victory on the final day of the festival. His first was a 100-1 shot, Poniros, belonging to Brighton soccer club owner Tony Bloom.
Soon after the race finished, Cheltenham said in a statement — on the X account of ITV, the British broadcaster for the festival — that one of the runners, Corbetts Cross, died after falling at a fence during the Gold Cup.
“Our heartfelt condolences are with his connections,” the statement read.
It wasn’t a clean run by Galopin Des Champs, which was forced wide to the right to avoid an earlier faller — the leader at the time, Ahoy Senor — at the eighth-to-last fence.
Galopin Des Champs only pulled clear of Gentlemansgame just before the second-to-last fence and couldn’t hold off Inothewayurthinkin (15-2) ahead of the last.
Gentlemansgame wound up in third place.
Mullins was denied a fifth win in one of British horse racing's biggest races.
However, it was still a good day for the Irish trainer, thanks to victories for Poniros in the Triumph Hurdle — in his first ever race over hurdles — then Kargese in the County Handicap Hurdle, Dinoblue in the Mares Chase and Jasmin De Vaux in the Novices’ Hurdle.
That took Mullins to 10 wins for the week, tying his own record at a single Cheltenham Festival.
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People arrive to watch the final day of the British Horse Racing Cheltenham Festival at Cheltenham Racecourse, England, Friday, March 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Dave Shopland)
People arrive to watch the final day of the British Horse Racing Cheltenham Festival at Cheltenham Racecourse, England, Friday, March 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Dave Shopland)
TRENTON, N.J. (AP) — Richard “Dick” Codey, a former acting governor of New Jersey and the longest serving legislator in the state's history, died Sunday. He was 79.
Codey’s wife, Mary Jo Codey, confirmed her husband’s death to The Associated Press.
“Gov. Richard J. Codey passed away peacefully this morning at home, surrounded by family, after a brief illness,” Codey's family wrote in a Facebook post on Codey's official page.
"Our family has lost a beloved husband, father and grandfather -- and New Jersey lost a remarkable public servant who touched the lives of all who knew him," the family said.
Known for his feisty, regular-guy persona, Codey was a staunch advocate of mental health awareness and care issues. The Democrat also championed legislation to ban smoking from indoor areas and sought more money for stem cell research.
Codey, the son of a northern New Jersey funeral home owner, entered the state Assembly in 1974 and served there until he was elected to the state Senate in 1982. He served as Senate president from 2002 to 2010.
Codey first served as acting governor for a brief time in 2002, after Christine Todd Whitman’s resignation to join President George W. Bush’s administration. He held the post again for 14 months after Gov. Jim McGreevey resigned in 2004.
At that time, New Jersey law mandated that the Senate president assume the governor’s role if a vacancy occurred, and that person would serve until the next election.
Codey routinely drew strong praise from residents in polls, and he gave serious consideration to seeking the Democratic nomination for governor in 2005. But he ultimately chose not to run when party leaders opted to back wealthy Wall Street executive Jon Corzine, who went on to win the office.
Codey would again become acting governor after Corzine was incapacitated in April 2007 due to serious injuries he suffered in a car accident. He held the post for nearly a month before Corzine resumed his duties.
After leaving the governor’s office, Codey returned to the Senate and also published a memoir that detailed his decades of public service, along with stories about his personal and family life.
“He lived his life with humility, compassion and a deep sense of responsibility to others,” his family wrote. “He made friends as easily with Presidents as he did with strangers in all-night diners.”
Codey and his wife often spoke candidly about her past struggles with postpartum depression, and that led to controversy in early 2005, when a talk radio host jokingly criticized Mary Jo and her mental health on the air.
Codey, who was at the radio station for something else, confronted the host and said he told him that he wished he could “take him outside.” But the host claimed Codey actually threatened to “take him out,” which Codey denied.
His wife told The Associated Press that Codey was willing to support her speaking out about postpartum depression, even if it cost him elected office.
“He was a really, really good guy,” Mary Jo Codey said. “He said, ‘If you want to do it, I don’t care if I get elected again.’”
Jack Brook contributed reporting from New Orleans.
FILE - New Jersey State Sen. and former Democratic Gov. Richard Codey is seen before New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy delivers his State of the State address to a joint session of the Legislature at the statehouse, in Trenton, N.J., Tuesday, Jan. 10, 2023. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke, File)
