Fact To File to take on 'hard to beat' Galopin Des Champ again in Irish Gold Cup

Both Fact To File and I Am Maximus will take on stablemate Galopin Des Champs in Saturday's Paddy Power Irish Gold Cup on day one of the Dublin Racing Festival at Leopardstown.

All three of those runners are trained by Willie Mullins, who also has Embassy Gardens, Grangeclare West and Minella Cocooner in the mix.

JP McManus owns both Fact To File and I Am Maximus and enjoyed a successful day at Punchestown courtesy of the former when he took the scalp of Galopin Des Champs in the John Durkan Memorial Chase.

The two met again the Savills Chase after Christmas and the form was reversed, with Galopin Des Champs cantering home seven and a half lengths ahead of runner-up Fact To File.

Willie Mullins says Galopin Des Champs' victory in the Savills Chase was one of the best performances he's ever seen at Leopardstown #RTEsport pic.twitter.com/Ig5RM7uicp

He ran keenly that day under Mark Walsh and could improve for settling, but connections are under no illusions as to the difficulty of defeating Galopin Des Champs in his bid for the Irish Gold Cup hat-trick.

"Fact To File is in great form, Willie is very happy with him and the plan is to run on Saturday," said Frank Berry, racing manager to McManus. "He could do with settling a little bit more and we'll be hoping he does whatever happens.

"Galopin Des Champs will be very hard to beat, we're very aware of that, but we're happy with our horse."

I Am Maximus is the reigning Grand National champion and is entered again for the big race in April, for which he is generally the favourite at this early stage in the process.

He made his seasonal debut in the Savills Chase but did not complete under Jody McGarvey, who pulled him up five fences from home after a jumping error.

The bay now looks to