Willie Mullins felt Galopin Des Champs lacked his usual spark after suffering defeat in his bid for back-to-back victories in the John Durkan Memorial Punchestown Chase.

The seven-year-old was a hugely impressive 13-length winner of the two-and-a-half-mile Grade One 12 months ago, after which he went on to lift both the Irish Gold Cup at Leopardstown and the Cheltenham Gold Cup.

He did suffer defeat at the hands of Fastorslow in the Punchestown Gold Cup on his final start of the campaign, but was widely expected to turn the tables on that rival on his seasonal reappearance.

However, the 1-2 favourite lacked fluency in the hands of Paul Townend, particularly in the jumping department, and while he briefly threatened to throw down a major challenge early in the home straight, he ultimately had to make do with minor honours in third as Fastorslow again emerged triumphant.

“Paul said he was very dead in himself today, no spark,” Mullins said afterwards.

“We schooled him during the week, he pinged fences and we were very happy with him.

“It’s disappointing that he didn’t replicate his homework today. For some reason, he was very dead in himself.”