GONE AND FORGOTTEN
Willie Mullins consigns his split with Gigginstown to history
I won’t target my ex-horses this week, I’ll be trying to win races
THE hand-carved chess set sits on the coffee table in the living room of Willie Mullins’ hospitable home in Closutton, on the Carlow-Kilkenny border. It could be a metaphor for Cheltenham battle with Mullins in white and Gordon Elliott in black – the grandmaster against the young pretender.
For four days this week, the two trainers will take a breather from their compelling duel for the Irish title and pursue glory on Gloucestershire’s green fields.
They will do so against a sub-plot of intrigue as Elliott was the chief beneficiary of the decision last autumn by Ryanair boss Michael O’Leary to remove his Gigginstown House horses from the Mullins yard in a row over fees.
Over 50 horses, all individually sourced by the Mullins team for O’Leary, departed in a swoop which stunned Irish jump racing and left Mullins looking forlornly at his subs’ bench, knowing no one was quite warmed up.
Among the equine All-Stars transferred were Apple’s Jade and Outlander, who run for Elliott this week (Don Poli is a late casualty) while Champion Hurdle fancy Petit Mouchoir will be saddled up on Tuesday by Henry De Bromhead.
Mullins was entitled to be wistful at the ones that got away, but that’s not his style.
‘They’re gone, I’ve forgotten about them. I can’t do anything about it. You’ve got to look forward. If you look back in this game, you’re finished,’ he said. ‘I won’t be targeting my ex-horses this week; I’ll be trying to win races.’
Winning at Cheltenham is something he does better than most. He is two shy of his half century, and has been the Festival’s leading trainer five times out of the last six years, an honour he covets deeply.
For beneath the unfailing politeness, the light doff of his trilby, beats the heart of a steely competitor for whom Cheltenham success has come to define his season.
Whereas Elliott had no racing heritage, Kilkenny native Mullins grew up steeped in horses. His late father Paddy won 10 Irish trainers’ titles, the Irish Grand National four times and the Champion Hurdle and Gold Cup with Dawn Run.
Willie, the eldest of four sons, partnered Bregawn in a Gold Cup, rode the winner of the Cheltenham Bumper and, this week, celebrates the 25th anniversary of his first Festival runner – Closutton Express in the National Hunt Chase, which he rode and was pulled up.
Along the way, he has relied on his eyes and trusted his instincts. He is unusual among trainers in that he rarely watches race re-runs. Once seen through his binoculars, the information is stored away.
He knows when to run horses, when not to, and where to place his horses in races, notably at Cheltenham, to give them the optimum chance of winning. Last year, there was a fuss when Vautour was switched from the Gold Cup to the Ryanair Chase at the 11th hour – only to bolt up and vindicate the trainer’s judgement. This year, Limini has been kept away from the Champion Hurdle for a tilt at the Mares’ Hurdle instead. It’s been done for a reason. If the Gold Cup has proven elusive, Mullins has gone closer than most, hitting the bar six times in all, including the last four in a row. Djakadam, twice second, is his standard bearer once again and he believes a tweaked schedule (he hasn’t run since Christmas which follows a trend of nine of the last 15 Gold Cup winners) will help. Indeed, a Gold Cup triumph would be a bonus as much of his Festival is centred on Douvan delivering in Wednesday’s Champion Chase.
Ticking off that ‘major’ would ensure Douvan joins Vautour as Mullins horses to win three different races in three successive Festivals, a rare feat achieved also by Bobs Worth and Flyingbolt.
Midway through five interviews to camera in his front garden having held court for an hour to print journalists (he was foot perfect, even when provoked about Gigginstown), Mullins was in sanguine mood as he targets other races with his posse of mares and youngsters, led by talking horse Melon in the opening Supreme Novices’ Hurdle.
So what would be a good week? ‘First of all, to get on the board. After that, I don’t want to put the knockers on it by saying what I’m hoping for,’ he said.
‘We’ve a lot more fancied horses than I thought we would have. It’s come together late but I’m much happier now than I was before Christmas,’ he added.
He will be happier still if the leading trainer’s trophy, boxed up in the hall for its return to Cheltenham last week, returns with him on Friday night. For the top trainer’s award is the yellow jersey of the sport. To win a fifth title in a row, he will probably need five winners to keep his challengers, led by the seasoned Nicky Henderson and the relatively callow Meathman Elliott, at bay.
Mullins is bringing over more than 40 horses, Elliott 30. Along with Henderson, they are the major players at Cheltenham, which the bookies recognise.
At the moment, Mullins has six favourites, all in Grade One races, while his Meath rival has five.
It’s an extraordinary domination as Mullins is without Faugheen, Annie Power, Min and the ill-fated Vautour, while Elliott lost No More Heroes after the RSA Chase last year and his 2016 Gold Cup hero Don Cossack is retired.
Ahead of combat in the Cotswolds, both men are overseeing formidable battalions and have their pieces where they want them.
In chess, it is always white who makes the first move.