Mullins puts rivals away with mastery of Bradman
A genius with moist eyes. Other than for that slight glistening, the slim-set, quietly spoken, neatly groomed star of this Cheltenham Festival was a picture of calm.
This was Willie Mullins, trainer supreme, who turned this wonderful swathe of Cotswold england into reliably irish turf over this week and, indeed, the last decade.
He had just seen 10-11 favourite galopin Des Champs win the gold Cup and enter the company of immortals, alongside the likes of easter Hero and golden Miller harking back to the Festival’s origins precisely a century ago, moving on to Arkle and L’escargot, then to modern greats Best Man and Al Boum Photo.
And galopin Des Champs’ second successive victory in the big race was a brilliant one, hard-fought, swerving a loose horse after pouncing from a long-held waiting-and-watching position to take the lead two fences out, jockey Paul Townend having to demand more than usual from the beast Mullins saluted as a ‘superstar’. Wonderful drama, pulsating sport, a field of world-class chasers. But, in a way, it was so darn predictable.
For this week there have been two near-certainties. One, that stayers in the bar needed a fat wallet and a liver of teak. The other that any lucky equine trained by WP Mullins, ireland, represented a worthwhile investment. The 67-year-old’s record at the Cheltenham Festival is Bradman-esque. The greatest of Australians finished his career with a batting average a fraction under 100, or nearly twice as good as anyone ever in the history of cricket. Mullins has 103 winners here, nine of them this week. That puts him 30 ahead of nicky Henderson, the next best. He has more than twice the successes of Paul nicholls in third. seventy of Mullins’ triumphs have come in the last 10 years alone. We may never see anything like it again, even if this pageant thrives for another 100 years.
Before arriving here for gold Cup day, i heard this year’s Festival had lost a little lustre. Crowds were down. some of the racing was so-so. The rain had sodden the ground as well as spirits.
But yesterday it was alive. Though not an uninterruptedly bright day, you could mostly see the top of Cleeve Hill, and the stands were packed, the walkways bustling and the wait at the bars long if ill-timed. An eagle-eyed colleague told me that where Boodles’ name was plastered everywhere yesterday, 24 hours earlier Paddy Power’s hoardings had described Cheltenham as the home of British jump racing, but one let out on an Airbnb basis to our visitors from ireland.
That point was underlined when Mullins provided the first two winners of the day: Majborough in the JCB Triumph Hurdle and Absurde in the BetMgM County Handicap. Then a race without a Mullins win — would you believe it? — before the gold Cup triumph itself, his trilby removed as per usual as he accepted the booty.
‘i thought on saturday that it was all eerily too good,’ he reflected, adding with a degree of understatement: ‘But everything has gone according to plan.’
Mullins’ sheer buying power renders the British opposition blown away. it is said he has first refusal on pretty much every French horse. The raw material he works with is extraordinary, before any consideration is given to his abilities as an alchemist. He has maybe 300 horses at Closutton, Bagenalstown, County Carlow, from where he has masterminded his way to irish champion trainer status on 17 occasions.
Mullins has taken his time to enjoy his successes this week. After a quiet dinner with wife Jackie, he went out partying with Ballyburn’s owner Ronnie Bartlett. That was on Wednesday night after hitting his century of Cheltenham winners.
‘The place was rocking,’ said Mullins of the celebration.
‘it must have been about 4am when we finished. There was a good irish contingent. everyone was in great form.’
He grabbed sleep where and when he could. You couldn’t tell that from his spry countenance. ‘What’s the point of having winners if you don’t enjoy them?’ he reckoned. ‘What i find fascinating is that the show goes on without me. i’m so lucky to have the team we’ve put together over the last 30 years.’ The Mullins machine rolls on.