NOTHING T0 MULL OVER
How Willie replaced the irreplaceable
BY DAVID YATES HOW do you replace arguably the greatest jockey in Festival history?
Like all top trainers, Willie Mullins has learned to trust his instinct — 13 championships in his homeland have not been garnered by overthinking.
So when Ruby Walsh, with 59 victories the most prolific horseman at the Festival, announced his retirement after partnering Kemboy to victory at Punchestown last May, Mullins looked no further than the Closutton stable’s No 2 jockey, Paul Townend.
“Paul has been here so long,” explains Mullins, 29-year-old Townend’s boss for over a decade.
“He knows the way we like the horses ridden, he knows the way we operate, he knows the way we think.“
Whenever Walsh was injured, Mullins placed his main hopes on Townend, who as a result captured the Irish jockeys’ title in 2010-11 and last season.
“People from the outside would think, ‘OK, this is going to be different,” adds Mullins.
“But, remember, Paul was champion jockey the years Ruby was out.
“Paul is used to riding all the top ones, albeit that Ruby was the No 1 jockey. We just thought it was the same as if Ruby was injured — Paul steps in, and we’re well used to it.
“We didn’t think of it as a transition.”
The simplest solution, reflects the trainer, has once more proved the most effective.
“He’s riding fantastic. We’re very happy at the way things are going,” says Mullins. “He has a great strike-rate for us. I’m told 30 per cent but I thought it was 35 per cent — I’m obviously putting him on the wrong ones!”
Mullins had given Townend his unequivocal backing after the calamity aboard Al Boum Photo at the 2018 Punchestown Festival, where the jockey steered round the final fence on the leader as opposed to jumping it.
But the trainer dismisses the notion of payback when the pair lined up for the Cheltenham Gold Cup last March. It was, after all, a race — not a job interview.
“It didn’t cross our minds,” reveals Mullins. “To us, Paul is our jockey.
“He was winning big races and, if he didn’t win the Gold Cup, it wasn’t the end of the world.
“We didn’t go to Cheltenham thinking, ‘If he doesn’t win the Gold Cup, we’re going to get someone else. National Hunt yards are probably very loyal to their jockeys unless there is something major happening.
“We’re very happy with Paul. All I say to him is, ‘Keep injury clear, stay right for the big meetings.
“That’s the important thing.”