Amateur by name but patrick true pro
Mullins gets to ride some great horses but that does not do justice to the jockey’s dedication to his craft
DIEGO GARCIA will never be mentioned in the same breath as Hurricane Fly, Vautour, Quevega, Faugheen or Annie Power but he is still assured of a place in racing’s hall of fame as the first winner recorded by a 16-yearold Patrick Mullins at Limerick on July 17, 2006.
You would not have guessed then that in 12 years, almost to the day, he would better Ted Walsh’s apparently insurmountable record of 545 winners for an amateur under National Hunt Rules, as was the case on Sunday at Sligo on Queens Boulevard.
Tall and not the most stylish in the saddle, he was reared with horses, but did not come through the pony racing circuit his first cousin Danny excelled in. Another cousin David honed his horsemanship show jumping. Patrick rode out when he was at home but unlike the majority of jockeys, completed his education to Leaving Cert as a boarder at Clongowes, and did very well before turning his attention to racing full-time.
Remember too that his father had yet to become the most dominant force jump racing has ever seen. Noel Meade was on the way to winning six champion trainer titles in a row.
But as has been the case so often on the track, Patrick’s timing was exquisite. It has been all WP since, with championship No11 bagged via a 10-in-a-row at the end of April. It was natural that he would become the pilot of choice in bumpers – national hunt flat races confined to amateur jockeys.
It was the perfect storm. Willie grew his yard in numbers and quality. Most racehorses begin their national hunt lives in bumpers. Patrick rode the likes of Faugheen and Annie Power to effortless successes. These were two future Champion Hurdle winners.
He is very much aware of the advantage he has and has dedicated himself to being in prime condition to avail of it. Losing a short head because he hadn’t prepared well is his idea of hell on earth. His commitment to improvement is legendary and the rides on Rathvinden in the National Hunt Chase at Cheltenham last March, and Un De Sceaux in the Punchestown Chase the following month were top drawer.
He is a regular sight running around the track on race day, while he travels to the RACE academy weekly to participate in the strength and conditioning classes run by Wayne Middleton as part of the Jockey Pathway system.
A couple of years ago, he spent some time with former jockey Mick Fitzgerald, picking up tips on technique, tactics and the mental aspect of race-riding.
So now, he is at a place where he has averaged around 45 winners a year throughout his entire career. He broke Billy Parkinson’s 97-year record of 72 winners in a calendar year in 2012, finishing with 74, and his 68 winners in the 2012-2013 season placed him fourth in the overall jockeys’ table.
This in an era when Nina Carberry, Katie Walsh, Jamie Codd and Derek O’Connor were rated as highly as any member of the paid ranks. The standard of opponent in the saddle is higher than at any time.
Now his father’s right-hand man as assistant trainer, he has still pocketed 11 Grade 1 prizes, the last five all against the professionals over obstacles. Few will forget the Grade 1 double at Punchestown on Wicklow Brave and Bacardys that turned the battle for the trainers’ title his father’s way in 2017.
Comparisons with different eras are difficult because the environment differs. Ted Walsh did have Peter McCreery backing him, and PP Hogan for hunters chases and banks races. But in Ted’s era, the leading trainers had no more than 50 or 60 horses for an entire year.
Now, Willie, Gordon Elliott and Joseph O’Brien might house 200 for the winter, possibly 300 throughout a calendar year. To have that sort of firepower in your corner makes you hard to beat, especially when laced with the quality that Willie’s chief scout Harold Kirk can source with the cheque books provided by Rich Ricci, Jared Sullivan, Graham Wylie and co. In 1980, there were 293 racing fixtures, totalling 1800 races. Traditionally, the ratio was 6040 from NH to flat. Last year, there were 1434 national hunt races alone. The majority of those are professional races but it offers an indication of the increased opportunities to use the high-powered Closutton residents, the majority of which will go off as favourite in bumpers.
There are many more races for amateur riders on the flat than was the case 40 years ago. Walsh might have won an amateur championship with 20 winners. When Mullins managed just 40 in 2015-2016, he was one short of Jamie Codd’s tally.
It is noteworthy too that Mullins concentrates exclusively on the track. He has ridden just four times in point-to-points. In stark contrast, Walsh had 142 winners between the flags.
Both possess excellent records against the professionals. Mullins’ Grade 1 success in open competition has already been detailed. Apart from that, he is the only amateur to ride in all four championship races at Cheltenham, though his victories there have all come in amateur races.
Walsh has one over on Mullins in this regard, having won a Champion Chase at Cheltenham on Hilly Way in 1979 for McCreery, the highlight of his four Cheltenham Festival successes. He enjoyed a wonderful association with the McCreerytrained Daring Run, the duo bagging a brace of Irish Champion Hurdles and Aintree Hurdles.
For those seeking to devalue Mullins’s rate of success, given the backing he has, it is worth noting that he is rarely on the first string when competing against professionals over obstacles.
In the last four and a bit seasons including the current one, he has ridden 15 winners from 57 rides over hurdles. Had you placed €10 blindly on him in every one of those races, you would be in profit to the tune of €294.70.
Mullins is thoughtful, erudite, articulate and invariably provides important snippets of information when dealing with the media. Not too many others in racing quote Rudyard Kipling. His sense of humour is often on display too.
‘We travelled 10,000 miles to try to win the race and we get bet by two fellas 50 miles down the road,’ was a memorable line after Max Dynamite finished third in the Melbourne Cup last November to Rekindling and Johannes Vermeer, trained by Joseph O’Brien and his father Aidan respectively.
He is passionate too, once penning an open letter in defence of Hurricane Fly and systematically dismantling arguments that the world record Grade 1 winner had picked off many ‘soft’ targets in Ireland.
He is very similar to his father in delivery and Ted’s progeny are similar. He was always forthright, which is why RTÉ got him on board. Ruby and Katie speak assuredly. They have no fear of their opinions or that they might bruise sensibilities. That is Ted to a tee. And if he feels strongly enough about something, he has no compunction about criticising racing’s authorities. Walsh can get excited at times and has come out with some jewels on live television. “I once rode her mother” is best known, though it wouldn’t warrant a second’s thought within racing circles. He has had a very successful career as a trainer despite running a small operation, winning the Grand National with Papillon with a 20-year-old Ruby on board. He also won the Triumph Hurdle with Commanche Court at Cheltenham. Few have more
If he carries on his current path he could reach 1,000 winners
admiration for what Mullins has achieved than Walsh and he praised him loudly this week. The new top dog continues to set fresh targets and if he were to continue on his current path and ride for another 10 years, he would reach 1,000 winners – something many professionals can only dream of. He should equal another Walsh record of 11 championships next April and then beat it.
What might prevent that happening is if Willie calls it a day and Patrick takes over. That doesn’t look likely in the near future however. Insatiable hunger is not confined to the son.