The Daily Telegraph - Saturday
Maureen Mullins
Doyenne of Irish racing and a Turf legend with an all-conquering family of jockeys and trainers
MAUREEN MULLINS, the undisputed matriarch of Irish racing, who has died aged 94, produced what was probably the greatest jumps dynasty the Turf has ever seen.
She was the wife of the multiple champion trainer Paddy Mullins and the mother of the all-conquering trainer (and former jockey) Willie Mullins, and the grandmother of several notable jockeys, including David Mullins, who won the 2016 Grand National on Rule the World, and Danny Mullins, who rode three Grade 1 winners in succession on the same day. Another of her grandsons, Emmet, trained the 2022 Grand National winner Noble Yeats.
All her five children rode winners in their day, and Maureen Mullins herself had a flawless record. In 1982, in her only outing under Rules, she romped to victory by six lengths on Razzo Forte at Gowran Park, Co Kilkenny, beating her own daughter.
Across Ireland and at Cheltenham, well into her nineties, she was a regular in parade rings and, as often as not, winners’ enclosures, her cheek being kissed by her triumphant offspring. Her final bet, placed the week before her death, was on her grandson Charlie, who rode to victory at Thurles, Co Tipperary, by half a length.
As an owner-breeder she won several big Flat handicaps, including the 1979 Irish Cambridgeshire with I’m Ready. Over jumps, her son Willie rode Pargan to take the 1985 GPT Amateur Handicap at Galway in her colours, and Grabel (co-owned by her) won the 1990 Dueling Grounds International Hurdle, ridden by her son Tony.
Her greatest success as a breeder was the bay gelding, Kilcruit. First trained by her son Tony, then Willie, he won the Grade 1 bumper at Punchestown in 2021.
Kilcruit was named after the hamlet in Co Carlow where she was born, as Maureen Doran, on July 2 1929. A farmer’s daughter, she was one of nine siblings, in a house filled with music; later she taught all her grandchildren the piano. She attended the Brigidine Convent in Goresbridge, then got a job in Dublin as secretary for the British Paint Company.
She hunted and rode point-to-points with the Mount Loftus Harriers, with whom, aged 14, she met Paddy Mullins. Paddy’s father had taken out a licence to train in 1947, which Paddy took over in 1953.
Maureen, by then his girlfriend, witnessed Paddy’s first triumph as a jockey-trainer, riding Flash Parade II to victory at Punchestown; he bought his first car with the winnings. They were married in 1954.
The 1950s were a tough time in Irish racing, as the economy stagnated, but in 1959 Paddy Mullins had a flood of winners. Maureen was an able and efficient secretary, and encouraged him to place horses further afield, in the UK, France and America. He went on to train more than 3,400 winners, and was Irish National Hunt champion trainer on 10 occasions.
Their golden moment came with Dawn Run, who won the Champion Hurdle at Cheltenham in 1984 then the Cheltenham
Gold Cup two years later – an unprecedented double yet to be matched.
The Mullinses were anguished when, in France in 1986, the eight-year-old Dawn Run fell and broke her neck, dying instantly. “What a foal she would have had,” said Maureen. “There will never be another like her, never... When a horse attempted to go past her, she bit it on the neck. She did not want another horse in front of her.”
In 1984 and 1989, the Mullins clan enjoyed a unique treble, with Paddy champion Irish National Hunt trainer, Tony champion jockey and Willie champion amateur jockey. Paddy retired in 2005 after winning his first classic, the Irish Oaks, in 2003, with Vintage Tipple, ridden by Frankie Dettori.
Their children Willie, Tom, Tony and Sandra had all become trainers, while the fifth, George, started a horse transport business. Willie later exceeded his father’s achievements, as the most successful trainer in the history of the Cheltenham Festival, with 94 winners, and as 17-time Irish National Hunt champion trainer.
In 2016, Maureen won the Outstanding Achievement Award at the Horse Racing Ireland awards, to a standing ovation.
Maureen Mullins was, until the very end, trim, energetic, gregarious and passionate about racing. When her death was announced, jockeys at Dundalk, Co Louth, observed a minute’s silence for the “first lady of Irish racing”.
Her husband died in 2010, and she is survived by their daughter and four sons.
Maureen Mullins, born July 2 1929, died February 14 2024