Last week saw Willie Mullins hitting the headlines as the first overseas trainer to win the British Trainers’ Championship since the great Vincent O’Brien in 1953/54. Such an achievement would be enough for most handlers, but not Mullins. Less than a week after sealing the deal at Sandown, Mullins is at it again – this time breaking his own world record for the number of Grade 1 winners in a season.
35 and Counting
Heading into the Punchestown Festival on 31 Grade 1s for the season, Mullins looked well placed to surpass his previous record of 34, which he set during the 2015/16 campaign. In the end, he did it with two days to spare.
Mystical Power’s success in the Champion Novice Hurdle on the opening Tuesday, followed by the victories of Dancing City in the Channor Real Estate Group Novice Hurdle, and Redemption Day in the Race & Stay At Punchestown Champion I.N.H Flat Race on Wednesday took Mullins to the brink of history once again.
From that point, a new record appeared to be a mere formality – particularly as Mullins boasted three of the four runners in the next Grade 1 on the Punchestown menu. Sent off at just 1/3, Arkle hero Gaelic Warrior was the horse expected to get the job done in the Barberstown Castle Novice Chase. But, in the end, he had to play second fiddle to the gallant grey, Il Etait Temps, who reversed the Cheltenham form in comfortable style. A 1-2-3 in the race and a new record for the Closutton maestro.
More to Come
(Credit: Gordon Flood from Trim, Ireland, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons)
35 Grade 1 winners is an achievement mere mortal trainers can only dream of, but Mullins may not be done yet. Still to come on the closing two days of the Punchestown Festival are Champion Hurdle king State Man, Mares Hurdle heroine Lossiemouth, and imperious Gallagher Novices Hurdle champ Ballyburn. All tackle Grade 1 events, and all are likely to start as heavy odds-on favourites. It would be a surprise were Mullins’ tally not to sit at 38 by the end of the week.
A Fitting End to a Stellar Campaign
To compile so many top-level victories in a single season is a stunning display of consistency and an ability to ready his charges for the biggest days, but such is the dominance of the Mullins yard, that none of the above comes as a surprise. This has been a season in which the 67-year-old has simply steamrollered the competition.
Included amongst that tally are a clean sweep of all eight Grade 1s at the Dublin Racing Festival, a further eight top-level triumphs at Cheltenham, and four more at the Aintree Grand National Meeting to supplement the resounding success of I Am Maximus in the big race itself.
In addition to his British Trainers’ Championship, Mullins has now been confirmed as Ireland’s Champion Trainer for the eighteenth time and already has his eye on another landmark. Sitting on 4376 wins in Ireland, Mullins is now only one win short of Dermot Weld’s record of 4377. By the time you read this, Mullins will likely have added that honour to his ever-expanding CV.