Willie Mullins has won more important races at the Cheltenham festival than the Martin Pipe Conditional Jockeys' Handicap Hurdle. However, I'm sure that very few winners he trains there will give the wider Mullins family greater satisfaction than seeing Sir Des Champs come from an almost impossible position, to secure victory in the final strides, in the second last race of last week's festival. For this observer, it was a fitting finale to what had been a wonderful week for Irish trained horses, and particularly those of Kilkenny man, Willie Mullins.
In view of his history making ‘Leading Trainer Award’ at last week's festival, now is an appropriate time to celebrate the training achievements of the man who has come to dominate Irish National Hunt racing in a way unseen for many decades. With an ever increasing tally of winners season upon season, peaking at 146 in 2009/2010, there seems to be no end to the conveyor belt of success from his Closutton stables. Quiet and unassuming, Willie lets his horses do the talking. Also his partnership in recent years with Ruby Walsh is proving one of the most effective combinations Irish racing has ever seen.
Last week was a landmark week for Willie, where he saddled four winners to scoop the leading trainer award, which had not returned to Ireland in the fifteen seasons since Edward O' Grady was a joint winner. His level of success last week was nothing short of remarkable for a string of horses sent over from Ireland, with thirteen of his runners securing prize money. A first championship race with Hurricane Fly in the Champion Hurdle, followed by the Irish 'banker' of the meeting in Quevega, left Irish eyes smiling as the first day drew to a close. Sharing in the celebrations of his compatriots successes on Wednesday and Thursday, and seeing some fine performances from his own horses, the double of Tuesday was repeated again on Friday with Final Approach and Sir Des Champs.
The first three winners were ridden by the aforementioned Ruby, and the fourth, Sir Des Champs, proved a first winner of the meeting for Willie's nephew, Emmet. Standing in the parade ring as the winner returned, the mind wandered back exactly 25 years to the day the brilliant mare, Dawn Run, stormed up the hill to give us one of the all time great Cheltenham memories. As Michael O'Leary, owner of Sir Des Champs, coaxed Willie's mother Maureen onto the victors rostrum for the photographs, with her son and grandson, it was clear another page had been turned and another chapter was about to be written by one of Irish racing's most respected families.
And so it goes, the first festival for which Willie's father, the late, and great, Paddy was not around, but his place in the winner's enclosure was not empty, it was taken by his grandson. No doubt as in time, Emmet, Patrick and the next generation will replace not only their grandparents, but their parents also, and then their children will in turn replace them. But the one constant will be the Mullins name, in the Cheltenham winners enclosure, where it belongs. History has been written there, and will be re-written, and written again. A proud Irish family works hard, delivers the deserved results, and stands and takes the plaudits with pride and dignity. We've been here before, and, please God, we will be here again. No doubt, members of the family glanced skywards, and wondered if Paddy himself had been watching. From the trailing position at the top of the hill where Emmet came from on Sir Des Champs, I'd say he was doing more than watching.
