Search Results for 'Nicky Henderson'

Willie Mullins was crowned leading trainer at the 2023 Cheltenham festival. It was his tenth time to take the award. Willie has trained 94 winners at the festival to date, and looks very likely to bring his total to over a century of winners next week. With 65 winners in the last decade, the Mullins domination shows no sign of abating, and it will be the shock of the season if he is not crowned leading trainer at next week’s festival. At a recent Cheltenham preview night, his stable jockey, Paul Townend, was asked for his “charity” bet of the week. His response gave a clear indication of the horses he views as banker material; not content with giving a single answer to the question, Paul suggested a treble comprising Lossiemouth, El Fabiolo and Galopin Des Champs. All three look bomb proof, but, as every punter knows, one of the three often lets you down.

Day six of the Galway Festival takes centre-stage on Saturday afternoon with another cracking eight-race card for punters to enjoy at Ballybrit.

Ireland stormed to the Prestbury Cup at Cheltenham Festival last season, dominating their British counterparts with relative ease over the course of the week. The 23-5 scoreline in favour of the Irish was the most one-sided result in the history of the competition between the two countries since it began in 2014. Willie Mullins and Henry de Bromhead played a significant role in Ireland’s success, combining 12 victories between them, while Denise Foster and Gavin Cromwell also notched multiple wins during the week.

The competition between horses trained in Ireland and those trained in the UK is at its most intense in a town deep in The Cotswolds in the middle week of March.

Willie Mullins, once the leading amateur jockey, now the leading national hunt trainer in Ireland; Gordon Elliott, once a decent amateur jockey himself, now challenging Mullins’ domination of the Irish NH racing scene; the Cheltenham Festival, once the mecca for NH racing fans from Ireland and the UK, always the mecca for NH racing fans from Ireland and the UK.

Willie Mullins, once the lead- ing amateur jockey, now the leading National Hunt Train- er in Ireland; Gordon Elliott, once a decent amateur jock- ey himself, now challenging Willie Mullins’ domination of the Irish NH racing scene; the Cheltenham Festival, once the Mecca for NH racing fans from Ireland and the UK, always the Mecca for NH racing fans from Ireland and the UK.

Now that the election is over (almost), we can concentrate fully on what will unfold in the Cotswolds for four hectic days next week. There are certain acres of ground which are held sacred by followers of sport in this country. Horse Racing, and particularly National Hunt Racing, also has its sacred piece of ground where man and beast combine in pursuit of their holy grail. The irony for Irish National Hunt fans is that these few acres are in a town in the Cotswolds that couldn't be more English. All that changes next week, when an estimated 15,000 Irish people descend on the town.