‘I’ve had the perfect week’ – Mullins savours another Gold Cup success

Volume has become the defining feature of Willie Mullins’ training career. The sheer number of horses he trains, brings to events and enters into individual races is unparalleled. Unsurprisingly, the number of winners returned is as high as expected, if not higher. –

His Gold Cup win with Galopin Des Champs was his third so far in Cheltenham’s biggest race, not to mention his sixth win of this week’s meeting and 94th at the festival overall.

Yet even for him, for all his success, Friday’s Gold Cup win hit home in a way he could not foresee. Mullins had been confident in Galopin Des Champs’s ability to stay the course in this race for some time now, despite many on the outside questioning his stamina over a lengthy Gold Cup track.

“What stands out is the pressure I put myself under,” says Mullins. “I was surprised actually, coming to the third last [jump] how much I started to feel it. After that I could see Paul [Townend, jockey] back in third and I thought, ‘Wow, this could happen’. I was amazed how much it meant to me. I didn’t think it would . . . Normally you don’t, you just train them, run them, win what they can and hopefully you get a good one.

Cheltenham Festival 2023: Race times, TV details, best of the Irish and more

---

The Irish Times/Sport Ireland Sportswoman Award for March: Rachael Blackmore

---

JP McManus opts for Paul Townend to ride I Am Maximus in Grand National

---

Two-time Champion Hurdle-winner Honeysuckle gives birth to first foal

---

“The fact that so many people thought that he wouldn’t stay, that surprised me, we had to say he would stay. It was our word, so that put pressure on us. It would be different if he was a 10-1 shot but he was favourite, and people backed him on the belief that I was right. That’s where I felt the pressure coming from.”

ExpandAutoplay

Image 1 of 42

Paul Townend celebrates winning the Boodles Cheltenham Gold Cup Chase Galopin Des Champs on day four of the Cheltenham Festival at Cheltenham Racecourse.

The nature of Mullins’ career, the constant need to focus on the next horse, the next race, means he is seldom asked to reflect on his dominance. A rare opportunity to take stock was presented by lengthy Gold Cup-winner media duties. Inevitably, he had a runner in the day’s next race, but despite having one eye on the television at the back of the press room, Mullins reflected on his stellar record.

“It’s mind blowing. I can’t comprehend the numbers we have in training at home. I can’t comprehend the quality of horse we have at home. It’s something no one ever dreamed of in a national hunt yard. The day I got my license if someone said to me, ‘You’ll have 60 horses every day for the rest of your training career’, I’d have grabbed that. The top English or Irish trainers, no one had more than 60.

“You’re lucky if you got a Grade One horse every year, or two maybe. Every day now, every night I go through the barns looking at them and I pinch myself, we don’t take it for granted. Myself, Jackie [his wife,] we’re as in awe of it as any of you guys are when you come down on press days, to see the horses running around the place and the quality of them.”

Alongside Al Boum Photo’s pair of wins in 2019 and 2020, Mullins now has a trio of Gold Cup wins. The inevitable question is where this one ranks on a stellar racing CV.

“I wouldn’t like to demean any other achievement,” he says. “It’s fantastic to win a Gold Cup, I’m very lucky that I’ve had Al Boum Photo and this fella. They’re all up there.”

Not only are the Gold Cups high on his memorable list, but even the smaller achievements hit home.

“I’ve one small horse for an owner that’s called after his dead wife and we take it round the whole country,” explained Mullins. “We won a little race with her and that meant as much to me, I love doing that.”

Even with all the reflection, the constant churn of racing always wins out. A day after the Gold Cup win, Mullins has runners in Thurles. Paul Townend, who saddled Galopin Des Champs on Friday, also has to dash back across the Irish Sea for the meet in Tipperary.

“We have to do all those days at the smaller meetings to get these days,” he says. “That is where these horses start and hopefully we might find another champion there tomorrow. It is easy to switch between racing here and somewhere like tomorrow when they are winning.”

As for Mullins, the nature of his consistency led some to wonder if Thursday, one of those rare day without a winner, was a source of frustration. Coming into the week on 88 festival winners, some wonder if an inability to reach a century this week could also rankle.

But not so for Mullins, who leaves in no doubt his feelings after another stellar run at Cheltenham: “I’ve had the perfect week.”