Genius or not, Willie Mullins has transformed the face of jump racing

Rather like “legend” and “world-class”, the label “genius” gets flung around sport way too indiscriminately and the question of whether it should apply to anyone in the world of racing has recently revolved around Willie Mullins.

One Racing Post journo posited the idea that labelling National Hunt racing’s dominant figure in such terms is a cop-out, that it does a disservice to what Mullins has achieved through diligence, energy and no little imagination. Training horses isn’t something that requires genius, he insisted.

You can see the point. If genius can be applied to getting one thoroughbred to run faster from A to B than another, then some different category is probably required to describe a da Vinci, Mozart or WC Fields. And it can be a dodge, like lazily filing outrageous athletic superiority under “freak of nature”.

[ Leonardo da Vinci remains a very modern genius ]

But the response within much of racing has been scaldy. Tony Mullins quickly rode to the rescue of his big brother’s reputation with a level of social media dudgeon that suggests he won’t be taking the trade paper for some time to come.

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Obviously, sibling solidarity was understandable. But there was a noticeable proprietary element to much of the rest of the offence on Mullins’s behalf. It smacked of how many who are consumed by racing don’t appreciate condescension towards the gravity of their passion. After all, if one of their leading lights is dissed, it hardly boosts their own morale.

The old Best Man’s Speech trick of outlining a literal definition duly got taken out for a few spins. Except, as is the way of such imprecise concepts, it varies, although not to the extent of precisely pointing to 94 Cheltenham Festival victories as proof positive of anything.

Instead, there are lots of references to exceptional abilities in science, art, music, etc, allowing sufficient wriggle room to argue almost any case.

Nevertheless, only the most hopeless pedant can shut down completely the idea of genius in sport. It might be fanciful and self-indulgent sometimes, but in a world where José Mourinho’s narcissism gets coated in supposed intellect there’s enough room to big up the real thing.

And in the world of National Hunt racing what Mullins has achieved is so singular it indicates he’s touched by something that, if not genius, is close enough to it as to surely make little or no difference.

It mightn’t be curing a disease, teasing out a theorem or working out the bass line to Jumping Jack Flash. But some definitions allow for transforming the face of a particular field and by any measure WP Mullins has done that.

If the sport overall can pin the G-word on a single figure it has to be the legendary Vincent O’Brien. Through his early recognition of the Northern Dancer line, and famously acquiring Nijinsky, O’Brien revolutionised both racing and the bloodstock industry on a worldwide scale.

Mullins’s accomplishments can’t compare in terms of global scope. The jumps game is basically confined to three European countries and remains the poor relation there with regards to financial considerations if not public profile.

But in 1½ decades, the 67-year-old has changed the face of his own patch forever. In 2009, Paul Nicholls was leading trainer at the Cheltenham Festival with generational talents such as Kauto Star and Big Buck’s in his possession. Britain’s champion hasn’t won the award since.

Irish racing’s subsequent unprecedented success at the biggest meeting of the year has been built on Mullins amassing an unrivalled strength in depth that, if anything, appears only to be getting stronger. It’s possible to argue the merits or otherwise of that dominance but no one can deny it.

As a result, the very shape of the sport has changed. Nostalgia tends to play up the more pastoral elements of jump racing that were once, apparently, open to all kinds of ‘little men’. The more boring reality is that tales such as Danoli were exceptions to prove the rule about spending power usually winning out.

A pre-Cheltenham media event earlier this week allowed a glimpse of an enterprise into which a vast number of constituent parts get synthesised into the most powerful winning machine this branch of the sport has ever seen.

By any measure it is an awesome accomplishment, and by any definition a transformational one too. Considering some of the ‘geniuses’ racing has an unfortunate habit of throwing up too often, maybe it’s a pity to dispute the real deal due to stingy literalism.

Separately, there was nothing frugal about Maureen Mullins’s relish for racing and everything about it. The matriarch of a sporting dynasty died earlier this week at 94 after a wonderful life well lived. No one enjoyed more the accomplishments of her eldest son – always William – but there was more than enough pride to spare for the rest of a family that has had such a profound impact on the sport.

Something for the Weekend

Gordon Elliott is keeping RIVIERE D’ETEL (3.27) busy and a return to 2½ miles on heavy ground, and going right-handed, could be right up her street in Saturday’s Red Mills Chase at Gowran. Allegorie De Vassy was too quick in the closing stages at the minimum trip in Naas last weekend, but the mare can thrive in these conditions more than St Sam.

Ascot’s handicap hurdle on Saturday could see BAD (2.25) go close now that he’s stepped up to 2½ miles for the first time since joining trainer Ben Pauling. His previous French form suggests it should suit.