Willie Mullins: the festival's leading trainer, the £50m fall and his big hopes this year

Introducing our cast of legendary Cheltenham characters. A new instalment will be published twice a week leading up to this year's Cheltenham Festival. Today – Willie Mullins.

What makes him great

No trainer in the history of the Cheltenham Festival has saddled more winners than Willie Mullins.

His total stands at 88 winners – 16 clear of Nicky Henderson in second – and last year's record haul of ten victories edged Mullins towards a ton at jump racing's biggest meeting.

Mullins, who reached 4,000 career winners in January, has been the leading trainer at the festival for nine of the last 12 years and continues to lead the way on home soil, having been crowned champion trainer for a 16th time last season.

He was champion amateur jockey in Ireland six times and landed the Champion Bumper aboard Wither Or Which in 1996. His accomplishments in the saddle, however, have been considerably outweighed by those as an all-conquering trainer.

The early years

Mullins started training in 1988 having worked as assistant to his father Paddy and Jim Bolger, with his first Cheltenham Festival winner coming seven years later courtesy of the mare Tourist Attraction in the Supreme Novices' Hurdle.

Mark Dwyer's mount had won one of her four starts over hurdles before the Supreme but struck at 25-1, beating the Edward O'Grady-trained Ventana Canyon, the following season's Arkle winner, by two lengths.

Wither Or Which's win the next year was followed by Florida Pearl landing the Champion Bumper in 1997 and the Royal & Sunalliance Chase (now Brown Advisory Novices' Chase) in 1998 – the first year Mullins trained more than one winner at the meeting, with Alexander Banquet gaining another bumper success.

The star mare

Hurricane Fly provided Mullins with the first of his four Champion Hurdle wins in 2011, and Al Boum Photo ended his long wait for a Gold Cup winner in 2019, but it is with mares – and one in particular – that he has proved exceptionally dominant.

Quevega initiated her memorable relationship with favourite backers at the big meeting by winning the Mares' Hurdle in 2009. She repeated the feat in 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013 and 2014, justifying favouritism each year having been trained to perfection off a 300-odd day layoff by Mullins.

Quevega and Ruby Walsh after the star mare won her sixth David Nicholson Mares' Hurdle in 2014Credit: Edward Whitaker

Her final success came over stablemate Glens Melody, although for a moment it appeared a shock defeat was forthcoming before Quevega stayed on gamely for a record sixth win at the meeting. Mullins said: "I was disappointed thinking Quevega was going to be beaten and then it was absolute joy to see her put her head down and win."

Quevega has legendary status at the Cheltenham Festival and Mullins has worked his magic with many other top mares, winning five of the seven Mares' Novices' Hurdles and both editions of the Mares' Chase.

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The £50m tumble

One of those star mares was Annie Power, who won the Champion Hurdle in 2016. It was her final-flight fall in the previous year's Mares' Hurdle, however, that sticks out most in the memory.

Betting firms were fearing the worst on an opening day that included wins for favourites Douvan, Un De Sceaux and Faugheen. Many multiples on the big Mullins fancies rolled on to Annie Power and she was sent off at 1-2.

The bookmaking industry anticipated taking a £50 million hit and it looked like becoming a reality when Annie Power strode to the last four lengths clear and well in command.

She hit 1.05 in running on the Betfair Exchange but dived at the flight and crashed to the turf. Mullins won the race with Glens Melody but the bookmaking fraternity let out a massive sigh of relief.

David Williams, spokesperson for Ladbrokes, said: "We consider it to be the £50m fall. We'd been facing up to the worst day since 'Dettori day' but we've dodged the most expensive bullet we've ever faced. The God of bookmaking moves in mysterious ways."

A record festival

Mullins became the first trainer to hit double figures across the four days of the festival when saddling ten winners last year – a feat that looked highly unlikely after day one.

Stattler was his sole scorer in the National Hunt Chase on the opening day, and despite a Grade 1 treble on day two courtesy of Sir Gerhard, Energumene and Facile Vega, Mullins had five winners on the board with Gold Cup day to go.

The trainer was out of luck in the festival showpiece – dual winner Al Boum Photo fared best of his three runners in sixth – but it proved an afternoon to remember, with the three races prior to the Gold Cup and two races after all going Mullins' way.

Elimay's victory in the Mares' Chase sealed a spectacular 1,518-1 five-timer, doubling the trainer's tally for the week and giving him figures "you can only dream of".

Willie Mullins: 12 ante-post favourites including Gold Cup fancy Galopin Des ChampsCredit: Patrick McCann

This year's team

Mullins is not lacking in strength or depth, with 12 ante-post favourites for next month's meeting including Gold Cup hope Galopin Des Champs, who was denied victory in last year's Turners Novices' Chase when falling at the last when well clear.

Facile Vega, Il Etait Temps, Gaelic Warrior, Impaire Et Passe and Ashroe Diamond are among his talented novice hurdlers, while El Fabiolo has usurped Jonbon at the top of the Arkle betting and Gaillard Des Mesnil is the market leader for the National Hunt Chase.

State Man is the big threat to Constitution Hill in the Champion Hurdle, while Mullins trains the top three in the Triumph Hurdle betting – Lossiemouth, Blood Destiny and Gala Marceau. The well-fancied It's For Me and Fun Fun Fun are set for the Champion Bumper, a race the trainer has won 12 times. We've not even mentioned the handicaps!

The sheer strength in depth Mullins has can make life tricky for punters, particularly given he is prone to making late decisions as to where his horses with multiple entries actually run. That said, with a brains trust at Closutton including the likes of Ruby Walsh, David Casey and son Patrick (a top amateur himself), punters can be sure the final choice has been the subject of plenty of deep consideration.

Read these next:

Can Willie Mullins break his record of ten Cheltenham Festival winners? 

'That's what McCoy is all about' - the punters' pal and a Cheltenham legend 

Tom Segal had a 16-1 winner on Saturday - get 50% off for three months 

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