It's Willie Mullins v everyone: the numbers behind Closutton's dominance of the Cheltenham Festival novice chase entries

The power of Willie Mullins' yard was underlined on Tuesday in his numerical domination of the Cheltenham Festival novice entries, with Ireland's champion trainer responsible for more than a quarter of the 130 entries across the four Graded novice chases.

Mullins is responsible for 33 of the entries across the Arkle, Turners, Brown Advisory and National Hunt Chase, with 15 different novice chasers holding an entry for at least one of the four races at the Cheltenham Festival.

As if to emphasise his dominance, Mullins is responsible for five of the first seven in the Arkle betting, although not odds-on favourite Marine Nationale, with Facile Vega heading his contingent in ante-post lists. He has three of the first four in the betting for the National Hunt Chase, with his team led by favourite Embassy Gardens.