'This is just the stuff of dreams' - Emmet Mullins shock at Grand National win

It was a result that caught most of us by surprise – even one of the shrewdest trainers in Irish racing.

Emmet Mullins has sent the bookies running for cover on many occasions with well-backed winners, but this time he proved the layers' saviour as 50-1 shot Noble Yeats repelled 15-2 favourite Any Second Now in a gripping finish to the world's most famous race.

When the 32-year-old sent out what was previously the biggest success of his training career – The Shunter in last year's Paddy Power Plate – his representative had been one of Ireland's handicap bankers at the Cheltenham Festival, sent off 9-4 favourite.

Despite Saturday's two-and-a-quarter-length triumph being the successful execution of a long-range plan, this time there was more disbelief than relief.

Race report: Grand National fairytale as 50-1 Noble Yeats wins for retiring Sam Waley-Cohen

"I don't know where that came from," said Mullins, who oversees a string of around 30 horses in Bagenalstown, County Carlow.

"I was probably more confident a month ago than I have been in the last week, but this is just the stuff of dreams. I just can't believe it. For Sam [Waley-Cohen] to go out on a winner like that, you just couldn't write it.

"I think I'm understandably shell-shocked. How else would you explain it? I don't know when this is going to register."

Noble Yeats wins the Grand National at Aintree from Any Second NowCredit: Edward Whitaker

Pressed on what made the difference in Noble Yeats coming alive around Aintree, he replied: "Today was the plan and it's nice when a plan comes together."

Mullins' reputation as one of the finest young target trainers in the business had already been established before this £1 million strike, clearly possessing an ability to think outside the box.

In 2019, he landed a Listed juvenile fillies' hurdle at Auteuil with Japanese recruit Fujimoto Flyer, a youngster sold to Simon Munir and Isaac Souede before her next start. He also sent out 119-rated hurdler Tornado Watch to finish second in the 2018 American Grand National Hurdle.

When The Shunter struck at last year's Cheltenham Festival, he was collecting a £100,000 bonus for also plundering the Morebattle Hurdle at Kelso that spring, while before the 2021 Galway festival he revealed that the identity of unraced horses in his stable are kept to himself.

2022 Randox Grand National at Aintree: full result and race replay

Speaking at the time, the man who partnered Sir Des Champs to Cheltenham Festival success for his uncle Willie explained: "They'd all have their nicknames. Tom, Dick and Harry are three horses who arrived recently. Nobody will know their names until they run. We try to keep everyone guessing.

"Nobody is under any illusion about what the horse should be doing when they don't know who or what they are riding. There are no preconceptions. That way, nobody gets disappointed, only me."

It's not even seven years since Mullins sent out his first winner as a trainer at Kilbeggan in St Stephens Green, partnered by his cousin and record-breaking amateur Patrick Mullins.

As one chapter of Waley-Cohen's racing life draws to a close, you get the sense that this is just the beginning for Noble Yeats' ultra-talented trainer.

More 2022 Grand National reaction:

'This is just the stuff of dreams' – Emmet Mullins shock at Grand National win

'No amateur has a better CV' – Barry Geraghty leads praise for Sam Waley-Cohen

'He wasn't popular at all' – Noble Yeats a big winner for the bookies

2022 Grand National result: where your horse finished and who won

Punters report difficulties accessing bookmaker websites after Grand National

The Front Runner is our latest email newsletter available exclusively to Members' Club Ultimate subscribers. Chris Cook, a four-time Racing Reporter of the Year award winner, provides his take on the day's biggest stories and tips for the upcoming racing every morning from Monday to Friday