'I've no regrets over selling Noble Yeats - it's my best day in racing'

Noble Yeats may not have been carrying his well-known pale blue silks but Paul Byrne, widely regarded as one of the sharpest minds in the game, labelled the victory of his former horse for his best friend Emmet Mullins as his best day in racing.

The man who masterminded the sourcing and running of Mullins' Cheltenham Festival winner The Shunter, Byrne pulled another rabbit out of the hat with Noble Yeats, who he picked up for £75,000 in December 2019 before selling the seven-year-old for a tidy profit to the Waley-Cohen family in March.

There were no regrets over the sale, with Byrne displaying a mixture of ecstasy and elation in the winner's enclosure after seeing his former charge do the business for his new connections.

Noble Yeats (right) jumps alongside Any Second Now in the Grand National at AintreeCredit: Shaun Botterill (Getty Images)

Byrne explained: "This is surreal. After he won his beginners' chase at Galway we said, 'Let's do something different, a novice is going to win the Grand National some day as it's a different race these days, so let's aim him at that'. It seemed very ambitious but unbelievably it came together."

He added: "I'm delighted for Emmet. We've been on a long journey together so it's unbelievable. We're thick as thieves – we've done everything together, gone to America and had runners all over the place, but I've got to keep the show on the road which is why I sell them."

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

Byrne, formerly a commercial manager at the Racing Post, shot to prominence when Rockyaboya, a horse he and Patrick Mullins sourced for a small sum, carried the champion amateur's colours to victory in the 2013 Paddy Power Chase for Willie Mullins.

As well as securing another major payday when selling Fujimoto Flyer to Simon Munir and Isaac Souede after she won a Listed Hurdle at Auteuil in September 2019, Byrne and Mullins have also pulled off a gamble or two and have earned a reputation as a fearsome duo.

But winning a Grand National with a horse whose career was harnessed from an early stage to land the big race was described as the pinnacle of the pair's achievements according to Byrne, who was visibly delighted for the Waley-Cohens.

Byrne said: "I've no regrets, no vendor's remorse whatsoever. This is business and I've to sell – this is the ideal scenario. This is my best day in racing. To make a plan like that, it doesn't happen very often."

More 2022 Grand National reaction:

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

'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

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