Mullins quartet top Tote Ten to Follow points scorers

Owners who want to win the biggest jumps races forge an alliance with Willie Mullins and, unsurprisingly, players in the Tote Ten to Follow competition have to do the same with the top four points-scoring horses trained by the Closutton colossus.

The opportunity to jump on board the Bagenalstown bandwagon in the pre-Cheltenham transfer window was seized by plenty of players as State Man’s fanbase increased from 50.7% of players to 63.1% once the defection of Constitution Hill became known. Galopin Des Champs already had 69.7% of players signed up but his proportion grew to 71.2% for the festival.

Those who climbed on board were not disappointed as Galopin Des Champs collected 53.11 points in the Gold Cup to keep him top of the table on 158.11 points, just ahead of State Man, whose 52.50 points from the Champion Hurdle puts him on 156.30.

The stable’s Arkle Trophy and Brown Advisory Chase winners, Gaelic Warrior and Fact To File, come next at a respectful distance considering their novice status, on 94.20 and 93.72 points respectively.

The chief beneficiary of all this Mullins success was the team of 155 And Counting 2 which sat atop the leaderboard going into festival week and, quite amazingly, managed to hold that spot despite so many points being on offer. 

Furthermore, they did so with their established line-up which already included the four Mullins table-toppers plus stablemate Ballyburn, who picked up 27.80 points by winning the Gallagher Hurdle, and simply swapped in Mares’ Hurdle winner Lossiemouth for the stricken Constitution Hill, thus gaining 28.02 points.

The leader is now on 850.53 points, a trifling 7.57 points ahead of Mr Henry Potter, who, alongside third-placed Bg9, benefited from the 62.50 points gained by Protektorat in landing the Ryanair Chase and 53.45 points picked up by Teahupoo in the Stayers’ Hurdle on a memorable Thursday afternoon .  

The game concludes at the close of Grand National day, April 13.

Latest standings

LEADING HORSES

1 Galopin Des Champs 71.2% of teams 158.11 points
2 State Man 63.1% 156.30
3 Gaelic Warrior 28% 94.20
4 Fact To File 23.4% 93.72
5 Stellar Story 0.1% 88.60
6 Captain Guinness 1.5% 85.30
7 Teahupoo 23% 82.55
8 Iberico Lord 2% 74.30
9 Jonbon 66.1% 74.05
10 Elixir De Nutz 0.7% 72.50

LEADING TEAMS

1 155 and counting 2 850.53 points
2 Mr Henry Potter 535 842.96
3 Bg9 839.03
4 Pro10 834.31
5 Lord Charles 30 830.06
6 Coulton 825.06
7 lucky4 823.96
8 Mr Henry Potter 537 823.88
9 TRPs 24 819.53
10 Harry and Gordon 3 818.45

LEADER'S STABLE - 155 and counting 2

Galopin Des Champs 158.11 points
State Man 156.30
Gaelic Warrior 94.20
Fact To File 93.72
Jonbon 74.05
Ballyburn 69.20
Pic D'Orhy 52.63
El Fabiolo 49.50
Found A Fifty 47.60

Read these next

'He might be the one to try it with' - audacious Dawn Run double on Willie Mullins' mind for the brilliant Ballyburn 

Jeremy Scott plots path with 'very exciting' first Cheltenham Festival winner Golden Ace

 Blow for Lambourn as popular open day on Good Friday is cancelled because of waterlogging