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| Willie Mullins with Hurricane Fly at Cheltenham image: independent.ie |
WILLIE Mullins has enjoyed phenomenal success on Irish racecourses and that success has crossed the Irish Sea to Cheltenham. At last year’s Cheltenham festival he was crowned leading trainer with four winners, a remarkable feat for an Irish trainer. He also carried one of the jewels in the Cheltenham crown back across the Irish Sea with him as Hurricane Fly was a scintillating victor in the Champion Hurdle.
Mullins’ history with the festival is long and rich. Like so many Irish people, his earliest memories of Cheltenham revolve around Arkle. “My first memory of Cheltenham is probably watching Arkle on television, I think,” he says.
Before he began training Willie Mullins was one of Ireland’s leading amateur jockeys and he was victorious at the festival in that sphere. “My first ride in Cheltenham was a winner. Hazy Dawn won the four mile chase so that was good at the time. I was lucky enough to ride three winners at Cheltenham, two over fences and Whither or Which in the bumper in 1996.”
Whither or Which was also his first Cheltenham winner as a trainer. That bumper win was the first of many more triumphs Mullins has experienced in the Cotswolds hills but last year was his greatest year to date.
“I was particularly pleased with that as it’s not often that an Irish trainer can have enough horses to win it. Being based in Ireland it makes it difficult to win. It was surprising but good,” Mullins adds.
Mullins is in a promising position again this year but he knows that there are no guarantees in racing, especially at the Festival where the competition is the toughest faced all season
“It looks like we have a good chance of doing well again this year. We have some nice horses and a very good team going over but Nicky Henderson was in this position this time last year with a good team going into it and he didn’t get anything until Friday.
“The competition is fierce over there. You always like to get a winner during the week but it is very difficult as the competition is so tough,” he adds.
Mullins has a strong team of horses for Cheltenham, headed by the Champion Hurdler Hurricane Fly. For many people, this horse is the best hurdler since Istabraq. After meeting with a setback, he has just a single run under his belt this season, in the Irish Champion Hurdle at Leopardstown on 29 January. Hurricane Fly’s performance that day, in routing a field of Ireland’s best hurdlers was stunning and he looks to be primed to gain back to back triumphs.
His trainer issued a positive bulletin about Hurricane Fly as he bids to retain his title. “He seems in great form and I’m very pleased with him. I thought that his last run was his best so far.”
Mullins could mine a rich seam of talent in the novice divisions this week, as some of Ireland’s most promising young hurdlers and chasers reside in his Closutton yard.
Boston Bob, transferred to Mullins’ care by owner Graham Wylie when trainer Howard Johnson retired last summer, is the horse everyone is talking about. He holds entries in the Neptune Investments’ Novices Hurdle and the Albert Bartlett Novices’ Hurdle and the trainer is leaning towards the longer Albert Bartlett for this exciting prospect. “Boston Bob is a very good horse. He has always shown me that he is a very good horse at home.”
Sous les Cieux is another talented novice hurdler that the trainer likes. “I think Sous les Cieux is a good horse.” He is entered in the Supreme Novices’ Hurdle and the Neptune Investments Novice Hurdle, Felix Yonger is another Graham Wylie owned novice hurdler and the trainer is keen on him. “He won at Naas the last day and I was happy with him.”
In the Triumph Hurdle on Friday he has Ut de Sivola and Daroun entered and thinks they too have chances.
Make Your Mark was second to Boston Bob on heavy ground at Leopardstown last month but Mullins thinks he is a nice horse and the better ground will bring out an improvement in him.
“Make your Mark ran a good race behind Boston Bob. I think he might like the drier ground over there and he has a nice chance,” he says.
He has become synonymous with the bumper and since Wither or Which’s victory in 1996 he has saddled five more winners of the race. This year his leading hope is Champagne Fever. “He seems in good form but I’m not sure if the ground will be soft enough for him over there. I think chasing will be his game in the future,” Mullins explains.
Last year, Mullins horses were victorious in thrilling finishes in two handicap hurdles but he feels that it will be a difficult task to land even one festival handicap this year.
“I wasn’t very pleased with the weights a lot of my horses got this year. We won two handicaps last year but it will be tough to win one this year,” he adds.
One horse who may have a chance in a handicap is Gorgeous Sixty. The French bred filly runs in the Fred Winter Juvenile Handicap Hurdle tomorrow (Wednesday). “Gorgeous Sixty, if she can return to her French form, has a little chance in the Fred Winter.”
Sir Des Champs was one of those handicap winners last year and he returns as a novice chaser with the world at his hooves. “Sir Des Champs should go well in whichever novice chase he runs in,” says Mullins.
The Gold Cup is the blue riband event of the week but the prize has eluded the Carlow trainer. This year Quel Esprit will bid to go one better than the great Florida Pearl and win chasing’s most prized trophy. “I think it is a more open Gold Cup than many thought it would be. Quel Esprit has improved all season and if he improves again it will put him in with a nice chance.”
Another potentially glorious week in Willie Mullins training career starts today.
*This article first appeared in The Nationalist 13 March 2012
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