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Five key statistics about Willie Mullins and his record at the Cheltenham Festival
Adam Houghton dives into the record-breaking achievements of Willie Mullins at the Cheltenham Festival with five key statistics.
1. Willie Mullins is the most successful trainer in the history of the Cheltenham Festival
No trainer has saddled more winners at the Cheltenham Festival than Mullins, who took his tally at the meeting to 78 when Galopin des Champs won last year’s Martin Pipe.
Mullins trained his first winner at the Festival when Tourist Attraction won the Supreme Novices’ Hurdle in 1995, while his biggest victories during the intervening years include four wins in the Champion Hurdle (2011, 2013, 2015 and 2016), two wins in the Stayers’ Hurdle (2017 and 2018) and, of course, back-to-back wins in the Gold Cup with Al Boum Photo (2019 and 2020), who finally made the breakthrough in that race for Mullins after the trainer had saddled the runner-up on six previous occasions.
Meanwhile, the Champion Bumper is the race at the Cheltenham Festival which Mullins has won more than any other, saddling a record-breaking 11 winners of that Grade One, the latest of which was Sir Gerhard in 2021. The Mullins-trained Facile Vega heads the ante-post betting for this year’s renewal following an impressive victory at the Dublin Racing Festival.
Read our profiles of five leading trainers ahead of the 2022 Cheltenham Festival
2. Willie Mullins saddled a joint-record eight winners at the Cheltenham Festival in 2015
Mullins enjoyed a remarkable time of things at the 2015 Cheltenham Festival, breaking the previous record for the most winners at a single meeting with eight.
Four of them came on the opening day, namely Douvan in the Supreme, Un de Sceaux in the Arkle, Faugheen in the Champion Hurdle and Glens Melody – the chief beneficiary of stablemate Annie Power’s fall at the last – in the Mares’ Hurdle. Don Poli (RSA Chase) and Vautour (JLT Novices’ Chase) also struck at Grade One level later in the week, leaving handicap winners Wicklow Brave (County Hurdle) and Killultagh Vic (Martin Pipe) to complete the record haul.
Admittedly, Mullins no longer holds the record on his own after Gordon Elliott matched it with eight winners at the 2018 Cheltenham Festival, but it’s not beyond the realms of possibility that Mullins could set the bar even higher in 2022. Indeed, he is currently responsible for the ante-post favourite in at least nine of the non-handicaps at the meeting, including odds-on shots such as Facile Vega in the Champion Bumper and Allaho in the Ryanair Chase.
3. Willie Mullins has saddled at least three winners at every Cheltenham Festival since 2010
2015 certainly wasn’t a flash in the pan for Mullins, whose dominance is underlined by the fact he has saddled at least three winners at every Cheltenham Festival since 2010, a year in which he still hit the target twice with Quevega (Mares’ Hurdle) and Thousand Stars (County Hurdle). Incidentally, the last time the yard endured a blank year at the meeting was way back in 2006.
Mullins has won the Leading Trainer Award at the Cheltenham Festival on no fewer than eight occasions, including when saddling six winners at the meeting in 2021. That tally was matched by Henry de Bromhead, but the tiebreaker comfortably went the way of Mullins, who saddled more second-place finishers by a score of seven to three.
Several of the winners at the 2021 Festival are set to return this season, including Appreciate It, who was last seen winning the Supreme by 24 lengths to provide Mullins with a record seventh victory in that race. Appreciate It has been on the sidelines since, but there is no better man than Mullins to have him in peak condition for a clash with Honeysuckle in the Champion Hurdle.
4. Willie Mullins has won 15 of the 21 races restricted to mares staged at the Cheltenham Festival
The David Nicholson Mares’ Hurdle was introduced at the Cheltenham Festival in 2008, with Whiteoak winning the inaugural renewal for Donald McCain. Then along came Quevega, who won six successive editions of the race for Mullins between 2009 and 2014, in the process breaking Golden Miller’s record for number of wins at the meeting by one horse.
For good measure, Mullins has also been successful in that Grade One (promoted from Grade Two status in 2015) with Glens Melody in 2015, Vroum Vroum Mag in 2016 and Benie des Dieux in 2018, ensuring that their trainer has won nine of the 14 editions of the Mares’ Hurdle to have been staged so far.
The Dawn Run Mares’ Novices’ Hurdle, which was added to the Cheltenham Festival in 2016, has proved even more of a Mullins benefit, the trainer having won five of the six renewals to date. Mullins also saddled a one-two in the inaugural running of the Mares’ Chase at last year’s Festival as Colreevy edged out stablemate Elimay in a thrilling finish.
Looking ahead to this year’s Festival and Mullins is once again likely to field strong contenders in each of the three races restricted to mares at the meeting. Perhaps his strongest hand comes in the Dawn Run as Allegorie de Vassy, Brandy Love and Dinoblue currently occupy the first three places in the ante-post betting.
Read more about the remarkable record Willie Mullins has with mares at the Cheltenham Festival
5. 21 different jockeys have ridden winners at the Cheltenham Festival for Willie Mullins
Perhaps the most notable name amongst the 21 jockeys to have ridden winners for Willie Mullins at the Cheltenham Festival is Willie Mullins himself! Indeed, Mullins can boast the unique distinction of having ridden and trained a winner at the meeting when landing the 1996 Champion Bumper with Wither or Which.
36 of the other 77 winners at the meeting for Mullins were ridden by Ruby Walsh, the most successful jockey in the history of the Cheltenham Festival. Mullins supplied Walsh with both his first and last winners at the meeting, with 21 years separating the victories of Alexander Banquet in the 1998 Champion Bumper and Klassical Dream in the 2019 Supreme.
Paul Townend, who became number one jockey to Mullins following the retirement of Walsh in May 2019, has now ridden 16 winners at Cheltenham for the yard, including three at last year’s meeting.
Only five other jockeys have ridden more than one winner at the Festival for Mullins, namely Patrick Mullins (four) – who also serves as assistant trainer to his father – Rachael Blackmore (two), Richard Dunwoody (two), Charlie Swan (two) and Katie Walsh (two).
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