As the first Irish-based trainer to win the UK trainers' championship since the legendary Vincent O'Brien, Willie Mullins intends to "celebrate long and hard."
The enduring Irish champion has been as dominant as ever on his home course, but after winning the Champion Hurdle and Gold Cup at the Cheltenham Festival, he went on to win Grand National Glory with I Am Maximus, putting him very close to replicating O'Brien's incredible achievements from the 1950s.
Mullins' dominance was further solidified by a four-time winner at Ayr that included victory in the feature Scottish Grand National. Paul Nicholls and Dan Skelton were unable to close the gap after El Fabiolo finished second in the Celebration Chase at Sandown.
The cherry on top came from the wins of Impaire Et Passe in the Select Hurdle and Minella Cocooner in the main bet365 Gold Cup. Mullins was thrilled to celebrate with loved ones.
He said: “I am amazed at the racing public over here, to be welcomed with such open arms everywhere we have gone. I would also like to thank the sponsors for putting on such a great day with a large prize money pot. It has been such a special day with Jackie (his wife), Patrick (son), David Casey, Ruby Walsh, James Nash and others from back in the day as well as a big crowd of friends all here today. I am sure we are going to celebrate long and hard! We will start off this evening, go on through the whole of Punchestown next week and maybe a few days after that! Everyone at home at Closutton, the local community and the whole of Irish racing has really been hyped by the whole thing and wishing us the best of luck for today.”
Mullins' primary focus this term has been at home as usual, but his nine victories at Festival in March opened the door to success in both jurisdictions. After an equally successful Aintree, he has travelled the entire length of the UK to pursue the goal.
Mullins said: “We were looking at it for a few weeks before the National and we said if we were lucky enough to win a National we’re in with a shout, so we entered a bigger team for Liverpool than normal because we had to play our cards before the National and as it turned out it worked out very well. We won four Grade Ones and that put us right in the mix for the championship if the Grand National came up and it did come up and then there we were. I said to my team home this is a once in a lifetime (opportunity). I wasn’t born when Vincent did it so we said we’d just throw everything at it and see what happens. When you start off training you dream maybe of being an Irish champion trainer, you never dream of being a British champion trainer.”
Mullins continued: “Vincent O’Brien is a legend of legends in racing. It’s something you never dreamed of, to have your name up beside his is extraordinary. I was lucky enough to have met him once or twice, but never dreamed one could be as good as him or anything like that. I looked at what he did, how he achieved it and I thought ‘can we do something similar over jumps’. He wasn’t afraid to source horses from different places and we’ve gone everywhere we can to try to source horses.”
While Mullins has accomplished more in the last eight weeks than many trainers would in a lifetime, he will always cherish winning the Champion Hurdle, Gold Cup, and Grand National treble in the same season.
“The Grand National is the race everyone wants to win from the time you’re knee high and it’s great to win two Gold Cups with Galopin Des Champs and then State Man getting his Champion Hurdle,” said Mullins. “All those things are really, really good so I’d hate to pick one (highlight) out of it. They’re lifetime achievements for any one trainer and I appreciate them all.”