WILLIE MULLINS – Horse Racing
Willie Mullins Photo: ©INPHO/Tom Maher
Even by his own incredibly lofty standards, 2024 was a quite remarkable year for Closutton trainer Willie Mullins.
If he never trained another winner in his life, Mullins has left an indelible mark on his sport and a regular basis brings the eyes of the world to our little corner of the globe here in Carlow.
Much of the focus of the National Hunt racing season, in fact almost all it, is on what happens across four days in March at the Cheltenham Festival. Mullins has turned it into his Festival and he now dominates the Cotswolds like no other trainer before him.
He enjoyed nine winners at the ’24 Festival including Grade 1 successes in the Gold Cup with Galopin Des Champs, who will go to this year’s Festival as a huge favourite to join a very select group of horses to win three Gold Cups, in the Champion Hurdle with State Man, in the Arkle with Gaelic Warrior with Lossiemouth, Ballyburn, Fact To File and Majborough among other impressive winners.
Jasmin De Vaux’s win in the Champion Bumper brought up his 100th winner at the Festival and by the end of the week he had increased that total to 103. To put that dominance in context, the trainer with the second most winners, Nicky Henderson, has 73, Paul Nicholls in third has 49.
While he conquers all at Cheltenham, another of world’s most famous races, the Aintree Grand National has often alluded him. He won it in 2005 with Hedgehunter but had to wait until 2024 for his second success in the race with I Am Maximus.
All his major winners have received hero’s welcomes when coming back to Leighlinbridge.
The success in Cheltenham and Aintree opened up the intriguing possibility of becoming the first Irish trainer to win the British jump trainers' championship since Vincent O’Brien over 70 years ago. He duly managed that incredible feat in the season’s finale at Sandown.
That was all done without taking his eye off the ball at home and he won the Irish trainers’ title for the 18th time.
Approaching the pivotal time of the 24/25 season, the Closutton maestro is showing no signs of slowing down.
