Pierre Boulard: the man Willie Mullins trusts to keep the French winners flowing

When Quevega powered 14 lengths clear of her rivals in the Mares' Hurdle on the first day of the 2009 Cheltenham Festival, few people could have predicted quite what a sea-change her win was to presage.

Heading into that year's meeting Willie Mullins already had 12 festival triumphs to his name but the diminutive daughter of Robin Des Champs was his first Graded winner at Cheltenham to carry the FR suffix, with Mikael D'Haguenet following up 24 hours later.

Quevega was to add a remarkable five more to the win column in the years that followed, while names such as Douvan, Vautour, Un De Sceaux and Benie Des Dieux have painted Prestbury Park red white and blue as the Mullins counter clicked up to 72 successes and counting.