Mullins knows how to time it right for spring - so Galopin will be ripe for Gold

It feels like Gordon Elliott dominated the Irish racing scene in the first half of the season. He won Grade 1s with Teahupoo, Mighty Potter and Gerri Colombe at a time when Willie Mullins hadn’t got into gear.

Elliott saddled no fewer than 441 runners over jumps between the start of September and Christmas and they returned 82 winners at a 19 per cent strike-rate.

But in that same period Mullins had less than half the number of runners, sending out 201, and they yielded 54 winners at an even higher strike-rate of 27 per cent.