'Absolutely phenomenal' - how Willie Mullins made Cheltenham 2022 his own

One chapter took 12 years to write, the other was compiled over a stunning four days in March when Willie Mullins saddled a record-breaking ten winners at the showpiece Cheltenham Festival.

Four days only, to equal the festival tally achieved by Mullins between his breakthrough success with Tourist Attraction in the 1995 Supreme Novices' Hurdle and Ebaziyan in the same race in 2007.

Ten wins, and one that got away spectacularly.

"And he's over safely, no, he's not": one of the most memorable commentary lines of the week, as Galopin Des Champs pitched forward and crumpled to the ground after jumping the last when holding an unassailable lead in an exclusively Irish edition of the Turners Novices' Chase.

Galopin Des Champs: crashing out of the Turners' Novice Chase at Cheltenham when in splendid isolationCredit: Alan Crowhurst (Getty Images)

An hour later on that Thursday afternoon, Allaho got the bandwagon rolling again with a brilliant victory in the Ryanair Chase.

Then, on the final day, needing three winners to equal the eight-winner record Mullins set in 2015 and matched by Gordon Elliott three years later, the bandwagon turned into an irresistible juggernaut. A remarkable five-timer created another slice of history for the festival's all-time leading trainer, who will head into the 2023 fixture with 88 winners on the board, 64 of them obtained since 2013.

Mullins began his training career at a time in the late 1980s when the fortunes of Irish jump racing were at their lowest ebb in the modern era.

His status at the summit of his profession is the most powerful expression of current Irish dominance. It has been achieved by acquiring and consolidating a cohort of wealthy owners, using their purchasing power to reverse the traditional drain of equine talent out of Ireland. He and a team of trusted advisers have bought judiciously, sourcing a stream of young talent from France and also from the vibrant Irish point-to-point sector.

Ruby Walsh, whose tactical brilliance and big-occasion temperament played such a major part in the stable's rise, describes the final-day five-timer as "absolutely phenomenal", but is quick to apply a more subtle and rounded analysis.

He says: "Even in a stable like Willie's, where you hope every year there's strength across the board, there are going to be variations. For example, there might be a year when you think your best hopes are in the Supreme, Arkle, Champion Hurdle and the Mares' Hurdle. That's four of the first five races of the meeting. You could have a brilliant Tuesday, or a very bad one.

"This year, Friday was the day when most things went right. That's incidental. What counts is the way Willie targets the meeting, and that's actually a simple and straightforward business. If they're good enough to travel, they'll definitely go, and if he thinks they may be good enough to go, they'll go as well. He's not shy about running four or five horses in a race."

Walsh explains how Mullins has refined his approach to the season over the years, now concentrating on three main fixtures – the Dublin Racing Festival, Cheltenham Festival and Punchestown's end-of-season festival.

He says: "There's always going to be other targets of course, but you can be sure that most of Willie's thinking is geared around these three meetings. Cheltenham has a greater range of opportunities than the DRF, and is literally central to plans.

"But as you've seen over the years, Punchestown is incredibly important to the stable too - it's a massive occasion, and it's where the trainers' championship can be won or lost.

"The main thing about Cheltenham is the choice of races. Whether it's deciding between the Supreme and the Ballymore, the Ballymore and the Albert Bartlett, the Turners and the Brown Advisory and the Ryanair or Gold Cup; these are the key decisions. An awful lot of thought goes into them, assessing your own horses and what the opposition looks like.

"The right horse for the right race, and then get the tactics right," adds Walsh, giving a deadpan summary that makes it all sound rather straightforward.

For all the formidable strength of the stable, the 2022 festival witnessed its share of tribulations, along with its glorious triumphs.

Approaching 5.30pm on the first day of the meeting, the Mullins camp was about to play its last card of the day.

It had not been a good afternoon. Dysart Dynamo was still in the hunt in the Supreme when falling three out. However, such was the brilliance of Constitution Hill, it's safe to say that his battle would have been with Jonbon for the runner-up spot.

Kilcruit, runner-up in the Champion Bumper in 2021, was well held in third behind the Henderson-trained wonderhorse. Blue Lord took the same place behind Edwardstone in the Arkle. No runner in the Ultima Chase, and no joy in the Champion Hurdle, with the 2020 County Hurdle winner Saint Roi taking fourth place and the gambled-on second favourite Appreciate It fading into seventh on his first outing since a spectacular Supreme triumph 12 months earlier.

It was a bold move to target the Champion Hurdle without a prep run, although not untypical of the stable's have-a-go approach to the festival. But this time the gamble didn't pay off.

On to the Mares' Hurdle, three runners in an event the trainer has won more often than not. Not this time, though, with favourite Stormy Island best of the stable's three representatives in fourth.

Morale took another blow when favourite Gaelic Warrior, making his first appearance since joining the team from France, was beaten a short head by the Padraig Roche-trained Brazil in the Fred Winter.

And so to the National Hunt Chase, the famous old race now falling down the popularity charts, with only six runners, four of them from Ireland.

Forty years earlier Mullins won the old four-miler for his father Paddy on a mare called Hazy Dawn, memorably serenaded back into the winner's enclosure by Indian-born, Irish country-and-western singer Roly Daniels.

Owner Ronnie Bartlett (right) leads Stattler into the Cheltenham winner's enclosure after his victory in the 2022 National Hunt ChaseCredit: John Grossick (racingpost.com/photos)

Time for Patrick Mullins to ride to his father's rescue on Stattler. Owner Ronnie Bartlett didn't break into song, but was a very happy man.

"Willie told me we were going to this race. Send the horse to the trainer, and they tell you where it's going. Keep it simple," says Bartlett, an owner under no illusions about who makes the vital decisions when it comes to Cheltenham.

Sir Gerhard got the second day off to the best possible start in the Ballymore Novices' Hurdle.

For much of the season, the Cheveley Park-owned 2021 Champion Bumper winner was prominent in the market for the Supreme Novices' Hurdle.

"I said that a lot of thought goes into the decision-making process. This was one of those cases, and Willie made the right call," says Walsh.

Sir Gerhard on the way to Ballymore victoryCredit: Alan Crowhurst (Getty Images)

Things were really looking up when Energumene gave a superb performance to trounce the opposition in the Champion Chase, an exuberant display under novel hold-up tactics in a race in which his stablemate Chacun Pour Soi parted company with his rider five out and his main market rival Shishkin put in a dismal performance.

Having rectified one of the most significant omissions in his training career by landing the two-mile championship for the first time, Mullins was back in familiar territory when greeting the impressive Champion Bumper winner, Facile Vega.

The second foal out of the trainer's great festival specialist Quevega, the Hammer and Trowel Syndicate's five-year-old powered clear of Elliott's American Mike to give Mullins his 12th winner of a race which provided the main showcase for the trainer's ability in the early years, providing five of his first nine festival winners.

Day three was all about mishap for Galopin Des Champs and glory for Allaho, who repeated his 2021 Ryanair victory with a performance of total authority, jumping impeccably with the exception of a mistake at the last.

Allaho puts in a dominant display to run away with the 2022 Ryanair Chase for trainer Willie MullinsCredit: Edward Whitaker

By the end of the day, the stable's running tally stood at five after Klassical Dream, later a 3m Grade 1 winner at Punchestown for the second year in a row, had failed to run to expectations when fifth in the Stayers' Hurdle, and an untypically weak performance by the stable's squad of six runners in the Mares' Novices' Hurdle.

Mullins began a momentous Gold Cup day by providing three of the 12 runners in the Triumph headed by Vauban, sent off 6-4 favourite to confirm form with the Elliott-trained Fil D'Or whom he had beaten in the Grade 1 juvenile event at the Dublin Racing Festival.

Vauban coasted to the front under Paul Townend after the second-last and was eased down to beat Fil D'Or by four lengths. Between them, Mullins and Elliott were responsible for the first five horses home.

Mullins then won the County Hurdle for the sixth time since 2010, the Punchestown festival later proving that State Man was a Grade 1 horse running in a handicap. Naas maiden winner The Nice Guy provided an 18-1 upset when beating the stable's main fancy Minella Cocooner in the Albert Bartlett, another triumph for the "let-them-run" policy.

The Nice Guy (Sean O'Keeffe) wins the Albert Bartlett Novices' Hurdle at Cheltenham in March 2022Credit: John Grossick (racingpost.com/photos)

With a treble already up, Mullins saddled three of the nine runners in the Cheltenham Gold Cup, headed by Al Boum Photo, bidding to recapture the crown he won twice before losing it when third to Minella Indo 12 months earlier.

Arriving a fresh horse, following his customary victory at Tramore on New Year's Day, he was accompanied by Asterion Forlonge, an outsider in the same colours, and by the shock King George winner Tornado Flyer.

Viewed in the context of an amazing day, the Gold Cup was a low point for the Closutton yard. Tornado Flyer never settled into a jumping rhythm, Asterion Forlonge was a spent force from the second-last after a prominent showing, and Al Boum Photo faded into sixth behind A Plus Tard.

In search of a ninth winner, the focus now switched to Billaway, 13-8 favourite for the St James's Place Hunters' Chase in which he had twice finished second.

Three out, after an indifferent round of jumping, the ten-year-old appeared to have it all to do, well back in third place as fellow Irish raiders Winged Leader and Mighty Stowaway battled it out. But Billaway never gave up and under a strong drive from Patrick Mullins, he clawed back a six-length deficit from the last to reel in Winged Leader on the line.

There was a sense of historic synchronicity about the stable's ninth winner of the week. For Maureen Mullins, mother of the trainer and grandmother of the rider, the race struck a nostalgic chord, recalling a thrilling finish to the La Touche Cup, run at Punchestown on April 29, 1955.

"Near home, Mr P Mullins put in some admirably strong work to land Flash Parade as a winner," reported the Irish Field back then, recording the very first training success for Paddy Mullins, whose marriage the following year initiated one of racing's great dynasties.

Echoes of the past abound in Irish racing. However, Willie Mullins is very much rooted in the present. No trainer has so ruthlessly exploited the expanded Cheltenham Festival programme.

This is illustrated by nine victories in the Mares' Hurdle since its inception in 2009, and five consecutive wins in the Mares' Novices' Hurdle following its introduction in 2016.

"With the mares, you're always looking for black type, and Willie is prepared to give the mares a chance if he thinks they can be competitive," says Walsh. "If you're not in, you can't win. Willie always has that at the forefront of his mind."

Mark Walsh celebrates after Elimay's success in the Mares' Chase brought up the tenth winner of the 2022 Cheltenham Festival for Willie MullinsCredit: John Grossick (racingpost.com/photos)

In 2021 Mullins supplied three of the first four in the inaugural running of the Mares' Chase.

Twelve months on from finishing second to longer-priced rival Colreevy, Elimay was back for a second attempt, this time a 9-4 chance, a quarter-point longer than Concertista, the 2020 Mares' Novices' Hurdle winner.

Concertista's chance soon evaporated after a bad mistake at the third-last, but Elimay rose to the occasion. Despite a few inelegant jumps she battled away gamely for Mark Walsh, Mullins sharing festival success with the event's most successful owner JP McManus.

So there you have it, ten Cheltenham winners in 72 hours. It certainly beats waiting around for 12 years.

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