'I've never known anyone dominate the way Willie does now' - but should the merciless march of the Mullins machine be stopped?

We are witness to an extraordinary period in the history of this sport.

No trainer has ever dominated jump racing as Willie Mullins does now. He has many more of the top horses than everyone else and wins many more of the top races. For the last 16 seasons Mullins has been crowned champion of his profession in Ireland, with the most recent margin of victory over Gordon Elliott a scarcely credible €3.5 million. The gap between him and the rest is wider than ever, but the pre-eminence of Mullins is such that it extends to Britain as well, as shown by his record 94 victories at the Cheltenham Festival, where Closutton's stars have recorded 29 wins in the last four years.

A Racing Post data analysis produced eye-watering figures. During the 2022-23 campaign, Mullins banked 24 per cent of all available prize-money in Ireland and won 68 per cent of all Grade 1 jump races. When combining Britain and Ireland, Mullins was responsible for 22 per cent of horses who achieved a Racing Post Rating of at least 150, while at the last ten Punchestown festivals he has claimed 138 races, equivalent to a 37 per cent success rate.