Mullins in the process of re-establishing remarkable supremacy on Irish scene

Roll the clock back 12 months and the prevailing wisdom was that it was merely a question of when – not if – Gordon Elliott would dethrone Willie Mullins as champion trainer.

At the previous Punchestown Festival finale, he had been overhauled dramatically on the penultimate day of the campaign when Mullins and his son Patrick conspired to plunder a momentous treble.

It was a similar story last term as the young pretender led his senior colleague right to the wire, only for the reigning champion to swoop late in emphatic fashion.