Both camps oh so bullish as runaway Cheltenham Festival winners clash in blockbuster Champion Chase

And now for the lap of honour. There were ten winners at Cheltenham, a one-two-three in the Grand National and a stupendous Saturday at Sandown but you ain't seen nothing yet, folks. Those were just precursors for Punchestown, the end-of-season hooley where Willie Mullins chooses the playlist, does all the dancing, eats all the cake and drinks all the champers. Nobody else gets a look in. 

This is the week when Mullins makes Rafael Nadal's Roland Garros record look ordinary, as he fires in ace after ace after ace. He won eight of the dozen Grade 1s last year and nine of them in 2021, 2022 and 2023. That's a total of 35 top-level races at just four Punchestown festivals – a staggering 73 per cent. The figures are phenomenal, the man himself a goliath.  

Mullins is ruthless and relentless. A week after picking up his second British trainers' title, he will collect his 19th Irish one on the podium at Punchestown. The last time somebody else stood up there and collected that particular trophy was Noel Meade back in 2007 after he amassed €2,231,503 in prize-money. For the last two seasons Mullins has crashed through the €7 million barrier. The mind boggles.