'Horses jump better without schooling' - this quote shows why there will never be another Willie Mullins
An interview with Lydia Hislop at Cheltenham revealed plenty about the champion trainer

If anybody else said it you would laugh hysterically and call the nonsense police. It makes no sense and if you said it out loud yourself you would be surrounded by men in white coats within seconds. Yet, when Willie Mullins said it, it somehow made perfect sense.
Allow me to bring you back to the opening day of the 2025 Cheltenham Festival and Lydia Hislop's interview with Mullins on Racing TV after Lossiemouth had won the Mares' Hurdle.
Mullins had explained his reasons for the grey mare sticking with her own sex rather than going for the Champion Hurdle before we were granted rare access into the mind of racing's very own version of Albert Einstein for about 45 seconds. It doesn't happen very often and it is utterly compelling when it does.
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Published on inDavid Jennings
Last updated
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