Time to lavish unqualified praise on Willie Mullins, an unstoppable force unlike any in jump racing history

Whenever I write about Willie Mullins these days, it's nearly always because I'm fretting about the impact of his success on the wider health of jump racing. But there are times when you have to set aside such concerns and focus on making sure a great achievement gets its due recognition.

At the time of writing, I believe it is still mathematically possible for Dan Skelton to become champion trainer instead of Mullins but it doesn't feel like anyone expects that to happen. It's a bit like when football pundits say Scotland still have a mathematical chance to qualify for the knockout stage at a major tournament; the only possible response is, yeah, sure, I'll believe it when I see it.

It's overwhelmingly likely that Mullins is about to become the first jumps trainer for 70 years to win the British title from a base in Ireland. The number of people who can remember Vincent O'Brien's last title in 1954 must be getting pretty small and it obviously cannot include Mullins himself, born two years later.