'Here we go' - amateur jockey nearly ends 38-year wait in Champion Hurdle
For five strides Patrick Mullins thought he could be poised to join an extremely exclusive Champion Hurdle club.
That is Mr P Mullins, as the racecard has it, an amateur taking on the professionals in a race that has not fallen to a member of the unpaid ranks since Colin Magnier became just the second to do it when he sprang a shock on 40-1 shot For Auction in 1982.
Yet he has won countless Grade 1s against the top riders in the last dozen years, including the last two runnings of the Grade 1 2m hurdle at Leopardstown over Christmas on Sharjah.
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