'Seven-plus out of ten' - Willie Mullins reflects on another stunning festival

Few trainers have made the Cheltenham Festival their own quite like Willie Mullins and this week he surpassed his own record for most winners at a single meeting when crowned leading trainer with ten.

Mullins, who has more festival winners than anybody with 86, beat his previous best of eight winners in 2015, a record he shared with Gordon Elliott, who sent out eight winners three years later.

He has missed out on the leading trainer title only three times since claiming his first in 2011, and has had a winner at all but three festivals (plus the foot-and-mouth year of 2001) since 1995, when Tourist Attraction gave him his first in the Supreme Novices' Hurdle.

Since 1980, only Nicky Henderson has claimed as many as the nine top trainer titles won by Mullins, although the Lambourn trainer shared the accolade on three occasions and seven of his successes came before the festival was extended to four days in 2005.

Mullins finished seven winners clear of his closest pursuer Henry de Bromhead this year with a late flurry of five winners on the final day and equalled the number of winners provided by the British trainers. From 2010 onwards, he has averaged 5.6 winners at the meeting.

"The week has exceeded expectations," said Mullins, who operated at a strike-rate of 16 per cent at this year's festival from 63 runners. "You hope for a good week, perhaps four, five or six winners with the team we had, but you don't expect it. You hope and when it does go right, it's fantastic. Plenty went right, especially on the final day.

"It's a difficult week to enjoy because you're wondering if they'll fire or blow out, and then things happen, like Galopin Des Champs falling at the last in the Turners, but these things happen. I'd give myself a seven-plus out of ten for the week. It's been a magic four days."

The trainer's week got off to a bad start when Dysart Dynamo fell in the opening Supreme Novices' Hurdle but he ended the day with a winner courtesy of Stattler in the National Hunt Chase.

Mullins then recorded a treble on Wednesday, headlined by his first success in the Champion Chase with Energumene, before a mixed day on Thursday, when Galopin Des Champs fell with the Turners Novices' Chase at his mercy and Allaho landed his second Ryanair.

He doubled his return for the week with a 1,518-1 five-timer on the final day and singled out Billaway's last-gasp success in the Festival Hunters' Chase under his son Patrick as one of his highlights The trainer ended the week with three seconds and seven thirds.

"Billaway was great with Patrick on board and my mother being here. It was special, but you take something from every race," added Mullins. "I also love that Billaway is owned by John Turner. Then there was winning for Cheveley Park, who were the leading owners."

The trainer already has a number of leading contenders for next season's festival, such as Allaho, who was shortened to 2-1 to win a third Ryanair, and Galopin Des Champs, who is 3-1 for the Gold Cup.

Read more on the Cheltenham Festival:

British fight back: Pauling and Morrison heartened by handicap results

'There's definitely a big handicap in him' - seven Cheltenham eyecatchers

Cheltenham talking points: ‘Turners turnout was utterly woeful - and there’s no legitimate excuse’ (Members' Club)

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