Willie Mullins may not be ending the season as champion trainer - but he still has the best horses

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Willie Mullins is about to lose his status as Britain's champion trainer and it's not yet clear that he'll be champion trainer in Ireland, where Gordon Elliott still has a lead of around €170,000. It's an odd situation for Mullins to be in, considering he has unquestionably had the star horses of this season.

As we start the final week of the British season, it's a good time to look at which horses won most prize-money across Britain and Ireland:

1 I Am Maximus £531,827
2 Gaelic Warrior £492,882
3 Lossiemouth £441,402
4 Brighterdaysahead £360,009
5 Il Etait Temps £353,999
6 Jonbon £352,210
7 Home By The Lee £351,484
8 Jango Baie £338,846
9 Grey Dawning £301,695
10 Heart Wood £281,283

• Watch: Willie Mullins - quality over quantity

Mullins has the top three and also the fifth. That's dominance for you. That's the story of a hugely successful season, title or no.

What's perhaps surprising is how few from his yard populate the list in the spaces immediately below Il Etait Temps. His next one is Kitzbuhel in 18th place.

I Am Maximus: top earnerCredit: Grossick Photography (racingpost.com/photos)

Dan Skelton has the same number of horses in the top 20 as Mullins, five. But none of his are higher than Grey Dawning in ninth. While Skelton has put together a big and talented team, he lacks champions. That has to be the key ambition for his yard in the seasons ahead, to burnish the quality amid the quantity.

The prize-money list can sometimes surprise, but you can't say fairer than having the winners of the Grand National, the Gold Cup and the Champion Hurdle at the top. Pleasingly, their seasons weren't just made by one big day.

I Am Maximus was runner-up in the Savills. Gaelic Warrior won the John Durkan, failed by just a short-head in the King George and was runner-up in the Irish Gold Cup. 

Wonderful Lossiemouth bagged three Grade 1s, the others being the Morgiana and the December Hurdle. She also had a fair payday when second in the Irish Champion Hurdle.

Brighterdaysahead can't match Lossiemouth's brilliance but she's tough to beat when conditions take some of the emphasis off speed. She won the Irish Champion and the Aintree Hurdle, and only Lossiemouth was able to beat her.

Lossiemouth: Champion Hurdle heroineCredit: Patrick McCann (racingpost.com/photos)

Il Etait Temps had one bad day all season, struggling to get into the argument in the Clarence House at Ascot in January and then falling at the second-last. It was a tired fall and it took him time to rise but you'd never have known he'd been through that, from the way he bounded clear in the Champion Chase two months later.

Jonbon, winner of that Clarence House, is a bit like Brighterdaysahead in that he owes his high place on the list to consistency. He was beaten nine lengths or more on three occasions this season but he has never in his life been worse than second, a streak that now extends to 28 races.

Home By The Lee is the only 11-year-old in the top 16. Protektorat and Favori De Champdou are the others flying the flag for that age-group in the top 50. No, I didn't see him coming at Cheltenham. And then he did it again at Aintree.

Jango Baie is maybe a bit under-appreciated. Aside from his two wins, he was runner-up in the Gold Cup and beaten just half a length in the King George, for all that his finishing position that day was fourth.

Grey Dawning won a weak Betfair Chase (chased home by the veteran Royale Pagaille) and may have achieved more by pipping Solness in the Melling.

Heart Wood looked a star in the Ryanair, pulling ten lengths clear, but didn't run to that level on other occasions.

So that's your top ten by prize-money won. As has become the norm, it's very Irish-dominated, with only the ten-year-old Jonbon making the top seven from Britain. 

Gaelic Warrior: untouchable in the Gold CupCredit: Patrick McCann (racingpost.com/photos)

The situation is less lopsided than two years ago, when only two of the top 13 were British. This time, there are four Brits in the top 13, two for Nicky Henderson and two for Dan Skelton, whose Panic Attack was 11th. She might be out again at Perth on Wednesday.

Alexei and Thistle Ask are arguably punching above their weight in 15th and 16th. The New Lion was 19th, The Jukebox Man 21st and Haiti Couleurs back in 25th after being eighth last year.

The picture is different if we focus on quality rather than money won. Here's this season's top ten by best Racing Post Rating achieved:

1 Gaelic Warrior 182
2 Majborough 179
3 Fact To File 177
4 I Am Maximus 176
5 Il Etait Temps 176
6 Inothewayurthinkin 174
7 Jango Baie 174
8 Banbridge 172
9 The Jukebox Man 172
10 Grey Dawning 171

To me, this list underlines the astonishing self-destructive powers of Majborough. Officially the second-best jumper we saw this winter, he managed to win just one of his four races. It was, of course, the only one for which he wasn't favourite.

Mullins has the top five in this list and JP McManus owns three of the top four. There were three Brits, none in the top six. On the plus side, they were from three different yards, while a fourth, Djelo, was 11th.

Lossiemouth Gaelic Warrior and Il Etait Temps: won the big three at CheltenhamCredit: Patrick McCann (racingpost.com/photos)

Jonbon slips to 15th on this list, just ahead of Grangeclare West, who had a poor season on the earnings front but at least got back to winning ways in the Bobbyjo. Home By The Lee is down in 35th and Lossiemouth just 42nd; her 7lb mares allowance helps her to win but is an obstacle when it comes to achieving a high rating.

These were the best and most successful horses of this jumps season but not necessarily the most charismatic. Are there other horses you feel especially fond about after this winter's action? Do please write and tell me (frontrunner@racingpost.com) and we can give your favourites their due in the Letters section this week.

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