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When Willie Mullins landed his first Cheltenham Festival winner in 1995, thanks to 25/1 shot Tourist Attraction in the Supreme Novices’ Hurdle, few would have expected the man from Goresbridge to go on and become so synonymous with National Hunt Racing’s pinnacle event.
Fast forward to 2023, however, and the 66-year-old is the first man that springs to mind when you think of the great Festival. Mullins has been crowned the leading training at the Prestbury Park meeting a huge nine times since his maiden success in 2011 and is one of the main reasons the pendulum has swung in Irish racing’s favor in the Prestbury Cup.
He’s heading into this year’s Cheltenham Festival with 88 winners under his belt after recording an historic, never before seen 10 successes last March — smashing his previous record of eight, set in 2015 and matched by Gordon Elliott in 2018, out of the water in some style.
It was the last day of last year’s Festival that is perhaps the most memorable for Mullins though. The master of Closutton was on just five winners before the first race of the final card, but he landed a massive five-timer to take his tally to an unprecedented 10 by the end of the day — as Vauban, State Man, The Nice Guy, Billaway and Elimay won their respective races at a combined 1,519/1 to stun those who bet on Cheltenham.
Some might say that it’s impossible for Mullins to replicate that feat again in the Cotswolds this year. However, by now we should know that you can never rule the 66-year-old out. He has the best stables in the entire sport of British and Irish jumps racing, and that’s reflected by the fact he boosts the current ante-post favorite in almost half of the Festival’s 28 races.
Of course, while the likes of Facile Vega, Gaillard Du Mesnil, Energumene, Allaho and Galopin Des Champs are all respective front runners in the early entries — that’s not to say they are all going to win, nor do the longer odds for some of Mullins’ other runners mean they stand no chance — just look at The Nice Guy, who won the Albert Bartlett Novices’ Hurdle from 18/1 ahead of his more favored stablemate Minella Cocooner (9/2).
Ok, another 10 winners at this year’s Festival might be too big of an ask to repeat even for someone as capable as Mullins. But there is no doubt that his fantastic contingent of horses travelling across the Irish Sea will earn him the headlines once more and his 10th top trainer accolade.
If you’re looking for horse racing betting tips, the ones to watch from Closutton are those we named previously — especially Energumene and Galopin Des Champs. The former landed Mullins his maiden Champion Chase success on a sodden day at the Festival last year, while Galopin Des Champs might be one of the most exciting chasers in training as he aims to secure the Irishman just his third Gold Cup.
All eyes will be on Facile Vega to get the ball rolling in the opening race of the meeting though. The five-year-old was unbeaten in four bumper contests last year and has started his hurdling career emphatically — leading to him being the short-price favorite for the Supreme, a race Mullins has won seven times in the past.
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