ENGLISH TEXTS
Maze secured three Group 1 wins. Tony, too, was a professional jockey. His history with Dawn Run was one of highs and lows, for he had to hand over the reins to Jonjo O’ Neill. But he also boasts a fine record with horses such as Padre Moi or Kharasar, and later Pedrobob with a fine Cheltenham Festival victory. As for Sandra, the eldest, she enjoyed success with a small string alongside her husband Peter McCarthy. Then come the grandchildren. Patrick, known as PW— the inseparable jockey and assistant of his father Willie. Already nine Festival successes at Cheltenham, a crown this year in the Grand National at Aintree, a record 74 amateur wins that had stood for nearly a century, sixteen-time Champion Amateur Jockey … On Grand National day, his first thoughts were directed here:“ Making my father so proud adds something to the victory— it’ s very special.” The Grand National— a tradition among the Mullins. Willie has already won it twice. His cousins David and Emmet once each. Such is the Mullins imprint on Liverpool’ s crown jewel. Before retiring in 2021, David had collected nine Group 1 wins, including the Irish Champion Hurdle with Petit Mouchoir, and accumulated over 210 victories, including 40 at Group level— at only 24 years old. As for Emmet, in addition to his 2022 win in the Aintree National with Noble Yeats at 50 / 1, he shone at Cheltenham in 2021 and earned the 2024 National Hunt Chase Challenge title as a trainer. Son of Tony, Danny Mullins first excelled in pony racing( 126 wins) and twice reached the podium among amateur riders. Since diving into the big league, he regularly rides around 400 races a year, with a 10 % strike rate including fourteen Group 1 wins. In the midst of this extraordinary dynasty stands Willie, of course— the maestro and the binding thread. For the Mullins family shares everything. And the number of successes earned collectively is beyond counting. Often with horses trained by the one and only … Willie. Just days after his victory in the Breeders’ Cup Turf( Gr. 1) with Ethical Diamond, Americans still can’ t believe their eyes. How could a horse from the jumping sphere defeat the best turf horses in the world over the Classic distance? At 69 years old and 37 years into his career, the kid from Goresbridge is not only the most titled Irish jumps trainer of all time, the greatest trainer in Cheltenham history with 113 victories, the record-holder for most wins at one edition of the Festival with 10 wins in 2022 and 2025, the first Irishman to dominate the British jumps trainers’ championship in 70 years since Vincent O’ Brien, the unchallenged champion in Ireland since the 2008- 2009 season, and the world record-holder for Group 1 wins in a single year( 39 in 2023-24). He is a powerhouse of success, a genius, a magician, an innovator leading a giant stable that continues to stamp its mark on racing history. No wonder the idea of the Guinness Book was born in Ireland, in the mind of the island’ s most famous brewer. In this beautiful green land, the prevailing joke is that Willie Mullins’ horses are better than 99 % of their contemporaries. The craziest part— and this does not come from the mouth of an old druid— is that according to his son Patrick, the best is yet to come:“ Rather than slowing down, my father is actually gaining momentum,” he told us in an interview after his triumph at Aintree. And indeed, this prophecy keeps pushing boundaries further. Hard as it is to imagine his horses leaping over the Cliffs of Moher— unless one believes in legends— Willie Mullins has already carved himself a place as a wonder of racing history.
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WILLIE MULLINS, THE FRENCH- LOVING CHAMPION TRAINER
BY CÉLINE GUALDE
Willie Mullins never stops repeating that he has been lucky. Lucky to have been entrusted with top-class horses, lucky to have built such an excellent team at his Closutton stables, lucky to have met the right people at the right time. According to him, merit- his merit- has nothing to do with the phenomenal success of his training operation! As he approaches his seventieth birthday, the Irish maestro remains a model of calm and humility. He granted us this interview during one of his rare moments of freedom … a Sunday at lunchtime.
GALORAMA. Willie, could you describe one of your working days?
Willie Mullins. I have around two hundred horses in training, divided into four lots each morning. We start later than many of my colleagues as the first lot is on
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