Willie Mullins

When you have a limited number of bullets to fire, you can't expect to hit the target too often, let alone on Irish Oaks day at the Curragh, but Ronan Fitzpatrick, racing manager to Mark Dobbin, sensed something special was in the offing on Saturday. So much so, Fitzpatrick, full sure that either Cairde Go Deo (Fr) (Camelot {GB}) or Ladies Church (GB) (Churchill {Ire}) were going to do something special this weekend, had worked himself into a tizzy about doing a post-race interview with RTE's Brian Gleeson. He needn't...

He didn't crack the code to the Irish Lottery, have his colours carried by the record-breaking Grabel (GB) (Bold Owl {GB}), invest eye-watering sums in the stock market and battle with the bookmakers on an almost daily basis by being short of an opinion or two.  Now, Paddy Kehoe is preparing to back his latest theory that his pride and joy Princess Zoe (Ger) (Jukebox Jury {Ire}) can land the G1 Ascot Gold Cup on Thursday and, if correct, the 75-year-old businessman and renowned racehorse owner will net himself a...

The 2021/2022 Irish National Hunt Champions were announced at Punchestown on Saturday. Of the six, five were repeat winners, with Jack Foley named the Champion Conditional Jockey for the first time. Ireland's NH champions are as follows: Champion Owner: JP McManus (19th win) Champion Trainer: Willie Mullins (16th win) Champion Jockey: Paul Townend (fifth win) Champion Conditional: Jack Foley Champion Amateur: Patrick Mullins (14th win) Champion Lady Amateur Rider: Jody Townend (second win) Horse Racing Ireland Chief Executive, Suzanne Eade, said, "This is the first time since May 2019 that...

CHELTENHAM, UK--Emotions ran high at Cheltenham on Friday as Rachael Blackmore, the most successful female National Hunt jockey of all time, continued to rewrite the history books, this time by becoming the first woman to win the Cheltenham Gold Cup. Her willing and sublimely talented partner was A Plus Tard (Fr) (Kapgarde {Fr}), who was runner-up to his stable-mate Minella Indo (Ire) (Beat Hollow {GB}) last year but turned the tables in emphatic fashion this time around. Tackling the defending champion for the lead over the final fence, the 8-year-old...

CHELTENHAM, UK--Depending on your preference, Thursday at Cheltenham is either Paddy Power Stayers' Hurdle day or Ryanair Chase day but either way, on St Patrick's Day each of the Irish-sponsored co-feature races produced a repeat Irish winner. The one key difference 12 months on was that the owners of Flooring Porter (Ire) (Yeats {Ire}) and Allaho (Fr) (No Risk At All {Fr}) were allowed on course to celebrate in person. And celebrate they did. The huge black-and-white-bedecked entourage that accompanied the dual Stayers' Hurdle winner Flooring Porter made the most...

CHELTENHAM, UK--It is a rare moment when a beaten horse elicits a more rousing reception than a winner, but then Tiger Roll (Ire) (Authorized {Ire}) is the rarest of beasts. An enigma sometimes, but scintillating on his many days in the sun, he retires a proper champion of a horse after giving his all for one final run in relentless rain.  Nobody could claim that the Glenfarclas Cross Country Chase is a championship race - in fact there are those who call for its exclusion from the Festival - but...

Three-year-old gelding Wood Ranger (Ire) (Kodi Bear {Ire}) is bound for Qatar after selling to Hassan Abdul Malik for €64,000 to top the Goffs Online Summer Sale, which concluded on Tuesday. Wood Ranger (lot 19) was sold from Willie McCreery's Rathbride Stables, having won two of nine starts including a five furlong Class 4 handicap most recently at Naas on June 23. The Aga Khan Studs was responsible for six of the 18 offerings, and its Ebasari (Ire) (Lope De Vega {Ire}) (lot 1) is set for a change of...

After one start for local trainer Raffaele Biondi that resulted in a runner-up effort in the May 23 G2 Derby Italiano, Juan De Montalban (Ire) (Lope De Vega {Ire}) is headed back to Britain and to the yard of trainer David O'Meara after O'Meara and his assistant Jason Kelly went a sale-topping €400,000 for the 3-year-old at Arqana's Summer Sale on Thursday. Juan De Montalban (lot 488) had been bought by trainer Andrew Balding for 85,000gns as a Tattersalls October Book 1 yearling, and sold privately to Italy after posting...

The crowning moment in an extraordinary week for Henry de Bromhead was provided by not one but two horses when Minella Indo (Ire) (Beat Hollow {GB}) beat his stable-mate A Plus Tard (Fr) (Kapgarde {Fr}) in steeplechasing's greatest prize, the Cheltenham Gold Cup. The victory of Barry Maloney's 8-year-old also wrote de Bromhead's name in the history books as the first person to train the winners of the Champion Hurdle, Champion Chase and Gold Cup in the same year.  "This is crazy stuff, it's not reality," said the trainer as...

"Out of this world," was how Rachael Blackmore described her week at Cheltenham so far, but it is becoming increasingly clear that the top echelon of National Hunt racing is very much her world. The 31-year-old now leads the jockeys' table with five Festival winners in the last three days, with Jack Kennedy her closest pursuer on three. Two of her triumphs have come on horses owned by Cheveley Park Stud, which has now celebrated two winners at each of the last three Cheltenham Festivals. Wednesday's victory of Sir Gerhard...

Henry de Bromhead's magical week continued at Cheltenham when Put The Kettle On (Ire) (Stowaway {Ire}) added victory in the G1 Betway Queen Mother Champion Chase to the success of Honeysuckle (GB) (Sulamani {Ire}) and Rachael Blackmore in Tuesday's G1 Champion Hurdle.  Both winners created a piece of National Hunt history, with Put The Kettle On becoming the first mare to win the Champion Chase, while Blackmore was the first woman to ride the winner of the Champion Hurdle. Notably, both mares had triumphed at the previous year's Festival, in...

There have been 28 runnings of the G1 Weatherbys Champion Bumper at Cheltenham and 10 of them have been won by Willie Mullins. The Festival's most successful trainer of all time even rode the first of his winners, Wither Or Which (Ire), and he trains five of the 15 declared runners for this year's race, which is the final contest of Wednesday's card. Of that quintet, the Cheveley Park Stud-owned favourite Sir Gerhard (Ire) (Jeremy) cost £400,000. Lower down the sales scale is the little mare Grangee (Fr) (Great Pretender...