“AS far as being champion trainer is concerned, and I’ve said it all along, I didn’t think we’ve got any chance. I think we’re four or five years off being where we want to be to win something like that. But I’m very proud of what we have achieved [this season].”

GORDON Elliott had been telling anyone who would listen for months that a bid to lift his first trainers’ championship was highly unlikely, despite having the distinction of leading the table into the final days of the season. There was no shame in coming up short at the close of play last Saturday, though the task to make the breakthrough remains gargantuan when you consider the final prize money margin between the two yards was ultimately over €1 million.

We all know both men can deliver horses in tip-top shape for the biggest races in the sport, so it feels as though recruiting horses capable of taking the title is one of the hardest, if not the hardest, part of the challenge at hand for Elliott.

If finding quality youngsters is key to that process, it must be said that one specific division felt like an area of progress for the Cullentra team this season - and it is one typically farmed by Mullins.

There were nine blacktype bumpers run in Ireland in the campaign just gone, and nobody won more of those listed or graded events than Elliott.

In fact, it may come as a surprise that Even Tho’s impressive win in the Grade 3 Weatherbys General Stud Book Irish EBF Mares Bumper last week was Mullins’ only graded bumper winner of the entire season in Britain and Ireland.

Mullins’ sole listed bumper winner, the impressive Liadawn in the Irish Stallion Farms EBF Mucklemeg Mares’ Bumper back in October, unfortunately never made it to the track again.

The Elliott camp will surely take heart from winning more of those Irish blacktype bumpers than any other yard in 2025/’26, highlighted by With Nolimit’s win in the Grade 1 Race & Stay At Punchestown Champion Bumper last week.

Grade 1 shift

Mullins threw four darts at the board in that race, but it was the first time since 2017 that he had no horse finish in the first three. It’s a race he had dominated with wins in six of the seven runnings before this year (also second in the year he failed to win during that period).

On top of that, this season was the first time since 2015 that the 20-time champion trainer had no horse finish in the first five in the Weatherbys Champion Bumper at Cheltenham. In a similar fashion to the Punchestown contest, Mullins had plundered six of the eight Champion Bumpers prior to this season (and provided the close second in the two editions he didn’t win).

What’s more, this year was the first time since inception of the Dublin Racing Festival in 2018 that Closutton were not represented in the Grade 2 Future Stars Bumper at Leopardstown. In that Paddy Power-backed contest, Elliott stepped forward and saddled the 1-2-3.

The race has been working out a treat for the title runner-up. Second-placed With Nolimit went on to strike at Punchestown and the third-placed Charismatic Kid ran out an impressive Fairyhouse Easter Festival winner in the same Gigginstown House Stud colours.

Noel Meade trains the Champion Bumper winner from Cheltenham, The Mourne Rambler, but the four remaining blacktype bumpers in Ireland were split between Gavin Cromwell (two victories with Coole Cafe and Belladaball), Tom Cleary (Oh My Word) and Martin Hassett (Moonverrin).

Now, even if Mullins wasn’t as dominant as usual in the big-festival bumpers, he still trained more NHF race winners than any other trainer in Ireland during 2025/’26. His end-of-season tally came to 27 victories in the category.

Gap is tightening

However, the gap between the top two jumps yards in the country is now at its closest for six seasons in terms of its bumper returns.

The margin between the pair stood at a peak of 33 greater bumper winners in favour of Mullins when he won 56 such races in 2023/’24, and Elliott claimed 23. The margin is now down to just four this season (27 WPM - 23 GE).

In 2016/’17, the season in which Mullins lost 60 Gigginstown horses in a training fees dispute with Michael O’Leary, Elliott bossed the same metric, but only in one season since then has the title challenger managed to saddle more bumper winners in an Irish season than Mullins (2019/’20).

It’s also a noticeable trend that Mullins saddled his lowest number of bumper runners since 2020/’21 this term, and his runner count in these races has been reducing gradually in each of the last four campaigns (165, then down to 143, 116 and, most recently, 105).

The recruitment channels at Closutton still remain exceptionally good, and perhaps that drop in bumper volume is reflective in a slight change to the type of horse the team is sourcing. French recruits to go straight over hurdles have been an excellent avenue for Grade 1 winners, and, separate to that, Mullins remarked in the TDN in March: “I have found that more owners are asking us to buy more of these types” regarding the purchase of dual-purpose horses like Ethical Diamond off the flat.

Rest assured, the production line in Co Carlow will continue to deliver top-quality sorts, and Elliott does remain a little way off taking the crown just now.

However, in the battle of the bumpers this season, it feels like Elliott got the verdict. While Alan Hansen once famously said, in football terms, that “you can’t win anything with kids,” surely this crop of Elliott young guns must bode well for future title challenges.

WE are not far away from store sale season and how strong trade will be after some mighty point-to-point sales at Cheltenham, Aintree and Punchestown will be intriguing to follow.

It will also be worth paying attention to just how sire-focused store buyers are, because the theme of a broad pool of sires delivering winners at top National Hunt meetings was again noticeable at the Punchestown Festival.

A total of 29 different stallions were responsible for the 38 individual winners at the meeting (39 total races: excluding the charity race, and one horse - Fountain House - won twice for Lucky Speed).

It was a spectacular week’s work for Haras de Colleville’s Galiway, who emerged with more winners from the meeting than any other sire. From only six runners at the 2026 Punchestown Festival, Galiway had four winners and a second.

Kalix Delabarriere won his second valuable spring handicap in a row in the €75,000 Killashee Hotel Handicap Hurdle on day one, followed up by Willie Mullins’ smart newcomer Delamotte in the Willie Coonan Memorial Bumper for four-year-olds.

Quinta Do Lago made it three winners on the spin for his sire in the Louis Fitzgerald Hotel Hurdle, and Jimmy Du Seuil got within three-quarters of a length of Grade 1 honours when second in the Ladbrokes Champion Stayers Hurdle. Galiway did get his top-level victory of the week when King Rasko Grey collected in the Alanna Homes Champion Novice Hurdle. It was a top-drawer return for the sire.

Camelot was next best in the stallion standings. He emerged with three winners (including Grade 1 hero Saratoga, Beauvallon and Powerful) from eight runners, while he failed by just a head for a second Grade 1 winner in Lord Byron.

The sadly-missed Blue Bresil (two bumpers) and Westerner (two Grade 1s with Eachtotheirown and Western Fold) each had doubles. No Risk At All (Grade 1 winner and Goffs Defender Bumper winner) and Crystal Ocean (two bumpers, including a Grade 3) also registered a brace apiece.

Beyond those names, there was individual Punchestown success for Bande, Berkshire, Doctor Dino, Gemix, Great Pretender, Harzand, Imperial Monarch, Jet Away, Jukebox Jury, Kodi Bear, Masked Marvel, Mastercraftsman, Maxios, Morandi, Sageburg, Sholokov, Sixtie’s Icon, Storm The Stars, Walk In The Park, Well Chosen, Wings Of Eagles and Yeats.

Those selling sons and daughters of sires perceived to be less fashionable than others in the sales ring will be hoping buyers don’t have short memories when it comes to the number of different stallions who can deliver premier National Hunt performers. It’s certainly not all about just a small number of names on the track.