THERE was so much action to digest from Aintree last week. But one thing that stood out from day one was the scale of Willie Mullins’ dominance of the sport, writes Page Fuller.

It wasn’t just the Grade 1s that he has talent in, and Gentleman De Mee’s placement and performance in the Topham Chase was another that left us in awe of his brilliance.

A Grade 1 winner of the two-mile Dublin Chase in 2023, this nine-year-old is very lightly tried over two and a half miles, and the way he won this race suggests that there could be plenty more to come from this horse over the middle distance trip.

He carried 11st 11lb, which meant he was forfeiting lumps of his weight to his rivals, and is the highest weight carried by the winner of this race since Dublin Flyer in 1995.

He was the fastest horse of the race, recording a top speed of 35.12mph, the only horse in the race to break 35mph, but what was particularly impressive was the way that he used his turn of foot that proved so effective over two miles, and maintained it so well to the line.

He was the only horse to clock three sub-14 second furlongs in the last five furlongs, and completed the final furlong 0.45 seconds quicker than any other horse in the race.

That, compounded with his Finishing Speed Percentage of 109.73%, highlights how well he saw out the trip. It also suggests that, when he has the chance to run on a sounder surface there could be more again over this trip, back in graded company.