TALYOR Swift’s new release The Life of a Showgirl might have got a few less than five-star reviews last week, but what of a new season in the life of a show National Hunt trainer?

With the quality of the established Mullins stars, who needs any new releases and, as HRI launched the new jumping season in Closutton on Wednesday, the champion trainer briefed media on plans for the big names in his stable.

“The early season really kicks off at Down Royal, I hope there’s a few runners up there, with the other meetings at Clonmel Oil and with John Durkan, Christmas at Leopardstown, which is a fantastic meeting, and Limerick. We see a lot of stars out at Christmas, and that whets our appetite then for Dublin Racing Festival,” he said.

It’s not exactly winter weather, 15 degrees at noon, but we saw 21 of the top horses in the yard head for the gallops. New ones are interspersed. Galopin Des Champs has a new mate next door in bumper winner Wonderful Everyday.

The 2024 Grand National winner I Am Maximus was number 21 in the walk around. It meant he walked behind a Gold Cup and a Champion Hurdle winner, in Galopin Des Champs and State Man. It’s star quality all the way.

Add in Fact To File, Majborough, Lossiemouth, it’s all Grade 1 hits. Of the 21, 19 are Grade 1 winners. Anzadam is the ‘darker’ one who has Champion Hurdle as his target, while Nick Rockett comes forth for the photographs and his Grand National win last season will forever be to the top of his trainer’s lifetime highlights. The eight-year-old carrying son Patrick to a famous Aintree victory back in April, to see off stablemates and 2024 winner I Am Maximus and third-placed Grangeclare West.

Highlight of my life

Reflecting, Mullins said: “I think Nick Rockett winning with Patrick riding him was maybe the highlight of my life, as a father, putting your son up to win a Grand National is huge. Ted Walsh knows all about that, but I got a great kick out of it.”

But not a lot changes on a winning team. “We bring the horses in at the same time. We build them up the way we like to build them up and I’m a creature of habit, I think, as you’ve seen over the years, follow what works and stick to that plan.

“The only change I foresee this season, is that I’m trying to get Il Est Temps ready for Tingle Creek, which is not a race that I’d normally go for. But he performed so well in Sandown in the Celebration Chase, I thought it would be an opportunity missed.

“I think a few of our horses raced very lazily at that time of the year, last year. Lossiemouth went across to a very sharp race in Kempton, that was just [where] we were. The likes of State Man and Lossiemouth, over the years, we’ve been training them to settle them, because the two of them were very keen. Lossiemouth was very keen in her Triumph, she hit the front at the top of the hill of her own volition. State Man was something similar, so we’ve been training them, and I think it sort of backfired on us a bit last year, so we had to go back to normal training.”

Background

But later on, there was fascination getting a brief glimpse into all the background that makes up the winning team. For the uninitiated (i.e. the press), you think gallops are gallops, just freshen them up every season.

But a large pile of pine logs awaits a day long session to be reduced into wood chip, and a specific size of wood chip at that, to be added to the over two mile gallops to keep it deep and damp. Even the wider width of the gallops makes for further expense and then there is the disposal of the ‘worn’ material in the surface each year. “They cost a fortune to maintain,” Mullins says. But the attention to detail puts in the fitness and makes for far fewer front leg injuries or strains.

There was another example of the Mullins mind aways working in the comments on the recent impressive winner, the four-year-old Doctor Dino gelding Love Me Tender. An attempt was made to run him over hurdles as an entire horse, to eventually stand at stud. This was something also tried by Coolmore in France this spring.

Mullins said: “The French do it very well. We’ve got to catch up. Irish people are not very good at covering mares with horses who have won jumps. We need to be looking at that for all the breed over there.

“Blackrath Stud brought over all those French horses back in the 50s and 60s, (Frank Latham stood Vulgan) and they were champion sires in Ireland. Over The River in the 80s. He was very successful bringing back French jumpers and covering the Irish mares. He was ahead of his time.”

Last season Willie Mullins won 21 of the Irish Grade 1 races, but surprisingly only two of them came before Christmas. He won 13 of the Grade 1 races in Britain, but Kopek Des Bordes was his first of the season at Cheltenham in March.

The winning of the British trainers’ title went down to the last day in each of the last two years, but it seems like more Mullins runners will hit the British Grade 1s earlier this time.

Messrs Henderson and Skelton, if you are reading, you know what’s coming. All Too Well!

Anzadam

He looks to have enough potential to go for the Champion Hurdle, I think had a little bit to bother with him, this year everything has been good for him. He has the ability, he had the engine, sometimes his training schedule gets interrupted with little breaks and, if I get a clear run through, I think we’re looking maybe at going for the Fighting Fifth with him. Anzadam and State Man are owned by Joe and Marie Donnelly, so rather than enter two of them in Morgiana, let’s look at another option, and that might be another bit of a change in the season that we haven’t done for a while.

Ballyburn

Ballyburn doesn’t seem to have enjoyed his time over fences. I brought him in early, and I’ve done a lot of groundwork with them, more than we would have done other times, in a good preparation to get him good and strong for the season. I think he will be better served by going back over hurdles. We can all go back over fences at some stage, but I’m keen to go down the staying hurdle route. it’s very open. We know we jumps his hurdles very well, and he stays three miles.

Bambino Fever

We’ll start off in the mares’ races, but she is one that could graduate up to the main novice hurdles, and we’ll see what we have in the mares’ division.

I’m always a believer, look at the race you can win in Cheltenham and come home with a winner, rather than say you are an unlucky loser. She’ll probably go the mares’ route but we’ll let her decide that. If she looks like she needs a trip, we could go Ballymore, she races lazily enough… Albert Bartlett if you want! It’d be hard to think you might have a better mare.

Champ Kiely

Did Danny put him up as a King George horse? Maybe his advice might be as good as anybody’s! A horse who is improving all the time, so that’s as good a place as any, but we’ll just have to start him off, maybe in the John Durkan or the Clonmel Oil.

Davy Crockett

He’s not going to make the Royal Bond, he just picked up a little injury and I decided to give him a month off, maybe more time, maybe just leave him for a spring campaign. I’m not sure he’ll be back for Christmas, we’ll see, but he’s doing nothing wrong, and the older he gets, the more mature he gets, I think he’s improving all time, a bit like his mother.

Dinoblue

She’s come back in good form, very happy with her, same route as last year, more forward tactics in Cheltenham paid off.

Galopin Des Champs

Hopefully, he’ll hit all his targets. John Durkan, Christmas, DRF, Cheltenham. I think the Gold Cup will be his aim again. He’s nine, so he’s young enough to have another go at the Gold Cup again and be a real potent force.

He ran really well last year, he was just beaten over the last fence, but I think he’s still got enough in him to be a real contender this year. We’ve touched on should we have one race less or something like that, and keeping pressure for the other end of the season? But he put up a very good performance in Punchestown, so at the moment, it’s not part of the plan to have a race less.

Mullins didn’t comment if he felt the dual Gold Cup winner was slightly below par in the Gold Cup.

I don’t want to go down that route, Inothewayurthinkin won fair and square on the day.

I just hope we can produce his best performance if we get back to Cheltenham with him. I think it’s very unfair when someone wins a race and the second and third come out and start dragging down their horse, the race is there to be won, and that’s it. You wouldn’t have swapped horses at the second last or last? I’m just hoping for better this year.

Energumene

He’s a horse that I might go out with in trip, rather than just stick with two miles at his age, so you might see him over longer trips.

El Fabiolo

He had a difficult season, so we’ll be picking the races for him, rather than running him at every Festival and see how he goes. He’s come back well.

It crossed our minds to go back hurdling. I wasn’t happy with the start of the season, and I put back his training schedule for six weeks, so he won’t start early.

He’s not a horse that actually likes being out and, even with changing his summer schedule, he wasn’t happy so he’s back in training to try and get him stronger so I’ll wait and see how he is.

Fact To File

I think he’d be well up to it (the King George) and Gaelic Warrior we are also probably planning to go down that route with as well. It’s shaping up to be a very hot King George.

Final Demand

Really looking forward to the two of them (Kopek Des Bordes), but one would be the two-mile division and the other would be probably the three.

Two huge horses, Final Demand is well over 17hh, and he’s got lots of scope to jump, so looking forward to him starting off. He could start off over two miles, but we just start off wherever a race presents itself, but as the season goes on and he goes up in grade.

Whether we should have gone earlier or got involved sooner (when beaten in the Cheltenham novice by The New Lion) I don’t know, but The New Lion looks the real job.

Future Prospect

Definitely needs to go hurdling. Disappointed when we got the middle of the season with her, she didn’t train on as well as I’d like her to train on. She’s come back in nice and strong, and I think she’s a mare that will jump a fence somewhere down the line. But I’d like to see her over a trip over hurdles.

Gaelic Warrior

I always thought that Gaelic Warrior had no trouble staying. He could go for King George, so he’d start off probably at John Durkan and go to King George, and then we’ll decide after that what direction he’d go, Ryanair or the Gold Cup. But looking at his age and profile, he’s a horse that could well be a coming force for the Gold Cup.

Gameofinches

He’s a huge horse. He’s 17 hands, a big, raw individual and, at his age (rising seven), I don’t think he’d have any respect for a hurdle, I think we’re better off just going chasing with him.

We only got him halfway through the season last year. He won an autumn point-to-point and he came to me. I think the summer break has done him the power of good. That’s why I think that we’re better off just going chasing with him. That’s going to be his career.

I Am Maximus

Maybe they’re keen to go back to the Grand National, but he’s every inch a Gold Cup horse too. I think he’s no problem competing, but J.P. has his Gold Cup winner, probably going to try and protect him. For very little, I Am Maximus could have been a dual winner, and maybe J.P. has the goal to have a dual winner of the Grand National.

Impaire Et Passe

He was a little funny last year. I imagine he’ll go for the Ryanair. We changed tactics at Leopardstown and he never got to the front division and possibly looking at that race, I wonder, should we be going out in trip then to three miles and maybe go for the Savills, we could go down that direction.

Irancy

I think we’re sticking hurdling with him. He’s been a hard horse to train so it might be easier to train. A huge engine but he might be just easier to manage over hurdles as a two-miler or he could go for the Aintree Hurdle.

Il Est Temps

He came in a little earlier, and we might try to run him in the Clonmel Oil before the Tingle Creek, if we can keep the ground as nice. What really intrigued me about his performance in the Celebration Chase, he was off for a long while before that and, going over there, I was hoping that he might be fit enough to be get in the first four or five and gain some prize money, and that was the object of the exercise, we were trying to win the British title.

To me, it was a huge performance beating Jonbon, and I didn’t hear that Jonbon had a bad day if that form is proper form, he’s going to be a great addition to our top chasing ranks.

He got an injury around this time last year, and we were hoping to have him ready for Christmas then DRF, but the thing never really settled, it wasn’t a big injury and that’s why we didn’t think he’d be out for most of the season.

This year, fingers crossed, we had no problems with him, we’re all lucky enough if we get a two-mile chaser, let’s stick to that, because it’s a hard division to have a top notch horse.

We do know that he has no problem staying two and a half, but I don’t want to go any further.

Jade De Grugy/Kargese

Jade will go chasing, I think. I’d like to go chasing. Jade De Grugy and Kargese are two that I’m wondering what to do with, whether they go chasing, or stay hurdling. Two, fine big animals, I need to talk to connections, so I haven’t made up my mind, but I’ll school them first.

Jasmin De Vaux

We’re gonna have to think about that one, would you want to go novice chasing? He won a point-to-point, but I’m going to leave the decision on him open until I’ve a good bit of schooling.

In his favour, when we went out in trip and he had more time to think about jumping, he was a lot better. And horses can improve over a season and maybe having more respect for fences. I was going back to his point-to-point and I don’t think he was natural on the day.

Kitzbuhel

Another nice addition in the novice chasing staying division, and I don’t think we’ve seen the best of him yet.

Kopek Des Bordes

He is every bit of the stamp of a chaser. He’s a horse I’m looking forward to seeing and over fences. He’s a very keen horse in his races, and I think chasing will settle him back a little bit, I think it’ll be an addition to his capability, the fact that he might settle over a fence better than he would over a hurdle.

I haven’t really seen any problems with his jumping yet. I’m hoping that fences just make him stand back, look at his fences, which will help the jockey to settle him and we’ll see what he can really do.

Kopeck De Mee

He’s in training, he’s in great shape. He didn’t live up to the hype that he was given. I imagine he will go novice chasing, and we’ll see whether he’s able to get up to that top echelon.

Larzac

He looks more a chaser than a hurdler; probably stay novice hurdling this season, I think he’s a horse, once he sees a fence he’ll be a different kettle of fish, but we’ll probably stick with novice hurdles this year. He’s huge, big, long, chasing type, and maybe our hurdles didn’t suit him, the French hurdles were bigger, more substantial.

Lecky Watson

He has to go down the Gold Cup route, he did nothing wrong last year. He got an excellent ride and kept out of trouble, galloped and jumped, and that’s what you need.

We could look at the Grand National for him but the fact that he went so well at Cheltenham, makes me believe that maybe we should be looking at a Gold Cup entry, but he would have to improve a few pounds.

Love Me Tender

He was very good, he’s improving out of all recognition. We tried to keep him a colt, and we couldn’t get him to show us any ability. And then, when we gelded him, he just seemed to mature. That is a late maturing family and, when I bought him on the day in Arqana, Antoinette Devin said to me, the family is very late, before this year.

Majborough

He’ll start in the Hilly Way, I think. He made a few mistakes at Cheltenham. That’s the only reason that I might go up in trip with him, is because he made those mistakes. But that’s not like him at home. So, if he jumps well in the Hilly Way, and we get another run at two miles, Christmas, possibly, we’ll probably be on for the Champion Chase.

I think he’s come back stronger, which means he might be able to jump a bit better than he did in Cheltenham. I’m just wondering, was he taken off his feet, or maybe our tactics on the day weren’t good enough. They might just change tactics that could make a big difference to how he jumps mid-race in Cheltenham and, when he made a first mistake, I think he just lost his confidence a little bit after that, it might bring him back into that two-mile division.

I don’t want to go up in trip, but I have no problem going up because we think there’s enough competition up there. If he really learns his game, I think he’s up to being a Champion Chase horse.

Nick Rockett

He’s quite entitled to go back for the Grand National, but I think he deserves a Gold Cup entry.

I thought his performance last year in the National was very good, he has all the attributes for a Gold Cup entry this year.

I’ll have to have a chat with his owner about which way he’d like to go and the horse will probably tell us during the season after his first few runs.

Place De La Nation

She’s still a maiden, sixth in the Triumph she might want another trip as well.

Lady Vega Allen unfortunately met with a setback and she goes to the breeding stock sales.

Poniros

I’ll give him a break, I was disappointed with his last run. He’ll be late again after Christmas, tough on them. I think the juveniles, they usually have a hard season on the flat and then they come jumping, and it’s a lot for them when they’re growing up.

I think give them a little easier time because I want them as a six-year-old, rather than a five-year-old, to win at five, you know,

Maybe we’ll be looking at those two-and-a-half-mile races later in the season, and skip the Champion Hurdle horses. That division might be a little easier for him.

Saint Lucie

She is one that will go in those mares’ novice hurdles.

Salvador Mundi

He’s a very strong racing horse. Joe (Donnelly) has Anzadam and State Man. I think he could be a Champion Hurdle horse. However, looking at the way he races, he’s very keen and I want to go over a fence with him and give him a chance to be an Arkle horse. He has a lot more ability than he shows. When he settles to race properly, and we get the right way to ride him, I think he’s going to be a huge player.

Spindleberry

The obvious thing to do is go to the Mares Chase. She’ll start off in Clonmel. She’s a lovely big strong mare. She could be anything. Winning in Fairyhouse was a tremendous performance. She was narrowly beaten in the Grade 1 the previous year, chinned by one of ours.

Too Bossy For Us

Harry Cobden was very impressed with him (seventh in the Triumph) and he’s disappointed me a little bit on the flat; given him a break to have him ready for the National Hunt season proper. I think he could be a nice player in either division, the Supreme or the Ballymore. He looked like a Supreme horse.

Wonderful Everyday

She won the Goffs Defender. She’s back in, looks great. She could stay in the bumper division, I’ll just see what her owners want to do. I’m sure she’s good enough to go jumping as well.