AT the end of year like no other there were at least some reassuring constants at work and foremost among them was the remarkable Willie Mullins who enjoyed yet another stellar season. The truncated nature of the 2019/20 season meant that there was to be no gripping championship battle with Gordon Elliott over the course of the spring.

However, Mullins and his great rival served up yet another remarkable tussle for the champion trainer’s accolade at Cheltenham where, not for the first time, they simply seemed to transfer their domestic battle to Prestbury Park.

The staging of Cheltenham as ‘normal’ in the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic unfortunately meant that the four days in Cotswolds became quite a contentious issue, but the action on the track again provided plenty to savour.

For his part, Mullins endured a frustrating start to the meeting with one winner over the first two days and Chacun Pour Soi was forced to miss the Champion Chase due to a let setback, but things then took a marked turn for the better.

Indeed, by the close of play on Friday, when he won the first four races, he had sent out seven winners, seven seconds and six third-place finishers. Elliott sent out an identical number of winners and seconds but lost out to Mullins by virtue of the latter’s greater number of third-placed runners. Meanwhile, the trainer’s stable jockey Paul Townend scooped the leading rider award for the week.

In terms of Mullins’ haul for the week unquestionably pride of place must go to Al Boum Photo who made it back-to-back wins in the Gold Cup and thus became the first Irish-trained horse to win consecutive renewals of that race since L’Escargot in 1970 and 1971.

Just as he did in 2019, the Marie Donnelly-owned gelding took the unusual route to the Gold Cup of winning at Tramore on New Year’s Day before being once again produced in the form of his life for Cheltenham.

If Al Boum Photo’s achievements in winning two Cheltenham Gold Cups leads to a reflection on some great deeds from days of yore, there is something even more special in the offing this time around. Just a couple of weeks away from his intended reappearance at Tramore, the gelding is only a few months away from emulating Arkle and Best Mate by winning the race for a third time. This would truly be a feat for the ages.

Ferny Hollow in the bumper, the metronomic Min in the Ryanair, Saint Roi in the County, Concertista in the mares’ novice hurdle and Monkfish in the Albert Bartlett were other fine winners for Mullins at the showpiece of National Hunt racing.

Cherish

Away from Prestbury Park though the trainer will surely cherish one moment above a great many others this year and that came at the Dublin Racing Festival when Faugheen landed the Grade 1 Flogas Novice Chase. At the age of 12, the former Champion Hurdle winner brought the house down with a memorable half-length success.

There was a real sense of occasion and euphoria about this victory and the reception accorded to Faugheen represented a hark back to another February afternoon at Leopardstown in 1997 when Danoli won the Hennessy.

In some ways it was perhaps entirely appropriate that Mullins should win the last domestic event of the season at Clonmel in late March which came the afternoon before the country went into lockdown.

The Mullins string seamlessly slipped back into gear when jump racing resumed in late June and Aramon bagged the first graded event of the new season before producing a weight-carrying masterclass to defy top-weight in the Galway Hurdle.

Cabaret Queen landed another big prize for the yard when edging the tightest of finales to the Kerry National and since mid-November the trainer has been running at an impressive near 30% strike rate as his team have begun their inexorable march towards the major prizes on offer at Christmas and beyond.