IT started with St Stephens Green. Seventh behind Petit Mouchoir in the Land Rover Bumper at the 2015 Punchestown Festival on his only run for Willie Mullins, the Diamond Green gelding won a bumper at Kilbeggan on his first start for Emmet Mullins two months later. That was his first run too in the colours of Annette Mee so, given the Mees’ association with Galway, it wasn’t surprising that Galway was his primary objective after that.

St Stephens Green (Patrick Mullins) was a flag-bearer for Emmet Mullins \ Healy Racing

His Galway win was a little while in coming. The ball didn’t hop his way initially. On his first attempt, at the 2016 festival, he finished second in the Guinness Handicap Hurdle behind Heartbreak City, who won the Ebor three weeks later and who finished second in the Melbourne Cup three months later.

Just shows you, you never know what you’re going to meet at Galway.

In his second attempt in 2017, St Stephens Green stayed on well to finish third behind Magna Cartor in the two-mile Tote Handicap, when he didn’t have a lot of room on the run to the home turn.

His third attempt at Galway was in the Latin Quarter Beginners Chase in 2018, and that was the good one.

Flag-bearer

“St Stephens Green was a flag-bearer for us at the time,” says Emmet. “He was one of a few horses that Patrick (Mullins) and I had had together. My father had a few there with me too, but I’d say we only had about five horses in total starting off. And Patrick introduced me to the Mees. So to have St Stephens Green win for the Mees at Kilbeggan so early on, on his first run for us and for them, that was massive.

“And, of course, he was always going to be going to Galway after that. That’s the target I was given. I suppose that’s where my association with Galway as a trainer began.”

Emmet Mullins has built up a strong association with Galway in a short space of time. In 2018, he had two winners at Galway: Zero Ten in the bumper on Monday and St Stephens Green in the Latin Quarter Beginners’ Chase on Tuesday.

Summer highlight

In 2019, he had three: Russian Diamond in the (same) bumper on Monday, Zero Ten in the (same) Latin Quarter Beginners’ Chase on Tuesday and Rocket Lad in the bumper on Sunday. Two of those, Russian Diamond and Zero Ten, both owned by the Mees, are on track for Galway again next week.

At Galway in 2018 Zero Ten with Annette Mee, Emmet Mullins and Derek O’Connor after winning \ carolinenorris.ie

“It’s the highlight of the summer, Galway, isn’t it?” says Emmet. “The prize money tells you that. And the profile. And we do target the meeting with any horse that we think is suitable. It’s an important week for us.”

Zero Ten has run at Galway four times, and he has won there three times. He won his bumper there at the 2018 festival, he won his maiden hurdle there six weeks later, and he won his beginners’ chase there in 2019.

“We probably should have gone for the Galway Hurdle there two years ago instead of going for his beginners’ chase. That might have been one that got away. But he did win his beginners’ chase that year, and he’s on the same handicap rating over hurdles now as he was then. He hasn’t run since he unseated over fences at Punchestown in November, but his training has been good since.”

Jockey career

Of course, Emmet Mullins was a jockey before he was a trainer, and he had many big days in the saddle, the majority of them when riding for his uncle Willie Mullins. He won the Land Rover Bumper on Quiscover Fontaine in 2008 as a 7lb claimer, and he kicked on.

He won the Martin Pipe Conditional Jockeys’ Handicap Hurdle at the 2011 Cheltenham Festival on subsequent Hennessy Gold Cup and Punchestown Gold Cup winner Sir Des Champs, he won the Grade 2 Hilly Way Chase at Cork in 2011 on Golden Silver. And at Limerick’s Christmas Festival in 2013, he rode Faugheen to win the Grade 3 Liberty Insurance Novice Hurdle.

“It was brilliant riding for Willie, it meant that you got to ride top-class horses every day. But Ruby Walsh was there, Paul Townend was there, and they weren’t going anywhere. And I learned so much about training during my time riding for Willie, sometimes without even fully realising it. It was always a logical step for me.”

He was offered the opportunity to go travelling with Willie’s horses, and he grabbed that opportunity. He went to Australia with Simenon in 2013, when he finished fourth in the Melbourne Cup, and he went on to Japan and Hong Kong and Dubai with the Wicklow Bloodstock horse. He also went to Japan with Blackstairmountain, he accompanied Susannah Ricci’s horse in his audacious bid to win the Nakayama Grand Jump in 2013.

Blackstairmountain

“That was some experience. We had a week in quarantine, and then we were based at Nakayama Racecourse, where we had the place pretty much to ourselves for a month. Just me and Blackstairmountain! But we got some kick out of it when he won the race. Ruby came over to ride him in his trial and again in the Grand Jump itself, and you could see the kick that he got out of it when he won it. He looked up to the stands, and I was the only person he recognised there!”

Galway Plate

The Shunter is on track for the Tote Galway Plate on Wednesday.

“The Shunter is probably ideally suited by two and a half miles, so the Plate was the obvious target for him. When he won the Greatwood Hurdle at Cheltenham in November, I thought that might have been it for him, that might have been as good as he was, but he has continued to improve.”

The Shunter and Jordan Gainford win the Paddy Power Plate for owner Paul Byrne and trainer Emmet Mullins.last March \ Healy Racing

The Shunter ran a massive race to finish second in the Grade 1 Manifesto Chase at Aintree in April, his first run in the J.P. McManus colours. If he had jumped any of the last three fences a little better than he did, he might have won.

“He came home with a bad cut on his leg, so maybe that was why he jumped the last three fences so badly. He ran well over hurdles at Punchestown in May, but he came back with a cut on his foreleg too that day. He has been good since though.”

The Shunter and Jordan Gainford won for owner Paul Byrne and trainer Emmet Mullins (right) with groom Mick Molloy \ Healy Racing

Third in the Matheson Handicap Chase at Leopardstown’s Dublin Racing Festival in February, Mullins and The Shunter’s then owner Paul Byrne heard about a £100,000 bonus that was going for any horse who could win the Morebattle Hurdle at Kelso in early March, then go on and win any race at the Cheltenham Festival, so they hatched a plan, and that went quite well.

He duly won the Morebattle Hurdle, and followed up by winning the Paddy Power Plate at Cheltenham, leaving the impression that he had more in hand than the three-length winning margin.

“We were delighted when Mr McManus bought him. It’s really nice to have Mr McManus’ colours in the yard, and it would be great if we could win a good prize for him now.”

Astuteness

There was a time when the Emmet Mullins horses tended to be largely under-rated by the markets, but that is not the case anymore. The astuteness of the young trainer is usually factored into markets these days, and strength in the market is usually followed by strength in the race.

“There is no formula for it. We will go anywhere in order to get the right horse. We buy at the sales, we buy horses privately, we’ve bought horses in Keeneland, we’ve gone to Japan to buy yearlings.

“We have a really good team, Paul Byrne is a top-class form judge, my father sources horses in France. And we’ll go anywhere if we think we can win a race there.”

He won a listed three-year-old fillies’ hurdle race in France in 2019 with Fujimoto Flyer and, of his four graded race wins to date, only one of them has been gained in Ireland.

Galway Hurdle

Cape Gentleman is set to join Zero Ten in the Guinness Galway Hurdle line-up on Thursday.

“I thought that he ran a great race to finish fifth in the Ascot Stakes at Royal Ascot. I got the tactics wrong. We rode the race, not the horse. I had seen so many Willie Mullins horses winning the Ascot Stakes under hold-up rides from Ryan Moore, and that’s how we rode him.

“He’s well though. He was a good winner of the Dovecote Hurdle at Kempton in February, and you can forget his run at Leopardstown in February, as everything just went wrong for him that day. He may be better on a right-handed track too.”

This year has been going quite well so far. A Dovecote Hurdle, a Morebattle Hurdle and a Paddy Power Plate already in the bag in 2021, and five winners from 25 runners in the 2021/22 National Hunt season so far is consistent with the strike rate of around 20% that he has been maintaining for the last five years. And it’s about to get very busy.

Russian Diamond is set to run in the two-mile–six-furlong beginners’ chase on Thursday, Crowns Major probably in the Latin Quarter Handicap on Tuesday, if he doesn’t get into the Connacht Hotel Handicap on Monday, Carrarea probably in the four-year-olds’ novices’ hurdle on Wednesday, Merlin Giant in the bumper on Wednesday. The Gossiper and Creative Dancer and Blackstair Rocco and Agritime and Full Aux Rois.

Emmet Mullins in his riding days winning on Faugheen at Limerick \ Healy Racing

Busy week

“It will be a busy week, but we’ll enjoy it all right. Once the week starts, once we get over the next few days, we’ll enjoy it okay. And we’d be happy with a winner.

“We’ve never had a runner in the Galway Hurdle or in the Galway Plate before, so it will be interesting to see how that goes.”

It won’t be surprising if it goes quite well.