AT the time of writing, it seems overwhelmingly likely that Willie Mullins will be crowned champion jumps trainer in Britain, the first time an overseas trainer will have taken that title in 70 years, and beneath the congratulations bestowed on a great trainer for such a remarkable achievement will come the questions as to what such an achievement means for British racing.

At least Vincent O’Brien had the good grace to stop training jumpers when his monopoly of the winter game was confirmed, but Willie Mullins has no intention of taking up another job, and nor does he ever intend to rest on his considerable laurels.

There has been talk of limiting the number of runners Irish trainers can have in big races and there was, for a while a ban on Irish-trained horses in certain jumps handicaps, while some participants have called for a stronger measure, falling only marginally short of a total ban on Irish runners prior to Cheltenham in March.

None of these proposals are realistic, as I and others have pointed out before, and if British racing wants to improve then thinking parochially is absolutely the wrong way to go about it.

Pesky Irish

Making it easier for local trainers to win local prizes wouldn’t necessarily stop at keeping out the pesky Irish, and it wouldn’t take long before someone had the idea to limit certain races at Welsh and Scottish venues to horses trained within their borders.

Yorkshire racecourses might well suggest that Newmarket trainers had plenty of opportunities on their doorstep without venturing into God’s own county (with special dispensation to William Haggas, perhaps), and so on.

It’s clear to see that making races easier to win simply means reducing the quality of those races, and while it might suit trainers of moderate horses, the end result is mediocrity.

The above examples are fanciful, but any rule introduced to limit the impact of Irish dominance in British racing will have a similar effect. Shoring the product up for the short-term gain of local participants will only have a negative effect on the overall quality of the sport, meaning that the British horses will get an even bigger thumping on the few occasions they step out of their restricted programme.

That will merely discourage further investment from owners in the British arm of the sport and the result is a fast, and terminal decline.

On the subject of decline, it was pointed out at the start of the jumps season that the number of top-quality horses in training in Britain is falling at an alarming rate, and while it’s possible to argue why that may be happening, it’s also clear that it is absolutely essential for those numbers to be bolstered to maintain the standard of the top race, and indeed the competitiveness of those contests.

Worrying trends

The BHA publish an ongoing list of handicap ratings for the entire horse population and the figures compiled at the end of the last jumps season showed worrying trends.

As of this time last year, only 0.8% of Britain’s total jumps population was rated 151 or higher.

That is equivalent to just 47 horses deemed good enough to be competitive enough in open graded races, and compared to 72 horses over a decade earlier. That’s a loss of a third of the population of what might be deemed pattern performers in training over jumps in Britain, and it’s clear that a continued decline is going to make the top British chases and hurdles look very uncompetitive without an influx of runners from Ireland and/or France.

It’s easy to look at the fields for Grade 1 contests and wonder why trainers aren’t willing to run their horses, but more and more it’s becoming the case that there simply aren’t the horses to go round, and that is a source of huge concern.

I seem to be in the minority who thinks that the latest display of dominance by Willie Mullins is only good for British racing, because, boring as it may be for some, the reason that Mullins is so much better has nothing to do with money or privilege, but due to exceptional management of resources.

Few could do what Willie has done over the last couple of decades, but others must strive to emulate him. The argument that Irish racing has suffered because of the phenomenon that he has become is only true in part.

There is certainly less chance of winning a big pot in Ireland with the strength that Closutton possesses, but the strength of Irish racing outside of Closutton is hugely underestimated.

If you remove all of the Mullins horses from the results at Cheltenham last month, do the English dominate? No.

As a rule, where Willie took a Grade 1 at Cheltenham, his nearest rival was another Irish stable, and despite the myth that the Irish horsemen are merely piggybacking Willie’s achievements, it is worth noting that in the last two decades more individuals based in Ireland have trained Cheltenham Festival winners than those based in Britain.

That proves that Irish racing and Irish trainers have raised the bar in response to the challenge laid down by Mullins, and British trainers cannot simply moan that the game is stacked against them.

Paddy and Maureen Mullins may have created a racing dynasty, but they weren’t in the habit of handing out silver spoons, not that there were any to spare, and Willie has never - unlike many in the sport - been under the dangerous misapprehension that it owes him a living.

He also knows that he won’t stay at the top unless he continually adapts to a changing environment and his success should be a rallying call to others with similar ambitions, not an excuse to thwart such ambitions.