IT may be that, in the back of your head there is this notion that Willie Mullins perhaps did not have as successful a Punchestown Festival as he usually has.

That may be down to the fact that he was so strong in Britain this year, that he was so strong at Aintree and at Sandown this year, as well as, obviously, at Cheltenham as always. Or it may be down to the fact that Yorkhill and Vautour and Outlander all got beaten on the first day, and that the shadows of those defeats were difficult to shake even as the week progressed.

It might be surprising, then, to count back the winners and count 12. Douvan in the Ryanair Novice Chase, Vroum Vroum Mag in the Punchestown Champion Hurdle, Whiteout in the Mares’ Champion Hurdle, Apple’s Jade in the Champion Four-Year-Old Hurdle, and the rest.

It was always going to be difficult to emulate last year’s haul of 16, but Mullins only had nine winners at Punchestown in 2014, and 12 winners is the champion trainer’s joint-third-highest Punchestown haul. That’s a hugely successful week by any standards.

Leaving it up to chance

SPEAKING of Galileo Gold and the Derby, Equinome said that there was less than a one per cent chance that a mile and a half would be Hugo Palmer’s colt’s optimum trip. There is a better chance of that being the case than there was of Leicester winning the Premier League, admittedly, but then, there is a better chance of just about everything than there was of Leicester winning the Premier League.

Norton’s Coin was only 100/1 when he won the Gold Cup. You would have had to have had him in a double with Beech Road in the Champion Hurdle.