IT’S odds-on that the Mullins name will crop up amongst the winners at next week’s Galway Festival and Maureen Mullins, the undisputed matriarch of Irish racing who turned 90 just a couple of weeks ago, will be there to lend her support.

Always cheerful and blessed with the energy of a woman half her age, she knows virtually everyone in the sport and likes nothing better than going racing and having the chat.