Willie Mullins successfully defended his British jump trainers’ championship after a treble at Sandown on Saturday which allowed him to comfortably pass Dan Skelton in the prize money table.

Mullins became the first Irish-based handler since Vincent O’Brien in the 1950s to lift the UK jumps trophy on the closing afternoon of last season and came out on top once again after a titanic tussle with Skelton which went down to the final throes of the campaign.