A RETURN of eight winners for Willie Mullins at the Galway Festival last year probably went under the line forecast at the start of the week but notably, among the octet was a highly sought first Connacht Hotel Qualified Riders Handicap for Patrick Mullins on Echoes In Rain.

The champion amateur rider had his first ride in the race all the way back in 2006 when a rainy forecast scuppered the chances for his mount Warrens Castle and had gone through a series of near misses in a long interim, so it had been well documented just how much he wanted to get this particular monkey off his back.