While Sam Waley-Cohen rightly grabbed the headlines for winning the Randox Grand National on Noble Yeats, his trainer Emmet Mullins is quietly working his way into the big time.

Of course, when your uncle is the master trainer Willie Mullins, and your family is steeped in racing history, you have a bit of a head start on mere mortals.

Emmet Mullins' father George runs a major horse transport company. Emmet was a successful jockey himself, his biggest win coming at the Cheltenham Festival on Sir Des Champs in 2011. He also rode Faugheen to win as a novice hurdler.

He took out his trainer's licence in 2016 and has quickly established himself as a shrewd operator, regularly associated with successful gambles in handicap races. He is also a horsetrader, not afraid to buy young flat and jumps horses with the intention of adding value to them on the racecourse and selling them on.

Noble Yeats, a seven-year-old gelding by Yeats out of That's Moyne (by Flemensfirth) was bred by Mrs Kristene Hunter. He was sold as a three-year-old at Tattersalls Ireland for just €6,500 to Co Clare trainer Donie Hassett.

After finishing second in a point-to-point at Ballindenisk in December 2019, he was sold for £75,000 at the Tattersalls Cheltenham Sale.

A year later he made his racecourse debut for Emmet Mullins in the colours of owner Paul Byrne, finishing third in a Limerick bumper. He duly won a Thurles bumper the following month and was offered for sale at Tattersalls in Newmarket but failed to sell when bidding stopped at £290,000.

The horse continued to race in the Byrne colours and steadily progressed, finishing second to the top-class Ahoy Senor in a graded novice chase at Wetherby two months ago. It was after that race that the Waley-Cohen family stepped in to buy the horse privately.

Mullins first grabbed the headlines as a trainer last season via the exploits of The Shunter, who won the Greatwood Hurdle, the Morebattle at Kelso and the Plate at Cheltenham – securing a £100,000 bonus in the process – before finishing second in a Grade 1 at Aintree.

J.P. McManus bought The Shunter after his Cheltenham success so he must have been doing something right and when the Waley-Cohens came calling for Noble Yeats after he chased home Ahoy Senor at Wetherby, Aintree was always going to be the aim. But Mullins confessed it was in his thinking long before then.

“Today was the plan, and it’s nice when a plan comes together,” said Mullins

“I didn’t get to see much of him early doors, but going away from the stands I had to take a breath and I said ‘this is a winner’s position’. It was the perfect spot on that second circuit.

“That last circuit, everything just seemed to fall into place. I would say I’m understandably shell-shocked!

“When he crossed the line my heart was doing 10 to a dozen but it has calmed down now. It just hasn’t hit me yet I suppose.

“He’s my first runner in the race so it’s going to be hard to keep this strike rate up!”

No seven-year-old had won the race since Bogskar in 1940 and many might have waited a year. But Mullins is clearly one for breaking with convention.

“Everything had gone perfect with his preparation. I said to Sam last night there was nothing I would have changed, I was happy with the horse and didn’t want to do any more or less work, everything was perfect,” he said.

“We put cheekpieces on him and to be fair that was Sam’s idea after we spoke after Cheltenham – he didn’t travel as well as he can there and got himself into trouble. They were just to help him jump and travel and while it took a bit longer to get that position, I suppose they did their job.

“I gave Sam as much advice as I could before the race as he’s a funny little character, but the rest was down to Sam.

“I never had any worries about his stamina and everything went right on the day, he was always going to gallop to the line.

“It was great for them to put their trust into me. For anyone to buy a Grand National horse it takes a huge amount of trust and it was brilliant we were able to repay them.”

He added: “You might not believe it, but I started thinking of the National when he ran in March 2021 and won a maiden hurdle at Navan. He picked up an injury that day but he was always going to be a staying chaser.

“We tried to go down the handicapping route and pick up a big pot, avoiding the graded races.”

Asked about the age-busting stat, Mullins added: “Stats are there to be broken – so his age wasn’t a worry.”