Can Mullins' Cheltenham dominance be broken?

The tapes go up on the Cheltenham racing festival this afternoon. There are 28 races over the four days, and the trainer with most runners is, who else? but Willie Mullins.

The Co Carlow handler is not only favourite to train most winners, he’s no better than evens to have more of them than the entire English force.

He has the favourite for most, if not all, the championship races, and in some cases has the second-fav as well.

Not a bit of wonder he commands a huge number of column inches in the trade papers, most often mentioned on the radio and television, and at the preview nights in this country and England the first question asked whenever a race comes up for discussion is, “What has Mullins running.”

Never before in the 209-year history of the meeting has a trainer had such a stronghold. He’s trained more winners there than anyone else, and such has been his dominance, his first choice rider invariably takes the jockeys’ title. The odds are against it being any different this time.

Mullins has been blamed for the meeting losing much of its once-highly competitive edge. Maybe, but fields for the various races, in particular the handicaps, have runners from the smallest of stables, and you can be sure they’re not being brought along just to provide opposition to the Mullins’ representatives, and also, runners from Gordon Elliott’s Co Meath yard.

Here’s another trainer who fills lots of entry-forms each year, his runners rarely in the forlorn bracket. There’s little doubt if Mullins wasn’t a player, Elliott would be the one in a commanding role. The home guard can only look on with envy, and, perhaps, a degree of annoyance that all of the big prizes are going for export.

Today’s big race is the Champion Hurdle, a race that brings to mind a recent renewal. Covid was just taking a firm grip – many contended the meeting should not have gone ahead, an aggregate crowd of upwards on 300,000 packed into the enclosures over the four days – when Darver Star lined up for this, the first of the meeting’s championship races.

Trained in Meath for the mid-Louth trio of Pat Cluskey, Simon Fagan and Seán Fanning, Darver Star carried loads on local money, and when he led over the last, punters’ cheers in pubs and homes were deafening.

The climb to the finish-line proved too much for the horse named after a junior soccer team; but he still ran a cracker for an ownership that wouldn’t be short of a penny, but at the same time, not in the same bracket, moneywise, as many of those Willie Mullins caters for.

Nor did Darver Star, bred by two of his part-owners, Cluskey and Fanning, cost as much as most of the ones Mullins’ leading owner, Rich Richi, writes the cheque for.

Another example of a minnow being able to swim with the big fish is a horse called Hewick. Only a handful, this lad is trained in the same neck of the woods as the Mullins battalion, and when he came up for sale a few years ago, his now-trainer JJ Hanlon – known to all in the racing game as ‘Shark’ – had to go to no more than €850 to take the gelding home.

That wouldn’t look at what punters from this country taking in the meeting’s four days have to pay for their keep.

Hewick, winner of the prestigious King George VI Chase at Kempton on St Stephen’s Day, goes in Friday’s Gold Cup, and what a story it would be if he were to cross the line in front, relegating among the others, Galopin Des Champs, the holder of the title and clear favourite who’s running for........well, know whom. He’s among the outsiders, just as Darver Star was four years ago, but might just be worth a few bob each-way.

Today’s Champion Hurdle looked to be at the mercy of last year’s winner, Constitution Hill, but having been nursed along by trainer, Nicky Henderson, the long odd-on shot ran a poor trial a fortnight ago and had to be scratched. New favourite is State Man – and if you really want to know, yes, he too runs for Mullins.

Will be talking next week about how one man again dominated the meeting, or, the glorious uncertainty of racing?