CHELTENHAM FESTIVAL NEWS: WILLIE MULLINS REFLECTS ON HIS 10 FESTIVAL WINNERS IN 2025
Friday 14th March
Legendary Irish trainer Willie Mullins capped off another sensational Cheltenham Festival by matching his own record of 10 winners in a single meeting — a feat he previously achieved in 2022.
With this year’s results, Mullins has now trained a record-breaking 113 Cheltenham Festival winners and was crowned Leading Trainer for the 12th time — further cementing his place in Festival history.
Speaking after Gold Cup Day, Mullins reflected on a remarkable week for his stable:
“It has been a fantastic week. Anytime you have a winner at Cheltenham it is good, but to have more than one is brilliant.
We have been very lucky this week, so we are not complaining, as you don’t ever expect to have that many winners here.”
Mullins admitted he was concerned about peaking too early:
“For the last two weeks I was wishing the Festival was on the week before as the whole team was just so well in themselves. I was hoping they weren’t over the top by the time that we came here.
We have probably never done as little work in the final week before Cheltenham. They were just really well in themselves and we were waiting there for something to go wrong.”
The Festival veteran praised the rhythm and preparation that led to success:
“Most times you come into the Festival you wish you had another week to prepare your horses, but this year it just fell into place very well.
We’ve had four fantastic days here, and there were a couple of disappointments, but all the horses and jockeys have gone home safe and sound and will live to fight another day.”
Fairness remains a cornerstone of the Mullins operation:
“I always treat every owner the same. If a man who has a horse on a budget that is as good as, or better than the other horse, our stable jockey rides it.
A lot of our success is how we treat everyone the same. If a smaller man has a good horse, we’ll treat it as good as the biggest owners in the yard. Everyone gets a fair shot.”
He highlighted a pair of standout performances:
“I thought Kopek De BORDES in the Supreme and Fact To File in the Ryanair were two brilliant winners.”
However, he acknowledged a few disappointments too:
“The obvious disappointments were State Man and Galopin Des Champs, but everywhere in between was where we are at.”
Mullins expressed gratitude for the remarkable team around him:
“It surprises me how we keep raising the bar. We are gobsmacked with the owners we have and the horses we have. We pinch ourselves every evening when you check all the horses.”
He also paid tribute to Paul Townend, who succeeded Ruby Walsh as stable jockey and this week claimed the Leading Jockey Award:
“Paul took over from Ruby and it has worked seamlessly. He has a different style of riding to Ruby, but he is getting huge success.
I’m so delighted that he has won the leading rider award here this week as he is a huge part of our team.”
