Team Mullins has bookmakers panicking ahead of Cheltenham 2021
We take a look at horse racing in the UK and back to 2015, when the Cheltenham Festival witnessed one of the most dramatic falls of any horse race.
The location is Cheltenham Racecourse near Gloucestershire, England, not to be confused with the former Cheltenham Park Racecourse in Adelaide, Australia, which closed in 2009.
When leading the Mares’ Hurdle with one jump to go, Annie Power, the hot favourite, crashed through the flight of hurdles, throwing her rider and causing one of the biggest upsets in the festival’s history.
Annie Power’s fall ended the so-called Willie Mullins four-timer. Punters at the festival, and across the UK and Ireland, had loaded up on Mullins’ four superstar horses, Douvan, Un De Sceaux, Faugheen and Annie Power. The first three romped home, and bettors were licking their lips at the prospect of cashing in on the seemingly unstoppable Annie Power. But it was not to be. These tales tend to grow taller over time, but the fall saved the bookmakers anything from £50 million to £100 million ($AUD 90-180 million) if reports were to be believed.
It is, of course, no surprise that punters went with Mullins that day – he is the supreme trainer at Cheltenham. The Irishman has crossed the Irish Sea to raid the festival every year, training 72 winners (a record) and winning the top trainer award seven times in the last ten years. But 2015 felt special, and the likes of Douvan and Faugheen have now gone down among the best jumps horses of the 21st century. Even Annie Power bounced back to take the Champion Hurdle a year later.
Mullins’ team in superb form
But there is a feeling that Mullins boasts a stable at least equal to the 2015 vintage. Back then, he won eight races (another record) at the festival, but he might have the runners at his disposal to equal, or even exceed, that in 2021. If you scan the British racing papers for news of the upcoming Cheltenham Festival (16th-19th March), they are all using adjectives like “scary”, “unprecedented” and “unstoppable” to describe Mullins’ runners. The bookmakers, too, should be very wary.
Mullins has several big favourites gunning for the top prizes this year, all of whom could hurt the bookmakers badly. Top of the list is Al Boum Photo, a superstar chaser gunning for a third consecutive Gold Cup and a place in the history books. 3/1 is the trending price for that hat-trick. Elsewhere, Mullins has the favourite for the Champion Chase, with Chacun Pour Soi just shy of even money. The Champion Chase is one of the few races that had eluded Mullins, but Chacun Pour Soi might just be the biggest lock of the festival.
Concertista should take the Mares’ Hurdle
No trainer in Europe has a better handle of mares than Mullins, and he has options with Benie Des Dieux, Concertista and Elimay. It’s just a question of where he puts them, but you can almost guarantee he will have the favourite for the new race at the festival, the Mares’ Chase. As for novices hurdle, he has the favourite, Appreciate It, in the Supreme Novices’ Hurdle, and Gaillard Du Mesnil in the Grade 1 Ballymore Novices Hurdle. Both would be worthy winners.
The festival is much bigger than one trainer, of course. And there are many races over which Mullins looks out of the picture. He has never won the Fulke Walwyn Kim Muir Challenge Cup, for example. Despite being steeped in history, it’s one of the more obscure races for amateur riders. You can get more details of it by looking at these Fulke Walwyn Kim Muir Challenge Cup tips & predictions for the 2021 festival.
Aside from the Kim Muir Challenge Cup, Mullins faces an uphill task to beat Shishkin in the Arkle. He has the brilliant Energumene, who is currently second favourite, but Shishkin looks like a superstar in waiting for trainer Nicky Henderson. In addition, the Champion Hurdle looks like a straight fight between Epatante and Honeysuckle. Mullins’ runners might land a place, but it would be a huge shock to see a horse like Sharjah upset the front two.
Nonetheless, we have counted perhaps a dozen Willie Mullins-trained horses with big chances at the festival. It’s hard to remember a time when a trainer had the opportunity to take as many of the top races. Punters will be piling into the Mullins’ runners with gusto in the coming weeks. If he delivers, then the bookmakers are right to be very worried.
Cheltenham Racecourse has an overall capacity of 67,500 and has a scenic location in a natural amphitheatre. In 2015, the racecourse opened the £45m 6,500-capacity Princess Royal Stand, which completed the redevelopment of the course.
