Leading Galway trainer Willie Mullins is set to head into this year’s Cheltenham Festival meeting with one of his strongest teams of horses yet. The Irishman is having an excellent season in the 2023/24 campaign and looks on course to be named Irish Champion Trainer.
With 94 Cheltenham Festival winners, Mullins is the most successful trainer in the history of the National Hunt meeting. He could reach a century of winners this year across the four days at Prestbury Park.
Galopin Des Champs: His Big Hope for the Week Again
Mullins won his third Cheltenham Gold Cup in 2023 with Galopin Des Champs, and his talented 3m chaser is the 8/11 favourite in the racing odds to win the same race again. The seven-year-old remains the horse they all must beat.
Given how strongly he finished the Gold Cup last March, Galopin Des Champs is one of the leading horse racing tips for the meeting this year. He is to take on some familiar foes in last year’s runner-up Bravemansgame, fellow Irish raider Fastorslow and stablemate Monkfish.
Galopin Des Champs looking well after his Irish Gold Cup win 🤩 pic.twitter.com/JilY33kSAg
— At The Races (@AtTheRaces) February 6, 2023
It has been a mixed season for the Gold Cup winner so far, as he started the campaign with defeat in the John Durkan Memorial Punchestown Chase. He then produced his best in the Grade One Savills Chase, while more recently, he added to his tally in the Irish Gold Cup.
Dublin Racing Festival Success
It was not just with Galopin Des Champs that Mullins had success at the recent Dublin Racing Festival at Leopardstown. He won all eight of the Grade One races at the meeting. It was the first time a trainer had done a clean sweep of the leading contests across the two days.
Stunning!
Honeysuckle gives her absolute all, but State Man is simply too good in the @Chanelle_Pharma Irish Champion Hurdle @LeopardstownRC for @WillieMullinsNH and @PTownend #DublinRacingFestival pic.twitter.com/yxIKBbeW5d
— Racing TV (@RacingTV) February 5, 2023
State Man gave Mullins a record-extending eighth victory in the Irish Champion Hurdle. The seven-year-old remains the leading threat to Constitution Hill in the Champion Hurdle at the Cheltenham Festival this year.
El Fabiolo also warmed up for one of the Championship races at the Festival, with a triumph in the Dublin Chase. Last season’s Arkle Trophy winner is a warm favourite to win the Queen Mother Champion Chase this year.
Talented Novices Set to Prove Their Class
The Cheltenham Festival is the opportunity for many of Mullins’ talented novices to make a name for themselves in their respective divisions. One of those is Fact Or File who will run in the Turners Novices’ Chase. He recently beat stable Gaelic Warrior to move up the pecking order in his stable.
Ballyburn is a hurdler who has two options at the Festival. He is entered for the Supreme Novices’ Hurdle on day one of the meeting and the Baring Bingham Novices’ Hurdle later in the week. Mullins’ runner is a warm favourite for both of those two races following his latest triumph at Grade One level.
With the Prestbury Cup up for grabs for the most winners at the meeting, Irish fans will be hoping Mullins can help Ireland retain their trophy this year against the home team.
