Let’s close out with the main man, Willie Mullins, as he reaches 100 Cheltenham winners. Typically understated and yet focused and still wanting more.
“I thought my lifetime achievement was when I had a winner here in Cheltenham in the Supreme Novices’ Hurdle back in 1995 and who ever dreamt any trainer, never mind me, could do it .
“The team of owners we have help and I can’t train winners without a team of owners who have horses and then the team from my wife Jackie, to David Casey, Patrick, Ruby [Walsh], all our head people, it’s huge for them. I think they are probably going to enjoy it more than I will. It’s extraordinary stuff.”
“For Patrick to do it makes it very special and to do it for one of my biggest owners [Simon Munir and Isaac Souede]. The team of owners we have make the job what it is, I can’t do it without them. They all praise each other when they have a winner and share in each other’s disappointment. Without owners I wouldn’t be here, none of us would, it’s their sport.
“I was really pleased that Patrick was the one to do it because I wasn’t sure he was on the right one but he was spot on and I was wrong. I’m just delighted, I wouldn’t say emotional. When I started out I didn’t think anyone would ever train 100 Cheltenham winners and I certainly didn’t think it would be me. People were saying I should have done it last year!”
Updated
Barry Glendenning spent another day at the Cheltenham Festival, getting in the spirit of things, presumably dressed in second-hand vintage, sustainable clothes, an ensemble of “cheap spats, 1920s high-rise trousers, lavender dress shirts and double-breasted topcoats with peaked lapels plundered from a vintage bargain bin”.
He’ll be back for more on Thursday and so shall we.
Greg Wood’s tips for Thursday are here.
