Mullins takes trainers' title thanks to final-day surge
Willie Mullins won the jumps trainers’ title for the second year running after getting the better of a last-day showdown with Dan Skelton at Sandown.
Skelton started the day over £68,000 in front of Mullins, but an easy win for the Oaksey Chase favourite, Gaelic Warrior, and then a surprise as Il Etait Temps topped the odds-on shot Jonbon in Celebration Chase enabled the defending champion to seize control.
A victory in the last race for the Irish handler merely underlined his dominance but he had actually wrapped up the contest when saddling the second, third, fourth and fifth in the previous contest, the Bet365 Gold Cup.
Mullins ended the season with a total of £3,570,990, £199,507 clear of Skelton, who had led the trainers’ championship on every single day of the campaign bar the last, on a final amount totalling £3,371,483.
The master of Closutton became the first Irish-based handler since Vincent O’Brien in the 1950s to lift the UK jumps trophy on the closing afternoon of last season. Given the recruitment team Mullins has out sourcing horses for his yard and the high-profile owners he has with animals at his yard, we could be looking at a similar scenario next year and into the future with many other owners surely attracted to having horses with a man more dominant than any other National Hunt trainer in living memory.
Mullins said: “The last few weeks have been tough and they must have been tough for Dan too. That’s the way things go. I am very happy for all our connections and owners who once again have supported us with their horses.
“I am very happy to have won the title for the second time this year but I am not making any predictions for next season and we still have a week of the season to go in Ireland. I am going home now to get ready for next week. As I said last week, it feels special to do something similar to what Vincent O’Brien did but of course he then went and also did it on the Flat, which I won’t be doing!
“It’s been tough mentally and I haven’t read the papers for the last four days with so much going on, or watched RacingTV. I was reading more about other sports because there was so much going on in racing I tried to keep away from it all. Otherwise, you couldn’t get through it and I’m sure Dan was the same.
“The press and TV make it all so public and it has been great publicity for the sport going down to the last day.”
Wetherby: 2.00 Clermont Ferrand 2.30 Coma Cluster (nb) 3.00 Hymnbook 3.30 Stratocracy 4.00 Manila Thriller (nap) 4.30 Jojo Rabbit 5.00 Zappata 5.30 Miss Willows.
Southwell: 3.15 Drifts Away 3.45 Ziggy’s Missile 4.15 Overture 4.45 My Margie 5.15 Dixieland Blues 5.45 Mythical Composer 6.15 Dutch Kingdom 6.45 Duke Of Oxford.
Updated
Willie Mullins wins the last race at Sandown to earn even bigger final lead in trainers' title
4.45 Sandown
BET365 HANDICAP HURDLE, 2m 3f 173yds result
1 Jump Allen (H Cobden) 5-1
2 Mostly Sunny (Harry Skelton) 10-3 Fav
3 King Alexander (B Hayes) 18-1
10 ran
