Willie Mullins has retired the *very special" horse who finally gave him a Cheltenham Gold Cup win.
The Irish trainer had four second places on the trot and had to wait another three years before he won the Festival's big race with Al Boum Photo. Paul Townend's mount stayed on resolutely to lift the prize in 2019 and repeated the result in game fashion a year later.
Mullins thought he was never going to win the Gold Cup, after Sir Des Champs, On His Own and Djakadam (twice), finished runner-up between 2013 and 2016.
