Perfect 10 makes Willie Mullins a champion at Cheltenham

Willie Mullins was crowned leading trainer at the Cheltenham Festival for an incredible 12th time on Friday, his seventh in succession, although the Gold Cup was not among his final day four-timer.

The Closutton maestro began the meeting the way he intended to continue by taking the opening Supreme Novices’ Hurdle with Kopeck Des Bordes, after which the winners continued to flow.

Lossiemouth won the Mares’ Hurdle having sidestepped the Champion Hurdle to give him and Paul Townend two on the first afternoon and it was an advantage he was never to relinquish.

On Wednesday Jimmy Du Seuil lifted the Coral Cup under Danny Mullins, Sean O’Keeffe was on the outsider Lecky Watson in the Brown Advisory Novices’ Chase while Jody Townend secured a first Festival winner on Bambino Fever in the Champion Bumper.

Only one winner went his way on Thursday, but it was perhaps the most impressive of the week as Fact To File landed the Ryanair Chase for Mark Walsh.

Not even Mullins expected 100-1 shot Poniros to start the last day as he did in the Triumph Hurdle, before Kargese proved to be the handicap snip many expected in the County Hurdle to give Townend a third of the week.

Walsh added Dinoblue to the Closutton roll of honour in the Mares’ Chase, before Jasmin De Vaux rediscovered his form from last year’s Champion Bumper to win the Albert Bartlett, another for Townend, as Mullins equalled his own record haul of 10 for the four days.

It was then the one Mullins had been waiting for, but try as he might the Townend-ridden Galopin Des Champs was denied by Inothewayurthinkin and Walsh in his bid to become just the fifth horse in history to win three Gold Cups.

“We really enjoy having winners here and it’s great to train winners for a range of different owners,” said Mullins, who became the first trainer to pass a century at the Festival last year.

“For me I enjoy that it gets spread out and it’s not just one owner and that’s the fun of it. I’m training winners here for people who could never have dreamed of having winners here and I remember being that soldier here once as well.

“It’s a huge team operation and it’s gone astronomical. No one would ever have dreamt someone would have that many horses to run at a Festival like this, but it’s something we concentrate on and it’s paying off for us.

“We’ll enjoy it why we can and things in sport have a habit of going up and down, but we’ll see how we go and keep enjoying the winners when they come.”

Townend, meanwhile, was the leading rider of the meeting, claiming four successes to tie with Mark Walsh but took the title on accumulated placings.