Willie Mullins lands the perfect 10 in record breaking haul at the Cheltenham Festival

It was a week to remember for Kilkenny trainer Willie Mullins at the Cheltenham Festival after he claimed 10 victories in total on the track in Prestbury Park.

It proved to be a record breaking few days for the Closutton maestro as he beat his previous best of eight winners from 2015, a tally he shared with Gordon Elliott after he sent out eight winners three years later.

Mullins was crowned leading trainer at the meeting once again. He has only missed out on that accolade three times since claiming his first in 2011, and has had a winner at all but three festivals since 1995.

Henry De Bromhead may have secured back to back Champion Hurdle and Gold Cup victories but when it comes down to pure numbers, it was a dominant few days for Mullins.

He now stands on 86 festival wins which is more than anyone but he still had to wait till the final race on day one to get 2022 off the mark when his son Patrick guided Stattler to victory in the National Hunt Chase.

Day two saw Mullins achieve a rare feat as he ticked off victory in one of the few big events that he had yet to win when Energumene stormed to success in the Queen Mother Champion Chase.

It was one of three Grade 1 wins on the day for Mullins with Sir Gerhard taking the opening Ballymore Novice Hurdle while Facile Vega claimed the concluding Champion Bumper.

The Thursday saw Allaho claim another Ryanair Chase victory but even he couldn’t have imagined what the final day had in store when he fired in a 1,518-1 five-timer as Vauban (Triumph Hurdle), State Man (County Hurdle), The Nice Guy (Albert Bartlett), Billaway (Hunters Chase) and Elimay (Mares Chase) all came by the finishing post in first position.

Patrick Mullins had three winners over the course of the week for his father while his cousin Danny also rode the Gavin Cromwell-trained Flooring Porter to victory in the Stayers Hurdle for the second successive year.