An astonishing Grand National result even by Mullins’ standards Saturday’s Grand National produced the latest jaw-dropping chapter in the story of Willie Mullins’ utter domination of the National Hunt game. He ran 6 horses in a 34-horse lottery and somehow had the first 5 over the last fence and ended up with an unprecedented 1-2-3 and with his own son riding the winner. What sort of wizardry is this? Many will say the Grand National is not the challenge it once was, but it is still unbelievably competitive as handicaps go, with many of the runners laid out all year for a crack at it. His first three horses home weren’t exactly thrown into the handicap either, with 11-8, 11-12 and 11-8 on their backs and their form there for all to see. The winner and third had never been to Aintree before, nor had they had cross-country experience, but none of that seems to bother the Closutton horses. Willie has now won back-to-back Grand Nationals and the way things are heading he will be short odds to win it again next year. The only other man to train three Grand National winners in a row was Vincent O’Brien in the 1950s. Last season Willie emulated that great trainer by winning the British trainers’ Title while based in Ireland and it looks increasingly likely he will repeat that feat again this season having closed the gap on Dan Skelton to a mere £120,000 after an Aintree blitz. Five Grade 1 victories over the three days at Aintree is no more than we expect at this stage from the master of Closutton and with the majority of his star horses being kept for Punchestown he will no doubt mop up plenty more big prizes before the curtain comes down on another truly remarkable season. There are a couple of aspects of the Mullins success story that puzzle me. Firstly, how has he managed to keep his core team intact for so long? Whatever about David Casey, Ruby Walsh or even Harold Kirk staying loyal for some many years, I would have thought Partick Mullins would have flown the nest by this stage. He seems to have inherited many of his father’s best attributes, but is content to play a supporting role in the operation. Willie went out on his own at the age of 32, Patrick is now 35 and still no sign of him following in the family tradition of taking out a trainer’s licence. Perhaps there is an imminent succession plan already in place. And then the most obvious question of all is why does anyone have a horse in training anywhere else? If you want to win Gold Cups, Champion Hurdles or Grand Nationals why would you not put your horse with Willie Mullins? Do some owners honestly believe their chances of winning big races are better elsewhere? While I’m asking questions, another one that has been taxing me recently is: how can a horse be simultaneously the best hurdler I have ever seen and also a horse that I cannot trust to jump a clear round? I suppose it goes to show how fine a line there is between perfection and failure in national hunt racing. At his peak Constitution Hill looked several notches ahead of any hurdler I had seen. Unbeaten in his first ten racecourse starts, including the utter annihilation of horses of the calibre of Jonbon and State Man at successive Cheltenham Festivals. He looked destined to be the undisputed greatest hurdler of all time, but what about now? Can he still be regarded as the best? There is probably a subtle difference between the greatest and the best, at least to my mind. To be the greatest in any discipline you need longevity at the top, but to be the best you might only need to show exceptional brilliance for a short period of time. Pelé would be regarded as one of the greatest footballers of all time, but even he would have admitted that he didn’t have the sheer brilliance of a Georgie Best or Maradona in their prime. Golden Cygnet and Our Conor are still fondly remembered for the fleeting brilliance they displayed in their short careers. Constitution Hill produced similarly exceptional performances, and a lot more of them than either of those two, but his legacy could well be tarnished by his spells on the sidelines and his recent spills on the floor. I really do hope he comes to Punchestown and finishes this season on the high his talent deserves.
