Patrick Mullins © Photo Healy Racing
"Don’t be afraid to try things, don’t be afraid of messing up, never fall out with anyone and always have belief in yourself."
This is the centred wisdom that amateur jockey, Patrick Mullins, recently stated he has learned from his discerning father Willie Mullins, when it comes to forging an enduring and successful career in horse racing.
Embracing these values has certainly provided a strong foundation for Patrick Mulllins, who, at the age of 34, was recently crowned Irish Champion Amateur Rider for the sixteenth time in 2024.
At 6 foot 2, Patrick Mullins wouldn’t be out of place on a basketball court, however, on the racecourse, his long limbs make him most conspicuous. Mullins believes his height, which holds back many others in the industry, has worked firmly in his favour. Unable to make the low weights required to compete professionally, he hasn’t had to compete with the likes of Ruby Walsh and Paul Townend for rides from his father Willie.
Patrick Mullins is from County Carlow and horse racing runs deep through his bloodlines. He is the son of multiple Irish champion trainer, Willie Mullins and wife Jackie. His uncles Tony and Tom have carved out careers as trainers, while grandfather, Paddy Mullins, was a top-class trainer. Cousin Emmet Mullins is an Aintree Grand-National winning trainer and Danny Mullins, also a cousin, is a professional jockey.
The majority of Mullins’ rides are served up by his father Willie and the formidable duo have teamed up year after year to win major prizes both over the jumps and on the Flat. Noel Meade, Ado McGuinness, Peter Fahey and Jessie Harrington are among a handful of trainers to have provided Mullins with outside rides.
Mullins has used his profile to take on a fair share of media work within the industry and has proven to be pretty handy when putting pen to paper, often writing beautifully crafted pieces about his experiences on and off the track.
Patrick Mulllins has won the Irish amateur jockeys’ championship 16 times in total. See Patrick Mullins statistics for the past twenty years.
In 2012, he rode 74 winners in a season beating the record of 72 set by Billy Parkinson in 1915.
In 2018, Patrick surpassed Ted Walsh’s record number of 545 wins as an amateur rider to secure his 546th victory aboard Queens Boulevard at Sligo in the bumper for father Willie.
His sixteen amateur rider titles came in the following National Hunt seasons:
The championship eluded him in 2016/17 when it went down to the wire and rival Jamie Codd pipped him by one win.
Patrick's first Cheltenham Festival winner came aboard Cousin Vinny in 2008 in the Champion Bumper. He has since built on that with many more Grade 1 victories in Ireland and in the UK, including three more successes in the Champion Bumper and top flight victories aboard such household names as Faugheen, Douvan and Un De Sceaux.
Mullins most memorable partnership was the one he enjoyed with six-time Grade 1 winner Sharjah. Patrick rode the son of Doctor Dino a total of 23 times and was on board for 5 of the horse's 6 Grade 1 wins. Sharjah was retired at the end of the 2023/2024 season having helped Willie Mullins secure a first British Trainers' Championship when scoring at Ayr on 20th April 2024.
Patrick Mullins’ Grade 1 winners include:
Big-race wins and many mid-week successes have contributed significantly towards Patrick Mullins’ earnings. Over the last five years, his prize money earnings have totalled:
Etched in the memory of many National Hunt fans is Patrick Mullins’ ride at the 2022 Cheltenham Festival, when he snatched glory in the Foxhunters’ Chase in the final stride, aboard Billaway.
Mullins seemed in an impossible position when turning for home as his mount appeared well off the bridle following a blunder at the 18th fence. The pair were 6 lengths down after the last fence but Mullins sensed there was more in the tank and galvanised his mount to dig deep, find more and run down Winged Leader to win by a nose. Mulllins said after the race:
"I just thought, when I landed at the back of the second-last, I have a squeak here. And he stays so well. Dave Porter who looks after him, he's a magic man."
To the surprise of punters, racegoers and media pundits Patrick Mullins lambasted his cousin, Danny, immediately after the line, when winning the Grade 1 Guinness Faugheen Novice Chase aboard Gaelic Warrior at Limerick. Danny Mullins finished second on Il Etait Temps but Patrick was angered by his cousin’s attempt to come with a run up the inside approaching the penultimate fence. Patrick said after:
"I tried to drop my lad, get him back a bit and get a breather into him. I told Danny going out that there will be a gap down my inside at the second-last, do not come for it. He hasn't listened to me. Luckily he hasn't got the two of us beat, but it didn't matter."
In March 2024, Patrick Mullins rode one of his most emotional and significant victories aboard Jasmin De Vaux in the Champion Bumper, which sealed the century of Cheltenham Festival winners for his father Willie Mullins. He described working for his father in the following words: “he’s like the man from the moon”.
