Willie Mullins’ Cheltenham Festival 2025 Willie Mullins was leading trainer at the Cheltenham Festival for the seventh year in succession, equalling his previous best tally of 10 winners in the week. It's almost a barometer of his complete domination of the modern jumps game that there is room for an 'and yet' in the postscript to another incredible showing of strength from the Closutton powerhouse, but that's the case after Galopin Des Champs' bid for a third straight Gold Cup win was thwarted. It's the race that eluded Mullins for so long and, while he's now got four on his CV, this was the second time he's been denied an historic three-in-a-row and there was a major expectation that Galopin Des Champs would prove able where Al Boum Photo could not in 2021. Mullins' Cheltenham in 2025 is encompassed in the good, the bad and the ugly - with a whole lot more good than anything else for a trainer who now boasts a staggering 113 Cheltenham Festival wins. The Good Ten wins, two seconds and six more placed efforts. It's the sort of tally that any of his peers can only dream about, but for Mullins it's almost becoming commonplace. This was the 12th time in his career Mullins has been crowned top dog in the Cotswolds after the biggest week of the season. The standouts this time were Kopek Des Bordes in the Supreme, Lossiemouth's romp in the Mares' Hurdle, Bambino Fever swooping to Champion Bumper glory before Fact To File turned the Ryanair into a procession. That was the first three days, then came Friday and even by his own incredible standards, a staggering day. The 100/1 shot Poniros bagged the Triumph Hurdle, while Kargese proved to be the handicap snip many expected in the County Hurdle and then Dinoblue got her Festival success in the Mares' Chase. It was four on the spin when Jasmin De Vaux rediscovered his form from last year's Champion Bumper to win the Albert Bartlett under a powerful patient ride from Townend. That took Mullins into double figures and seemingly history was staring him in the face with the Gold Cup up next. The Bad Second place in the Cheltenham Gold Cup hardly seems worthy of labelling in this manner, but there's little doubt Mullins and Townend would have felt floored by this setback. Galopin Des Champs was denied by Inothewayurthinkin and Mark Walsh for trainer Gavin Cromwell, Townend's partner never seemingly going as sweetly in the race as his rider would have hoped and just powerless in the end to peg back the winner after they had moved clear. Despite that setback, Mullins was overwhelmingly positive at the end of another successful week in the Cotswolds, eager to pay tribute to all the cogs in his well-oiled machine. "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," he said. The Ugly Look away now fans of Ballyburn, as he carries the can for the biggest Mullins-trained disappointment of the 2025 Festival. Imperious in victory as a novice over hurdles here last season, he was backed as if defeat in the Brown Advisory Novices' Chase was out of the question. In truth, it was victory that looked out of the question for so much of the race as Ballyburn gave Townend a torrid time with his jumping and they were simply unable to get competitive in the closing stages. Well-touted stablemate Dancing City folded from the front, last of the finishers under Danny Mullins, but disappointment for Mullins is truly a first-world problem. While the pair were toiling and Quai De Bourbon was unseating Patrick Mullins, stablemate Lecky Watson was tanking up the hill under Sean O'Keefe to win the Grade 1 prize in good style. The Brown Advisory featured seven runners, all trained in Ireland, four of them by Mullins - all for different owners. That's perhaps what sets this special individual aside from the rest. "For me I enjoy that it gets spread out and it's not just one owner and that's the fun of it," he said. "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." Get €50 in FREE bets with the Betfred sign up offer:
