County Carlow racehorse trainer Willie Mullins is the master of his profession and returns to the Cheltenham Festival next month (11-14 March) with a formidable team of equine superstars.
The champion trainer has won most of the major prizes in Britain and Ireland and reigns as the most successful trainer at the Cheltenham Festival with a record 103 winners to his credit.
Willie tallied nine victors at Prestbury Park last year, with dual Boodles Gold Cup winner Galopin Des Champs spearheading a host of successful stars that also included State Man in the Unibet Champion Hurdle, Lossiemouth in the Close Brothers Mares’ Hurdle and Majborough in the JCB Triumph Hurdle.
So who are Willie Mullins’ key contenders at the 2025 Cheltenham Festival? This is what he had to say about just some of his potential runners when he opened his Closutton gates this week in an event organised by The Jockey Club.
“The string couldn’t be in better order,” he says. “Maybe unlike other years, we have a lot of our plans fairly well made. I’m happy enough that we are probably way more forward this year than we have been in other years.”
Willie Mullins’ key Cheltenham Festival contenders: Galopin Des Champs
Audrey Turley’s nine-year-old Timos gelding holds the Gold Cup crown and will be bidding for the hat-trick in Friday’s contest.
“Galopin Des Champs’s performance in the Irish Gold Cup was very good, although I thought Christmas was better,” says the trainer. “At Leopardstown, Paul Townend got to the front and then he very steadily just slowed it down. We’re not worried if someone wants to take him on, that’s fine. Paul can ride him anywhere he wants and he has complete faith in the horse – as he always said to me, this horse gallops and jumps.
“The Gold Cup is five weeks from Friday [7 February] and I’d really love another week. He has tremendous owners, Greg and Audrey Turley, who really appreciate it; they’re living it and enjoying it. It’s unbelievable that we have a horse that’s going for a third Gold Cup win and could be in the Best Mate and Arkle category.
“It’s a huge honour to be just involved with a horse like this and we just hope the dream stays alive. I’m living the dream every morning I get up.
“I think of my father when he was training Dawn Run and the defending champion Gaye Brief got injured ahead of the Champion Hurdle,” reveals Willie. “Now, when I’m in his position, every morning I wake up and hope I don’t get a bad report about any of the horses and I’m also not wishing bad luck on my competitors, because I know what it’s like.
“It’s a once in a lifetime job, isn’t it? Arkle, Best Mate, hopefully this horse, if he can do that. There were many years between the first two – 1966 to 2004 – so maybe we’re a generation too soon!
“Galopin Des Champs is a tremendous horse and he has his own piece of history already, but hopefully there will be more to come.”
Final Demand: “He’s a 17.2hh unit”
This unbeaten hurdler is a six-year-old Walk In The Park gelding owned by Bryan Drew and Prof Caroline Tisdall.
“He has only had two runs and I think 2m 5f on that track at Cheltenham in the Turners will suit him,” says Willie. “He looks a real chaser and must be about 17.2hh – he is built as strong as any horse I’ve had.
“He is probably more like Florida Pearl as he’s just so strong through the body whereas Galopin Des Champs is more evenly balanced through the body. He is a big unit. We will go novice chasing with him next year.”
Maughreen: “A big ask but we’re taking the bull by the horns”
Closely related to the mighty Faugheen, this six-year-old Walk In The Park mare won on her hurdling debut in the colours of the Closutton Racing Club.
“She put in a huge performance the other day [at Punchestown], her first run over hurdles,” says Willie. “We thought ‘Should we be going for a bumper with her instead?’ Then, when we just reflected on how natural she was to jump in all her schooling, we said let’s take the bull by the horns and go for a maiden hurdle so she’ll go for the mares’ novices’ hurdle. It will be a big ask, but she’s a brilliant jumper.”
Kopek Des Bordes: “He blew my mind”
This is another unbeaten hurdler, a five-year-old son of No Risk At All, owned by Monabeg Investments.
“After what he did the other day [winning a Grade One at the Dublin Racing Festival], Ted Walsh rang me the following morning and said he hasn’t seen a performance like that since [leading hurdler] Golden Cygnet, which is huge for someone like Ted to say.
“Paul Townend got down off the horse after the race and said he ran away with him three times in the race. Most normal horses if they run away with a jockey once, that’s enough, a winning chance gone. So it was a huge performance. We would never ask a horse that question at home. It blew my mind what he did at Leopardstown against a field of top-class horses.”
Energumene: “Cheltenham suits him”
Tony Bloom’s 11-year-old dual champion chaser returned from nearly two years on the sidelines to win a Grade Two chase, but went down to Jonbon in the Clarence House at Ascot last month.
“It will be the Champion Chase for Energumene,” says Willie. “Jonbon is way better at Ascot and Energumene is better at Cheltenham, that’s my hope. Softer ground will suit him too.”
Jockey Paul Townend celebrates after winning the Betway Queen Mother Champion Chase on Energumene at the Cheltenham Festival.
Ballyburn: “He needs to settle”
This seven-year-old son of Flemensfirth was a winner at last year’s Cheltenham Festival. Sir Gino is the only horse to have beaten him in his past seven races.
“He is entered in the Brown Advisory. I am very pleased with how he came out on his last race,” says the trainer. “I think it would take a bit from Paul Townend to get off him. He needs to settle a little bit now. We’ll be settling him at home, but I think with the size of the Cheltenham fences and everything, I hope it will be fine.”
Majborough: “A magnificent horse in the making”
The JP McManus-owned five-year-old won last year’s Triumph Hurdle and a Grade One at the recent Dublin Racing Festival.
“He goes for the Arkle,” reveals Willie Mullins. “He’s only five and looks a magnificent horse in the making – he does things so naturally. It will be a real clash with Sir Gino, who looks like he could be anything and will be a tough nut to crack. He is a Triumph Hurdle winner and they tend to improve and get further with age.”
State Man and Lossiemouth: “She’d beat them all in a flat race”
This final pair of Willie Mullins’ Cheltenham Festival contenders lined up together in the Irish Champion Hurdle on 2 February – Lossiemouth fell and her Champion Hurdle-winning stable mate cruised to victory.
“It was going to be a hell of a race with Lossiemouth and State Man at Leopardstown,” says Willie. “I don’t know what happened to Lossiemouth. There was a flock of seagulls that just took off and maybe that took her eye off because she pricked her ears straight before the hurdle and then just didn’t get up. It was if she was looking at something ahead of her and she just didn’t get up high enough.
“Thankfully she’s good after the race and Danny Mullins [her jockey] is good – he was just winded. She was traveling well and when you look at her pedigree, she is bred to be a mile a quarter horse on the Flat.
“I think we’ve been training her to steady her up not to make her go faster. I’d say in a Flat race, she’d beat them all. I imagine Paul Townend, who has never hidden his admiration for State Man, will ride him in the Champion Hurdle, and obviously a lot will happen with the bits of work we do between now and then. We’ll see how both horses are. But we’re going for the Champion Hurdle with Lossiemouth. We’ve been training her for this for two years and I don’t think my owner has ever said let’s think about it.
“State Man only does what he has to do, he only beats a horse by a length or a length and a half. He’s never flashy.”
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