Our man in Ireland has the latest ahead of Cheltenham

Cheltenham Festival preview: David Ord visits Willie Mullins

By David Ord

Horse Racing

Wed February 11, 2026 · 13h ago

Our man visits Willie Mullins in his local pub to chat all things Cheltenham Festival with some big decisions to be made.

“They say pressure is for tyres. But that’s b*llocks”. Willie Mullins is staging his annual Jockey Club Cheltenham press preview and we’re in the period of the season that he struggles to enjoy despite delivering this sentence with a broad smile.

It’s not the preparation of the fleet of star horses that brings about the stress, there’s a tried and trusted process in place for that. No, it’s the fear of what might greet him and the team on a morning or at evening stables, the setback that arrives at a point in time when there’s no opportunity for recovery.

But it’s the winningmost trainer in the history of the Festival who is the one who is struggling at the moment. Dogged by hip and back pain, he’s holding court in a room at the Lord Bagenal rather than his yard down the road.

And there’s no definitive decision on the question of where Lossiemouth will run.

“She was disappointing the other day but it’s a very open Champion Hurdle and I’ll have good word with Rich Ricci and see what he thinks about it,” Mullins says.

“But a lot will depend on the mare and how she is in herself. I definitely think the form she was in the other day I don’t think would cut the mustard in a Champion Hurdle. She might be better off going to the mares’ if she’s in that sort of form, but we’ll see.”

Then there’s Fact To File. Will he be supplemented for the Boodles Cheltenham Gold Cup? This is one decision that doesn’t rest with WPM though.

“It’s not like JP is an ordinary owner, he has so many other horses. Spillane’s Tower is one who can run in the Gold Cup with a live chance and still keep Fact To File in the Ryanair,” he muses.

“He’s been in the game longer than any of us here, he knows the ups and downs, ins and outs out of it so I’m going to respect what he says to me. We haven’t really spoken about it, I don’t think there’s any need to at this stage. They’re all within a few days of each other.

“I think a lot will depend on between now and then what horses turn up or are going to turn up and I think that will influence his decision later in the day rather than earlier in the day.

“I know sometimes he likes to make early decisions, but this is different I think.”

Willie Mullins in conversation ahead of the 2026 Cheltenham Festival (credit: Inpho Photography/The Jockey Club)

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“I think we were all a bit underwhelmed at Christmas and I asked Patrick about it but he said he had a look around coming down the hill and thought was going to win anyway so didn’t want to turn him upside down at the second last or the last and I said fair enough, hoping there was going to be more in the tank.

“But obviously there wasn’t. The first automatic thing you might think is was it the ground? It was very testing both days, but he looks the sort of horse who would want that sort of ground and be better in it.

“And then I think to myself are we missing something at home? We’ve put a lot of thought into the way we’re training and handling him and have made a couple of changes.

“I said to my team ‘we turned Vautour around in a few days and we have a whole month or five weeks to turn this guy around’. And that’s what we’re trying to do. We think he has the ability, and we just have to get that spark into him.”

There’s enthusiasm for the potential Sky Bet Supreme trio of Leader D’Allier, King Rasko Grey and Mighty Park. He likes Mighty Park.

“When Mark (Walsh) got off him after he won, he said he had a look around at the second last and couldn’t’ believe how far in front he was, going what he thought was a normal, slow, pace,” he recalls.

“So, he said his cruising speed must be huge and he’s a fantastic jumper. I’m thinking that puts him right in the mix here.”

What sort of prospect does he have on his hands then?

“First of all your gut tells you he has to be a helluva horse to do what he did. And listening to Mark when he got off him, he has huge natural ability. You’d look at him and probably think Turners but when you listen to Mark and saw what he did on the day, any horse that wins 38 lengths, you’re into sort of Faugheen territory.

“Those things don’t happen very often. From day one I’ve always thought he was good enough to win a Champion Bumper; that’s the sort of performances he was showing met at home.”

And then there’s Galopin Des Champs.

His bid to win a third successive Boodles Cheltenham Gold Cup was the headline topic on this day last year.

Now, after defeat behind Inowthewayurthinkin and two more at Leopardstown this season, the champ has become the contender.

Cheekpieces might go on next month and Mullins hasn’t given up hope of his ten-year-old become only the second horse to regain the crown in chasing’s blue riband.

“Galopin Des Champs had a very hard race at Christmas for his first run which I didn’t like but we had to do it. He had a nice race the other day, which was tough enough, but I just think maybe his Christmas race impacted a little on his finishing position that day.

“But he needed that and if the ground comes really right, as he gets older, he probably needs softer ground, that would be a big help to him. The horse himself is in good order.

“I think Hurricane Fly did it in the Champion Hurdle and I’m not sure that had ever been done before. He’s of an age where he is competitive and I think he still has the ability, but he’ll need a lot of luck.”

And will he have Paul Townend in the saddle?

We’re still waiting for the all the pieces to fall into place when it comes to the Gold Cup.

But Townend is here too, drinking a cappuccino and surrounded by journalists and their mobile phones.

And he’s asked, if Gaelic Warrior was to go for Gold for example, would it be impossible for the stable jockey to choose to ride him ahead of the horse who was a place behind him in the Paddy Power Irish Gold Cup but has already providing him with career-defining days?

“Nothing is impossible but it would be very hard. I don’t think Galopin is finished yet. I’m not saying I wouldn’t get off him but if I did and he went by me up the hill I’d need to be given a wide berth on the way home,” he says.

“Every decision, even if the betting is suggesting one horse is a much shorter price, in novice races or whatever, you still give it a lot of thought. That’s just how competitive we are, how much we want to win. Every decision is taken seriously.”

And Townend is still getting the feel that the two-time champion has the legs to run a big again.

“The Irish Gold Cup was a good race, we went a good gallop, and I thought Fact To File was very good on the day. Gaelic Warrior was very good too after probably overracing for the tempo we were going at. I thought it rode a proper race,” he says.

“And Galopin gave me a better feel than probably he did at Christmas. He gave me a better feel throughout the race; he was more alive. The rustiness from Christmas was probably gone but I suppose the last half mile was a little disappointing.

“But as Willie said he was afraid Christmas at three miles at that level had left a little mark on him. I suppose when you see what finished around him it was a little disappointing, but he put his head down and galloped to the line. And I actually got a good feel from him through the race.”

Young and old, champions and former champions, the Closutton armada is being readied to set sail.

Mullins insists he travels more in hope than expectation every year, that one winner is enough. But it’s the big ones he craves more than any other, the Unibet Champion Hurdle, BetMGM Champion Chase and Boodles Gold Cup.

Familiar names and a few fresh additions to the cast for those. It’s Cheltenham time.

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