Willie Mullins column: Season reflections

We couldn’t even have dreamed of enjoying half the success we did last season. As one fellow said to me the other day, it was ‘outrageous’.

To win the two championships, the Grand National, Gold Cup and Champion Hurdle, plus all the other big races, way exceeded our expectations. It was a fantastic season.

Even though it was a wet autumn we didn’t really get going until around the Royal Bond meeting and then into Christmas. The momentum built up slowly but once we got it, every week the horses seemed to come into form – and stayed there right through the season.

Even at the end of the year we had horses putting in tremendous performances at Punchestown on their final starts.

We travelled our team more than in previous seasons, had more runners at Aintree, for example, and obviously sent horses to Sandown and Ayr, not meetings we’d had many runners at before over the years. Maybe that opens the door for more in the future and perhaps we should maybe think a little differently from now on in.

We were pleasantly surprised by all the goodwill we received on our trips across the water. People love seeing good horses running at their own tracks and showed their appreciation of that, which I found very pleasant. It was heartwarming to see that people just want to see good horses and viewed it that way rather than thinking of it as being the enemy coming over.

A second Randox Grand National win at Aintree was special and a big personal milestone for Paul Townend as he rode his first aboard I Am Maximus. I was delighted to see him get his name on the Aintree roll of honour – and for JP McManus ourselves as well. It’s a fantastic race to win.

Fact To File, Gaelic Warrior, Ballyburn, Mystical Power, Majborough, Kargese, we had so many good novices last season and it’s so exciting to see them going open company next season. They form the nucleus of what will hopefully be a formidable team for the new campaign.

Dancing City and Il Etait Temps won three Grade One races, and they’d be the toast of any smaller stable in either country, and are two more to really look forward to.

What a team of owners we have and I can’t thank our own staff here enough.

With the amount of travelling we did this year, they did brilliantly and produced the horses at Cheltenham and the other festivals so well. It all went seamlessly; everyone seems to know their job and they make our lives so much simpler and easier.

The way they take the responsibility and run with it makes it so much easier for Jackie and myself to arrive at the races and see everything is done – and done so well.

We’re always looking out for nice horses to add to the team and probably a few of the older ones might be retired to the paddocks so there’s constant change. This time of the year is all about letting down the winter team down to go out to grass which takes ten days to a fortnight to check them over and have a think about where they’re going next year before turning them out when the weather and grass both come right.

At the same time, you’re getting a summer team together to look forward to at Royal Ascot, Killarney, Galway and then onto Listowel and hopefully have something for York too.

Vauban and Daddy Long Legs would look like the two for Ascot at this stage. Absurde could go too but he’s been on the go for a long time and might deserve a little break and could come back later in the summer with a view to going to Australia again.

Vauban could join him there, and we’ll see what else qualifies as the summer goes on.

For the first time in years, we don’t have any runners at Auteuil next week. A lot of horses were very busy in the last couple of months of the season which wouldn’t normally happen. We’d usually have an eye on the races in France, but going for the British championship we used up a lot of our bullets, so we won’t be going to Auteuil this time.

A lot of plans for next season are there to be discussed and we look forward to meeting with our owners and weighing up the options for the likes of Ballyburn and Mystical Power. We’ll see what they want to do and what we feel will suit the horses best. It’s all there to play for.

Thanks to everyone who has read the column over the course of the season. It’s hard to think we’ll have as good a team for the next campaign, but if we have one nearly as good, well that would do very nicely and I’m really looking forward to it already.

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