Ireland’s leading trainer, Willie Mullins, may be about to take his dominance to a whole new level. Following another impressive Cheltenham Festival, Mullins kept the good times rolling in spectacular style, courtesy of the magnificent success of I Am Maximus in the Grand National at Aintree.
Seeing an Irish runner land a major British pot was hardly a surprise. It was, however, a hugely significant result, with the £500,000 in first-place prize money hurtling Mullins to the head of the British Trainers’ table and on the cusp of becoming the first overseas winner of the British Trainers’ Championship since the great Vincent O’Brien in the 1953/54 season. Can anyone stop him?
Skelton and Nicholls Up for the Fight
17 times Irish Champion Trainer Mullins may have the lead, but is far from out of sight. Sitting in second place, £62,609 behind Mullins at the time of writing, is Dan Skelton, who, following a stellar campaign, may yet bag his first trainer’s title. A further £127,982 back in third position is Skelton’s former boss, Paul Nicholls, who has topped the British Champion Trainers’ table on no fewer than 14 occasions. Nicholls has also been here before, overcoming a deficit in the dying embers of the 2015/16 season to overhaul Mullins on the final day.
The Key Races
Nicholls and Skelton will almost certainly close the gap to Mullins at the run-of-the-mill midweek meetings, mainly because Mullins is unlikely to send any runners over for a Friday afternoon fixture at Fontwell. However, with the sums on offer at the smaller meetings amounting to relative peanuts, the title will most likely be decided by which of the trio fares best in the following events:
- Saturday 20 April, Ayr, Coral Scottish Grand National Handicap Chase – Total Prize Money: £200,000
- Saturday 20 April, Ayr, Coral Scottish Champion Hurdle – Total Prize Money: £100,000
- Saturday 27 April, Sandown, bet365 Celebration Chase – Total Prize Money: £170,000
- Saturday 27 Apil, Sandown, bet365 Gold Cup Handicap Chase – Total Prize Money: £170,000
- Saturday 27 April, Sandown, bet365 Novices’ Championship Final Handicap Hurdle – Total Prize Money: £100,000
Looking at the previous results of those contests would suggest that Paul Nicholls may be in with a live chance of pulling off a last-gasp victory. Nicholls has three wins in the Scottish Grand National, three in the Scottish Champion Hurdle, four in the bet365 Gold Cup, seven in the Celebration Chase, and two in the novice event. Dan Skelton’s total across all five races is one victory, which is one more than Willie Mullins.
Of course, rarely have Skelton or Mullins had the carrot of the British Trainers’ Championship so tantalisingly within reach. As such, the duo seem likely to unload the full extent of their arsenal at the Ayr Scottish Grand National Meeting and on the final day of the season at Sandown. As we have seen so often this season, when Mullins arrives all guns blazing, he is nigh on impossible to stop and a thrilling conclusion to the jumps campaign awaits.
