Category: Trainers and Owners

How many times has Willie Mullins been leading trainer at the Cheltenham Festival?

William Peter ‘Willie’ Mullins is, of course, the son of Paddy Mullins, the legendary trainer best remembered for saddling Dawn Run to win the Champion Hurdle in 1984 and the Cheltenham Gold Cup in 1986. Indeed, Willie Mullins worked as assistant trainer to his father and another Irish giant, Coolcullen handler Jim Bolger, before taking out a training licence in his own right in 1988.

Willie Mullins followed in his father’s footsteps by winning the Irish National Hunt Trainers’ Championship for the first time in 2000/01. He has been the perennial Irish champion trainer since 2007/08 and, at the time of writing, tops the table once again in 2021/22, with over €581,000 in hand of his nearest rival, Gordon Elliott.

As far as the Cheltenham Festival is concerned, Mullins saddled his first winner, Tourist Attraction, in the Supreme Novices’ Hurdle in 1995 and has since become the most successful trainer in the history of the March showpiece, with 78 winners. Outright, he is the leading trainer in the history of the Supreme Novices’ Hurdle, David Nicholson Mares’ Hurdle, Broadway Novices’ Chase, Champion Bumper, Ryanair Chase, Dawn Run Mares’ Novices’ Hurdle, Martin Conditional Jockeys’ Handicap Hurdle and Golden Miller Novices’ Chase. Mullins is also, jointly, the leading trainer in the history of the County Handicap Hurdle. Mullins has won the leading trainer award at the Cheltenham Festival eight times, including the last three in a row, in 2019, 2020 and 2021.

Who was Alex Scott?

Who was Alex Scott? The late Alexander ‘Alex’ Scott was a racehorse trainer, who was shot dead by William Clement ‘Clem’ O’Brien, a groom at the Glebe Stud in Cheveley, Newmarket, on September 30, 1994. O’Brien was already employed at Glebe Stud when Scott bought the property in 1992, but developed a ‘deep resentment’ for his new employer. Following an argument during which he told Scott he could ‘stuff his job’, O’Brien lured him to a barn, where he shot him once with a single-barreled shotgun. Scott was just 34 years old. In July, 1995, O’Brien was sentenced to life imprisonment for the murder.

Formerly a successful point-to-point jockey, Scott served as assistant trainer to Peter Calver, Harry Thomson Jones and Dick Hern before setting up on his own at Oak Stables in Newmarket in 1989. Following the retirement of Olivier Douieb, on health grounds, Scott was recruited by Maktoum al Maktoum and success soon followed. That summer, he saddled Cadeaux Genereux, owned by Maktoum al Maktoum, to win the July Cup at Newmarket and the Nunthorpe Stakes at York.

In 1991, Scott hit the headlines again by saddling Sheikh Albadou to win the Breeders’ Cup Sprint at Churchill Downs, Kentucky. At the time of his death, Scott also had Lammtarra, who was, at the time, a promising, once-raced two-year-old, in his care. Of course, Lammtarra went on to win the Derby, King George and Queen Elizabeth Stakes and Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe to finish his career unbeaten. All told, Scott trained 164 winners.

Which horse was Sheikh Mohammed’s first British Classic winner?

Of course, Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Emir of Dubai, has owned numerous British Classic winners. They have either borne his own maroon and white silks, which were first registered in 1977, or the royal blue silks of Godolphin, which began its international operation in 1994. The first of them was, in fact, Oh So Sharp who, in 1985, just came out best in a three-way photograph with Al Bahathri and Bella Colora in the 2,000 Guineas at Newmarket, winning by a short head and the same. For the record, the first British Classic winner in Godolphin colours was Balanchine who, in 1994, won the Oaks at Epsom, having previously been beaten the minimum margin in the 1,000 Guineas at Newmarket.

Trained by Henry, later Sir Henry, Cecil and ridden throughout her 3-year-old campaign by Steve Cauthen, Oh So Sharp went on to find further fame by completing the Fillies’ Triple Crown. Sent off 6/4 favourite for the Oaks, she won easily, by six lengths. Two defeats, by Petoski in the King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes at Ascot and by Commanche Run in what is now the Juddmonte International Stakes at York, followed, but Oh So Sharp was still sent off 8/11 favourite for the St. Leger at Doncaster in September. She could never quite shake off the attentions of her stable companion Lanfranco or Phardante, but won by three-quarters of a length and a head to preserve her place in history.

How many female trainers have won the Cheltenham Gold Cup?

How many female trainers have won the Cheltenham Gold Cup? The short answer is three, although those three female trainers are actually responsible for six Cheltenham Gold Cup victories between them. Jenny Pitman, who had already made history by becoming the first woman to saddle a Grand National winner in 1983, wasted no time when repeating the dose in the Cheltenham Gold Cup in 1984, courtesy of Burrough Hill Lad. She also won the ‘Blue Riband’ event again in 1991, with Garrison Savannah, ridden by her son, Mark.

Just over a decade later, in the wake of an outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease, which caused the 2001 Cheltenham Festival to be abandoned, Henrietta Knight saddled Best Mate to a notable hat-trick in the Cheltenham Gold Cup in 2002, 2003 and 2004. He became the first horse since the legendary Arkle, 38 years earlier, to win the race three years running.

Last, but by no means least, Irish trainer Jessica Harrington saddled Sizing John to win the Cheltenham Gold Cup in 2017. Mrs. Harrington, 70, was having her first runner in the race and later joked about ‘beginner’s luck’, despite having previously won the Queen Mother Champion Chase (twice) and the Champion Hurdle.

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