Willie Mullins talks Cheltenham at the Bagenal: 'He hammered them and that was a huge run'

As we returned to the Bagenal on Wednesday morning, we were set to meet jockey Paul Townend and trainer Willie Mullins as they were there to talk to the press, under the lights of Racing TV and Sky Sports, about the Cheltenham Festival.

Paul Townend

Paul Townend was in high spirits and, when asked about the possible predicament of choosing between Gaelic Warrior or Galopin Des Champs in the Cheltenham Gold Cup, he responded with this: “Nothing is impossible, but it would be very hard to get off Galopin. I don't think he is finished yet.

“I'm not saying I would never get off him, but if I got off him and he came by me up the hill in a Gold Cup, I would keep a wide berth from me on the plane on the way home, that's for sure!"

It was also great to see the gleaming smile that he gave when speaking about fan-favourite Kopek Des Bordes and how great a horse he has been for the connections.

"The owners are a great bunch and they enjoy it so much, and they’re not afraid to show how much they enjoy it.

“He’s a horse of a lifetime for them. Charlie (McCarthy) has been in racing a long time looking for one like him, and he’s going to enjoy it now he has it.

“He’s an exciting horse and you’d definitely rather have him than have to take him on."

I mentioned the mare Bambino Fever that could go down in the history books for the Townend family, as sister Jody rode Bambino Fever to Cheltenham Festival glory last season and he was positive that she can go and improve even further.

“I definitely think that she could improve from Naas. She wasn’t beaten by something ordinary that day; she was beaten by a good mare who has gone on and run well since. But I was happy with her in Fairyhouse. I think she can improve again.”

Willie Mullins

We then went into the room with Willie Mullins and everyone gathered around in a circle, and for over an hour he talked through all the horses.

My two main takeaways from the day were Love Sign D'Aunou, who he described as a big beautiful horse: "That was a huge performance. I always love horses that can win at those big metropolitan tracks over Christmas or just after it by over 10 lengths. It was a deep enough race as well. He hammered them and that was a huge run"

And the next one was Mighty Park. "When Mark got off him, 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 just a normal, slow pace. He said his cruising speed must be huge. He’s a fantastic jumper and that puts him right in the mix.

"He has to be a hell of a horse to do what he did. Any horse who wins by 38 lengths, you’re into sort of Faugheen-type territory and those things don’t happen very often.”

He’s a firm believer that Anzadam can get back to his best and that there’s a couple of little more things that he wants to do, but overall, despite the difficulty of the weather that has faced Ireland this year, he has confidence that his 113 Cheltenham Festival winners can improve again and that he can build on that number.

He spoke about the seriousness with which Cheltenham needs to be looked at, where he described:

“People go and ask me, Willie, will it be six this year? Will it be seven this year? We go over to Cheltenham and all we want is one winner. Once you have one winner it’s great, and anything above that is a bonus.”

It was a brilliant two days down in Carlow, where you are meeting the top people in the racing world, and it’s also great just to see them sometimes outside of the racecourse to really get a feeling and get opinions from them.

Once again, as someone who’s trying to make their way in the game, days like these are invaluable, as you have the best in the business on the track, and the rest around you to give you little tips and to tell you what to include when you’re writing.

A brilliant game, horse racing

I feel privileged to be a part of it.