'Extraordinary' - Mullins domination underlined by Punchestown performance

Willie Mullins holds the balance of power in jumps racing in both Britain and Ireland and, once more, the Closutton powerhouse underscored his position with an utterly dominant Punchestown Festival to sign off the season.

Here we're taking a look at the Mullins highlights and performances from Punchestown.

The Closutton Oscars

Punchestown is like the Oscars for Mullins and his team, with their superiority and season-long standout performances recognised among their peers.

Mullins was officially crowned Ireland's champion trainer for the 19th time, while for the second year in a row, he is top of the pile in Britain as well after seeing off a gallant Dan Skelton.

On home soil, Mullins reached a double century of individual winners and almost €5.5m in prize money, leaving Gordon Elliott to finish runner-up in the Irish trainers' championship for a 13th time.

In the jockeys' standings, the trophies were also handed out to Team Closutton.

Paul Townend is champion jockey for a seventh time, Grand National winner Patrick Mullins, closing in on 900 career winners, is champion amateur for a 17th time and Champion Bumper winning rider Jody Townend is top lady rider again.

The Mullins machine remains well-oiled and it seems nobody has the power to put it off the road.

Start as you mean to go on

In the opening Grade 1 at Punchestown, the KPMG Champion Novice Hurdle, Mullins saddled a 1-2-3-4 as Irancy won for owner JP McManus under Mark Walsh.

It wasn't the result the bookmakers expected, with Grade 1 winners Salvator Mundi and Kopek Des Bordes going off too fast in front and succumbing as Irancy and Walsh powered home to win.

Mullins had the first four home, all for different owners, and the powerhouse trainer is well noted for allowing his riders to run their races on merit. He admitted he was as intrigued as anyone looking on.

"I think Salvator Mundi just ran too free and that was a big help to Irancy. They were going some lick coming down the hill and Paul, knowing how good Salvator Mundi is, couldn't let him out of his sight. It was extraordinary watching the two of them in front," he said.

"We think Irancy and Karbau are good horses too and they looked like they were riding for third and fourth, yet when they came to the fourth-last it looked like the whole race could switch and they could be first and second. I was as fascinated as everybody else watching it."

Dominating across the board

Mullins saddled no less than 15 winners across the five days at Punchestown, nine of them coming at Grade 1 level.

His best day was Wednesday, with five winners, and there was at least one Grade 1 success on each day of the meeting.

It was another stunning Punchestown Festival for the Mullins operation and yet more evidence that he shows no signs of slowing down.

Galopin Des Champs and State Man claim big prizes

Galopin Des Champs was 0-2 in the Punchestown Gold Cup previous to lining up in Wednesday's showpiece but his Punchestown torturer Fastorslow wasn't present this time and neither was Inothewayurthinkin, the horse that denied him a Cheltenham Gold Cup treble last month.

With just three rivals to conquer, Paul Townend set off in front and he broke the will of that trio a long way from home in a relentless effort from a true champion in Galopin Des Champs.

State Man won his third Boodles Champion Hurdle on day four, atoning for his final-flight fall at Cheltenham in March as he put Cotswolds scorer Golden Ace in her place.

There were standout Graded wins for the likes of Final Demand, Jade De Grugy, Dinoblue and Jasmine Des Vaux, while Bambino Fever completed the Cheltenham/Punchestown Champion Bumper double and looks a star of the future.