Jockey in profile: Patrick Mullins

Saturday, 5th April 2025, was a huge day for the Mullins family, and it will live long in their memory. Willie Mullins, trainer of Grand National winner Nick Rockett, stated that it was the pinnacle for him and that day will never be topped.

That’s because his son and a key cog in the wheel of the Closutton training operation, Patrick, was on board the winner. Here, we take a detailed look at his profile and some of his biggest winners over the years as a leading amateur rider.

Background

Patrick Mullins is the son of Willie and Jackie Mullins and has had a long and distinguished career as an amateur jockey. Riding isn’t his only talent, as he’s an award-winning writer and plays a key role in his father’s training operation.

The County Carlow-based jockey has been the leading amateur rider in Ireland many times over and that’s in no small part due to the top-level ammunition he gets to ride.

The 35-year-old has a well-earned reputation as a shrewd judge and rarely gets it wrong when discussing his father’s many big race runners. Few people in the operation know the ropes as well as he does and that contributes to their many successes.

An amateur in name only, Mullins has proved himself time and time again at the top level and gave Gaelic Warrior a particularly astute ride in the Bowl at Aintree last week. No one was happier than Willie after the Grand National though, as his pride and euphoria was there for all to see on Saturday.

Mullins has set himself the task of riding a winner at every Jumps track in Britain and has come over for regular raids this season. As such, he has visited 17 British tracks so far, coming away with 15 winners.

Recent success

Three winners from five rides at Aintree is particularly impressive, especially as the three successes came in the Grand National, a Grade 2 bumper and a Grade 1 chase. It’s also worth noting that he has a strike rate of 50 per cent in the last fortnight (at the time of writing).

The Grand National is likely to be his crowning achievement in the saddle, and he gave Nick Rockett the perfect ride, especially because his stamina was all but guaranteed. Always travelling strongly, Mullins took up the lead when jumping the second-last and thought off the challenge of stablemate I Am Maximus well to score by two-and-a-half lengths.

Big race record

A haul of nine Cheltenham Festival winners isn’t bad for a man who tends to ride mostly in bumpers, amateur races and the yard’s third or fourth-string runners. He was on board 2024 Champion Bumper winner Jasmin De Vaux most recently.

He’s also no stranger to big race success in Ireland, having ridden plenty of Grade 1 winners in his native country. Mullins developed a particularly fruitful partnership with Sharjah, who won the Grade 1 December Festival Hurdle four times in a row between 2018 and 2021.

Irish trainers tend to prioritise amateur riders in bumpers and as such, Mullins gets the first pick. It’s therefore no surprise that he has won the Grade 1 bumper at the Punchestown Festival four times, most recently with Facile Vega in 2022.