Willie Mullins is a modern day jumps racing phenomenon, with the Closutton-based supremo currently the reigning champion trainer in both Britain and Ireland and several Champion Hurdlers to rule the sport over timber.
Champion Hurdlers: Willie Mullins 5 Greatest Cheltenham Festival Stars
The Irishman now has more than 100 winners at the Cheltenham Festival on his CV, with five of those coming in the Champion Hurdle. Here’s our look at the horses that have been crowned two-mile hurdles kings for Mullins in the Cotswolds.
Champion Hurdlers: Hurricane Fly (2011 & 2013)
Hurricane Fly was small in stature but big on ability. Flat-bred in France, he was a talking horse from the moment he joined the Mullins yard. He won his hurdles debut at Punchestown in May 2008 but his career was stop-start for a while after that, ensuring he didn’t make it to the Cotswolds until the 2011 Champion Hurdle. He was a multiple Grade 1 winner in Ireland by then and unbeaten in three starts that season, but he was allowed to go off 11/4 for the Champion Hurdle and Ruby Walsh brought him home in front of Peddlers Cross to win.
He was only third behind Rock On Ruby in 2012 but then became the first horse in 38 years to regain the Champion Hurdle title, as he defeated the champ a year later. All told, Hurricane Fly ran in five Champion Hurdles, with figures of 13143. He wasn’t perhaps at his very best in Cheltenham but the 22-time Grade 1 winner still managed to lift this crown twice and is revered as one of best two-mile hurdlers of the modern era.
Champion Hurdlers: Faugheen (2015)
By 2016 there was a new kid on the block, with Ruby Walsh siding with the seven-year-old Faugheen over Hurricane Fly in the Champion Hurdle. A Grade 1-winning novice at Cheltenham the previous season over timber, Faugheen had won the Christmas Hurdle at Kempton in late 2014 and earned the moniker ‘Faugheen The Machine’ for his reliable performances.
At Cheltenham, Walsh and Faugheen made every yard of the running and quickened clear of the field going to the final flight. Stablemate Arctic Fire chased in vain, while Hurricane Fly made it an incredible one-two-three in the race for Team Mullins.
Champion Hurdlers: Annie Power (2016)
A year later and an injury meant Faugheen was out of the Cheltenham Festival as Mullins drafted in ‘supersub’ Annie Power, also in the silks of Rich Ricci. She had of course suffered heartache 12 months before, coming down at the final flight in the Mares’ Hurdle when set to win in one of the most famous Festival tumbles of all time.
She had also been denied in the Stayers’ Hurdle by More Of That in 2014 but had her day in the sun under Walsh as she powered up the Cheltenham Hill to defeat My Tent Or Yours after making most of the running. There was no masking the delight from the winning jockey as they passed the post in front, the ultimate redemption in what proved to be Walsh’s fourth and final Champion Hurdle success.
Champion Hurdlers: State Man (2024)
A relatively dry spell for Mullins in the Champion Hurdle ended in 2024 when State Man and Paul Townend grabbed the prize. A remarkably consistent performer, State Man had only been beaten once for Mullins when completing, finishing second to Constitution Hill in the 2023 Champion Hurdle.
That Nicky Henderson-trained rival was ruled out by injury this time, however, and State Man wasn’t going to pass up a gilt-edged chance as he beat Irish Point into second spot.
By James Mason
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