FEATURE PATRICK MULLINS MEETS DANNY MULLINS
one. Just got up on the line. And from there the ball started to get rolling again. Didn’t mean it was plain sailing. Suppose I was still… Willie was sharing out plenty of the rides, but at least I was performing on the big stage too. 26 DECEMBER 2021 TORNADO FLYER, KING GEORGE HELD UP IN MIDFIELD, BAD MISTAKE 1ST, STEADY HEADWAY, LED 2 OUT, RIDDEN OUT The stage doesn’t get much bigger than the King George. What are your memories surrounding that race? It was probably the earliest Willie had ever told me I’d be riding a horse! Because of the travel logistics at the time, I found out six days beforehand. Went over and sat on him on Christmas Eve, came back home for Christmas Day and flew back out St Stephen’s morning. I suppose he was down as a no-hoper and I remember having a chat with Ruby the week before because I knew I had a few good rides in Leopardstown the same day. I was chatting with Ruby about whether to go or not and he said to me, even if you win on all your rides in Leopardstown, are you going to be happy sitting there watching Tornado Flyer turn in with half a chance in the King George? I said no, I’d be up the wall! So he said ‘there’s your answer’. I picked up a spare ride for Milton Harris and won on that, too. John Ryan had a horse I could have ridden that won in Leopardstown, and in the interview after, John said he couldn’t believe I had gone to Kempton rather than ride his horse. Twenty minutes later Tornado Flyer won the King George! You went back over again on New Year’s Day for Stormy Ireland in Cheltenham. She has been very good to me. She’s a mare I loved riding. The other horse fell
While Danny won the Paddy Power Stayers’ Hurdle, Patrick had a busy Festival too, winning the St James’s Place Festival Open Hunters’ Chase on Billaway
7 NOVEMBER 2021 FLOORING PORTER, LISMULLEN HURDLE RAN KEENLY, STILL LEADING WHEN FELL 2 OUT Flooring Porter is your flagship horse. But his season started badly when he fell at Navan. Did you get up from that thinking you might lose the ride on him? In fairness, no. Gavin was solid and the lads who own him were all very disappointed on the day but they never faltered. They said we’ll go on to Christmas and have a go there. He was very much wound-up that day, even going to the start. He rushed the start, then ran on his nerves and ran off a few of the bends. Still, he was unlucky to fall.
upsides me at the last, but I wasn’t just beaten yet. It wasn’t as big a race as the King George, but any time I won on Stormy Ireland I got a good kick out of it. Obviously, that meeting isn’t as big a profile as March, but it’s still… no matter what meeting you go to at Cheltenham, it’s very busy and with it being a feature race on ITV, it’s very important. And for me and my career going forward, to be able to win on two of the days during the Christmas period in England, it helps me raise my profile over there. You never know when a good spare is going to pop up – that’s how I got on Flooring Porter as a spare ride, and just to be performing in front of all the English trainers as well – who knows down the road where that could open up an avenue for me.
“That was as wild as I’ve ever seen. Even looking back now it was a bit surreal”
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