'She loved her racing': Willie Mullins pays tribute to his late mother Maureen

Trainer Willie Mullins with his mother Maureen in 2017. File Picture Brian Lawless/PA Wire.

Champion horse trainer Willie Mullins has said that his mother's absence from the Cheltenham Festival was his "only disappointment" from from this past week.

His mother, Maureen Mullins, a frequent attendee of races involving her son, died following a short illness last month. She was 94. 

With nine winners at this week's festival, Willie Mullins now has 103 Cheltenham wins to his name.

His 100th win came with on Wednesday, when his son Patrick rode Jasmin De Vaux to victory in the Weatherbys Champion Bumper.

Mr Mullins said his late mother would surely have been proud of him and Patrick this week.

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"There was no-one to ring up after racing. That was my only disappointment of the week," he said. 

"She loved her racing, loved meeting people, going to Tramore, to Thurles, going to Cheltenham - they were all the same to her.

"In the car, I'd ring her up: 'Do you want to go racing?'. 'Give me five minutes.' Hat, bag, coat, lipstick, boots, and away. She'd be ready.

"It was hugely important in her life," he said.

Mr Mullins told  Sunday with Miriam that, when he brought his mother to Punchestown for a day, post-Covid lockdown, she excitedly told him she wished to attend all the other days of the festival.

"It showed my how important racing can be in people's lives, socially."

Asked what might be behind his many successes at Cheltenham over the years, Mr Mullins credited the people he has around him.

"Myself and Jackie are in the business for years, our son Patrick, he's been brought up in it. David Casey, with us 25 years, Ruby Walsh started his career here - they're all the people in the yard, not to talk of the managers, barn managers and head people, Ben Delmar ... the experience they have behind them, you can't go out and hire that experience or buy it."

"Everyone is working their own way, I just let them get on with it."

Mr Mullins said that his team have had some fantastic victories since his first Cheltenham win in 1995. However, he said that his son's victory on My Cousin Vinny was among the most special.

"Putting your own son up to ride a winner in Cheltenham was a big moment for myself and Jackie."