BARRY CONNELL knew at the age of three he wanted to be a jockey. The thundering sound on the turf, the unbridled joy of the winner’s enclosure and the bookies’ fluctuating prices had always captivated him.

Tony and Willie Mullins, the two trainer sons of legendary Irish handler Paddy, today revealed that they intend to respectively run The Posh Paddy and Euro Leader in the Betfair Open Bumper at Cheltenham on Sunday.