Ruby Walsh: I was never more proud of knowing Willie Mullins than last Saturday

The three ‘D’s of life are what Willie calls them: decide, delegate and disappear. But that responsibility gives purpose to those you need to run a business like this so as the three who sit at the boardroom table recovered from the aftermath of their greatest day, the wheels kept turning

Ruby Walsh won with Papillon in 2000 and Patrick & Willie Mullins with Nick Rockett in 2025. File picture: Healy Racing

Eighteen horses meandered around Willie Mullins's yard before dawn on Thursday morning, waiting to file onto the horse boxes that would transport them to Scotland.

Gone was the excitement of the previous afternoon and evening when crowds gathered in Closutton and Leighlinbridge to celebrate Aintree and cheer the Grand National 1,2,3.