Paddy Mullins: a brilliant trainer whose passing marks the end of an era

When I was a kid growing up with a huge interest in horses, there was one man you looked up to. That was Paddy Mullins. And as I grew older and competed internationally in eventing and became a trainer myself, that respect never lessened. If anything, it grew as you got to know him.

You always realised what a brilliant man Paddy was but reading the papers yesterday as they listed his achievements after his sad passing at the age of 91, I still found myself amazed.

Winning the Champion Stakes as far back as 1973 with Hurry Harriet and then winning the Irish Oaks 30 years later with Vintage Tipple, he seemed to be around forever.

Those achievements were remarkable of course given that he always concentrated on national hunt.

Dawn Run was amazing of course, winning the Champion Hurdle in 1984 and adding the Gold Cup two years later. She got killed afterwards in France but for fear of boring you with the repetition, that’s racing, and nobody would have known that better than Paddy.

I think it says a lot when you see that children are all involved in some way in horses, most of them in training, and they all live close to the family home. He and Maureen were married 56 years, which is some serious length of time to be together.

Paddy Mullins was a great man. He wasn’t a man of many words but he had a great sense of humour in his own way. It’s the end of an era in racing.

I wasn’t in Wexford on Sunday when racing was abandoned after three races due to the unsafe ground. It’s difficult for me to comment when I didn’t see it, but from what I have heard, the clerk of the course, Paddy Graffin made the right call.

It’s unfortunate but two horses had been killed and Paddy Kennedy was injured and it just had to happen in those circumstances. It’s bad enough risking the safety of the horses but you can’t risk the jockeys.

Apparently some people felt that racing should have gone on but if the ground was moved and drains were showing, it had to happen. I would support them to the hilt because you just can’t take these risks.

The reason I wasn’t there was because I was heading for the Horses in Training Sales in Newmarket. I took three horses and sold two, while the third will probably get sold anyway.

There were some very good prices got there. What you realise at sales like these is that there’s someone for every horse. There was an unbelievable market, with people from Quatar, Dubai, Saudi Arabia and the Middle East in general all buying horses. There were buyers too from Australia, America, Hong Kong and Singapore.

Then you had the national hunt market for big horses that will stay so it was a good four days of selling. There were a good few withdrawals but that was to be expected as entries closed early and people change their minds, horses get better or they get worse.

All the big trainers from Ireland were there or had representatives there: Jim Bolger, Aidan O’Brien, David Wachman, John Oxx. Trainers have to make space and cut their losses, to get a new batch in.

There was a Big Bad Bob that made €140,000 and by pure coincidence, I got the chance on Thursday to see him for the first time now that he has arrived at the National Stud. It was something I really wanted to do seeing as I’ve trained a good few of his progeny.

He’s a good looking horse, not black but very dark. He’s not overly-big but is very correct and has a good temperament. I would imagine he will do well there.

One of his offspring, Banksters’ Bonus runs in the Listed Stakes at Leopardstown tomorrow. He has improved a bit from that win in The Curragh on his debut a fortnight ago and on the basis of that run, he’s entitled to his chance. He should be reasonably fresh so we’ll see.

I’ll be in Cork because that’s where most of my runners will be and as some of them will be out for the first time, I really want to see how they go.

The ground is gone a bit against Just Moscow now, while Tango Knight will take his chance in the Grade 3 hurdle.

I’m really looking forward to Hume River in the Cork National. He seems in good form and has had a run so I’m hoping he’ll be fit enough. I’m really looking forward to seeing him run.

Magical Memoir is in the three-year-old hurdle and I’m hoping, for a good run from her too, while I’ve a nice filly in the bumper, Wood Lily. Thieving Gypsy was to run in that as well but we’ve had too much rain and Greenbelt Star was going to go to Leopardstown but won’t know for the same reason. He’s going for a rest now.

Today is a big day because The Bull Hayes runs in his first hurdle. Somethingdifferent is also in that race while No One Tells Me is running in her first chase. The Bull Hayes seems to jump very well at home anyway and has that bit of class about him so we’d be hoping for a good run, while No One Tells Me schooled very well in Punchestown during the week, as did Roberto Goldback.

I was delighted with my midweek runners.

Got Attitude showed plenty of attitude to get back up in Punchestown on Tuesday, while Saludos was running well before making a very bad mistake at the second last.

Bostons Angel finished second to Thegreatjohnbrowne and stayed on really well. He will end up being a three-mile chaser. I was delighted with Carpenter finishing third as well. He improved a lot on his previous one, jumping and travelling better.

Finally, Pathfork seems to be fine again after his little setback and it looks like he’ll finish the year as the highest rated two-year-old in Ireland, which is very exciting. He has done very well, has grown and has a lot of condition right now. I couldn’t be happier.