Mullins at fever-pitch for King George
At the time he was still riding as an amateur, and the following season partnered his own Wither Or Witch to win the Cheltenham Bumper, a race he has continued to dominate.
A year on and Mullins sent his first superstar, Florida Pearl, to contest the Bumper, and one of Ireland’s most popular horses delivered the first Grade One of a stellar career.
The Closutton handler skipped hurdles with the giant Florida Pearl and went straight over fences with him, a decision rewarded with victory in what is now the RSA Chase at the Festival.
It was in 2000 that Mullins decided his stable star was mature enough to contest the King George VI Chase at Kempton, a year after his first appearance in the Gold Cup where he finished third behind See More Business.
Mullins had never been to Kempton before and was taken aback by the size of the Christmas fixture and while Florida Pearl travelled much the best, as he so often did in his races, he was second to the French raider First Gold.
The experience was not lost on him, though, as 12 months later, in the hands of Adrian Maguire, he beat none other than triple Cheltenham Gold Cup winner Best Mate in one of the most famous finishes to the great race.
Now Mullins returns with second-favourite Champagne Fever, and feels the experiences of Florida Pearl will stand him in good stead.
“I’d not been to Kempton before we took Florida Pearl and I was amazed with the reaction we got.
!In Ireland I don’t think we appreciate how big a race the King George is. It was like winning the Grand National, the reaction from people all over the world, it was absolutely huge so we’re looking forward to it,” said Mullins.
Champagne Fever is a dual Festival winner himself and was a nose away from winning a third Cheltenham contest in the Arkle when caught on the line.
That race was over two miles and while he won over two and a half on his return, his only experience over three miles, the distance of the William Hill King George VI Chase, came in a point-to-point in April 2011.
“We’re hoping going out in trip is good for Champagne Fever,” said Mullins. “Looking at the required statistics that have been needed in the past to win a King George which somebody mentioned recently, I think there were 11 parameters of which eight or nine were needed and I think our fellow qualified on just three. But then they also said Montjeus (Hurricane Fly’s sire) don’t win at Cheltenham.
“He’s up against it in terms of experience. It’s a fair question to ask a horse of his experience but we may as well run there. When we went with Florida Pearl we thought we were going to be very close but we learned a couple of valuable lessons which we were able to use the following year.
“We learned from Florida Pearl how to approach the race, tactics, travel, stable. You have to lose a final to win a final and we did that year.
“With Champagne Fever if things don’t go well we’ll know what to do next year if we need to go back.”
Since the Florida Pearl days Mullins’ career has sky-rocketed.
So powerful is his strength in depth that barely a week goes by without a runner in England and Champagne Fever will be joined on the ferry over to Kempton by the current ante-post Champion Hurdle favourite Faugheen, who will run in the William Hill-sponsored Christmas Hurdle.
With Grade One action also in Leopardstown and racing at Down Royal and Limerick over the festive period, too, Mullins’ yard will resemble organised chaos and it can be difficult for staff who are required to miss a family Christmas.
“It’s going to be tough over Christmas with horses going all over but the biggest problem is going to be availability of jockeys. We’ll have runners at Kempton, Leopardstown, Limerick and maybe even Down Royal,” said Mullins.
“The office can be a scary place if you’re not me but my staff look after everything when I’ve decided where they are going. I find it easier leaving it to them, if there’s a problem, then we sort it.
“Kempton is an easy enough trip for horses but it’s tough on staff who have to be away for Christmas. Barney (Clifford, Kempton’s clerk of the course) looks after them well, they get a Christmas dinner so he makes it good for them and in that respect we don’t have much of a problem getting people to go there.”
Faugheen faces the sharpest test of his career this week against Fighting Fifth winner Irving and Nicky Henderson’s improving handicapper Sign Of A Victory, and Mullins admits it was not until recently even he believed Faugheen to be a Champion Hurdle contender.
“The day we bought Faugheen we were looking at a novice chasing career. Whether he’ll jump a fence now or not I don’t know, that will depend on his next two runs. I wouldn’t have dreamt about Champion Hurdles when we bought him, though,” said Mullins.
“I think he has to achieve a lot before he should be the price he is for Cheltenham.
“He was fit, raw and scrawny in March and I was thinking can he have the strength for two-five at Cheltenham, he was just skin and bone whereas Vautour (Supreme Novices’ Hurdle winner) is just the apple of everyone’s eye and is an oil painting to look at. He was flawless at Cheltenham whereas the other guy (Faugheen) made some mistakes.
“If I had to take one home from last year I’m still a Vautour man.”
With Vautour now competing over fences, Mullins is in the enviable position of still having ample back up for Faugheen were anything to go wrong – none other than the great Hurricane Fly.
No other horse in history has won as many top-level races as him and you get the impression whatever the new crop in the yard go on to achieve, Hurricane Fly will always be Mullins’ favourite.
While he may be coming to the end of his career, he beat the current champion Jezki on his seasonal return and faces his old rival once more at Leopardstown over Christmas.
“No matter what Hurricane Fly is doing it is going to be tough to repeat what he has done for the last few years. If you were a betting man you’d say he’s not going to repeat it and that Faugheen is the one on the way up,” said Mullins.
“Hurricane Fly does his own thing on a morning as that seems to work well. He’s in great shape and he’ll take on Jezki again at Leopardstown. He loves Leopardstown. I haven’t anything to report on him other than good work and that it’s all going to plan.”
