Mick Fitzgerald: This is only the beginning of the journey for Emmet Mullins
A TRAINER GOING PLACES: Emmet Mullins has been in fine form in the build-up to Cheltenham and his impressive strike in England makes him worthy of huge respect.
Everybody loves a trend for Cheltenham and trainers in form is what lots of punters latch on to when ruminating on where to put their money down.
At the time of writing (March 2021), Emmet Mullins had saddled four winners from his previous eight runners, which is a pretty impressive strike rate.
Add to the mix the fact that he has made his trips to the UK pay with three out of four landing the spoils, and it suddenly starts to add up.
A year later, Noble Yeats, a horse trained by Mullins won the Grand National at Aintree.
The surname is familiar, of course, and given the impact he has made since swapping a jockey’s licence for a trainer’s one, it will not surprise anybody who doesn’t know that he is a nephew of Willie Mullins, the long-time Irish champion and the most successful handler in the history of the Cheltenham Festival.
Emmet’s dad, George booted home a few winners himself as an amateur rider but his prime contribution to the equine industries was in the development of a thriving business transporting horses. His green lorries will be familiar to many, and they will be carrying the battalions sent forth by his brother Willie from Closutton.
Emmet, who is based just across the road from his uncle, is no stranger to the winner’s enclosure at Cheltenham himself, having ridden Sir Des Champs to victory there in the Martin Pipe Conditionals Jockeys’ Handicap Hurdle for his uncle in 2011.
When asked to recall that magic moment, his memory was crystal clear. The excitement of riding one with a chance for Willie. The build-up.
And then that walk!
This is when you share the success with all the punters that have backed your horse, soak in the goodwill and just try to take it all in. You feel on top of the world making that slow return from the track, past the throngs, down into the winner’s enclosure.
It is a blissful moment, one you want to play in your head, every time you feel a little low.
Asking Emmet to put himself back in that moment, you could hear the tone of his voice change.
He talked about how he milked that walk back for every millisecond he could along with Jack Madden, who led Sir Des Champs up. The pair are good friends, who travelled to Australia together but that is a couple of minutes they will never tire of talking about and will stay with them forever.
He was always battling his weight, however, and when the rides dried up, Willie asked him to take some horses abroad for him. It was a major responsibility as he travelled to Japan and Australia, but it was role he revelled in.
His role in having Blackstairmountain in peak condition to win the Nakayama Grand Jump in Japan cannot be downplayed and he described it as an amazing experience. What is notable is that he also said that he enjoyed the responsibility of being in charge of horses preparing to run in big races.
He learned valuable lessons about horse care and training methods in his conversations with Willie around this time. The subtle things that Willie asked him to do and little details he was asked to attend to registered in him a respect for a man who is a master of his craft.
After returning home, he won the three-mile graded race for novice hurdlers on Faugheen at Limerick over Christmas. Around the same time, he and his cousin Patrick bought Black Hercules. After the son of Heron Island won his point-to-point in Dromahane, he was sold to Graham Wylie at a handsome profit and went on, too, to become a Cheltenham Festival winner when scoring in the JLT Novices’ Chase.
Living across the road from Willie means you are in a good position to learn from the best. But how do you compete with the best when you start training?
“I have from the start enjoyed the sourcing of horses and got just as big a kick out of buying horses at the sales as youngsters and then selling them when they have won, it is satisfying to have your judgement proved right,” he says.
He went to Keeneland and bought yearlings in 2017. One of them, Ducketts Grove, won a maiden in Cork and was sold to race in Britain. “I built my gallop with the proceeds from that,” he reveals.
Always willing to think outside the box — who does that remind you of? — he even ventured out to Japan to buy some more horses. One of those, Fujimoto Flyer finished second in a graded race at Kempton and duly won a Listed contest in Auteuil that summer.
Meanwhile, King Of The Throne represented him in the Irish Derby last summer, with none other than Rachael Blackmore in the saddle.
This is a young man who is not afraid to back his judgment with his own cash.
Now 31, he is meticulous in his approach, whether it is managing to buy talented stock relatively cheaply or finding good opportunities to race.
He won the premier pre-Christmas handicap for two-mile hurdlers in Britain, the Greatwood Hurdle at Cheltenham with The Shunter in November. He ran over fences subsequently, finishing a close third in only his fifth start over the larger obstacles at the Dublin Racing Festival.
Next up was the Morebattle Hurdle in Kelso, with a £100,000 bonus to the winner if able to follow-up with victory at Cheltenham. Despite going up seven pounds for his Cheltenham win, he battled on stoutly to claim the £46,000 first prize and put himself in with a shout of a very juicy bonus.
This has been a well-thought-out plan, and, to date, has been executed just as well.
The Shunter was given five entries at Cheltenham — nothing was being left to chance. Little wonder he submits that training a winner at racing’s Mecca would rank above riding one.
When he says Sneaky Getaway has an each-way chance in the Coral Cup, it’s probably worth taking note.
This is an ambitious young man. He has 28 horses in his care and is intent on getting the best out of all of them.
I may be a little late to the party but it feels like this is only the beginning of the journey for Emmet Mullins.
