State Man bags 10th Grade One to help Mullins to another staggering landmark
HE'S THE MAN: State Man and Paul Townend en route to winning the Boodles Champion Hurdle. Picture: Healy Racing
It hasn’t quite been the week of utter domination we anticipated for Willie Mullins but when that most reliable of conveyances, classy champion hurdler State Man, took the Grade One Boodles Champion Hurdle, Mullins joined Dermot Weld as the most successful trainer in the history of Irish racing. Thirty-five minutes later, 4,377 became 4,378 as Mullins took sole occupancy of the position with Ballyburn’s victory in the Grade One Alanna Homes Champion Novice Hurdle.
“It's tremendous to break Dermot Weld's record,” said Mullins. “Dermot is a super trainer, and broke lots of records. I’ll never do what he did. He pioneered going down to Australia, won the first Melbourne Cup (by a northern hemisphere trainer), and he won the Belmont Stakes, an American Triple Crown race. Anytime you can do something that Dermot did … I'm in very privileged company.
