Punchestown was a strange affair but thrilling nonetheless

Relentless Mullins makes history with record-breaking winners’ tally

Champion National Hunt Jockey Paul Townend and Champion Female Amateur Jockey Jody Townend celebrate with their trophies before racing on day five of the Punchestown Festival at Punchestown Racecourse in Kildare. Photo: Seb Daly/Sportsfile

Stormy Ireland, with Danny Mullins up, jumps the last on their way to winning the Coolmore Kew Gardens Irish EBF Mares Champion Hurdle at Punchestown. Photo by Seb Daly/Sportsfile

Champion National Hunt Jockey Paul Townend and Champion Female Amateur Jockey Jody Townend celebrate with their trophies before racing on day five of the Punchestown Festival at Punchestown Racecourse in Kildare. Photo: Seb Daly/Sportsfile

Stormy Ireland, with Danny Mullins up, jumps the last on their way to winning the Coolmore Kew Gardens Irish EBF Mares Champion Hurdle at Punchestown. Photo by Seb Daly/Sportsfile

Daragh Ó Conchúir

May 02 2021 02:30 AM

It was a strange week in Punchestown, with the thrilling action on the track making up for the lack of atmosphere off it.

Some potentially mouth-watering clashes whetted the appetite but the sparseness of what Willie Mullins had dubbed the Punchestown amphitheatre, made it difficult to get the revs up.

The late rally that brought Rachael Blackmore to within four of his tally of winners forced Paul Townend to pull out all the stops to tog out.

He hobbled into the parade ring on Tuesday, having been patched up and wearing exercise boots so that there was an extra cushion of support for his injured foot.

The highly-anticipated clash between Monkfish and Envoi Allen never materialised. The latter pulled up lame, while the former was unable to match the relentless gallop and brilliant jumping — until nearly taking the roots out of the last — of his Willie Mullins stablemate, Colreevy.

The trailblazing mare was signing off of a stellar career for owner-breeders Niall and Claire Flynn in foal to Walk In The Park, with Danny Mullins doing the steering for the first of two Grade 1s during the week.

That was a letdown for Townend and Blackmore, who was riding Envoi Allen. Matters improved for the champion, who only ever needed to keep the scoreboard ticking over. Chacun Pour Soi and Energumene were just two that did so in breathtaking fashion, to ensure a fourth title for their pilot, who also reached the century mark on Friday.

Their conditioner, Willie Mullins had a 15th championship in the bag from a long way out and proved relentless during the week, finishing up with a record-breaking tally of 19 winners, nine of which at the highest level.

What was very notable about this success was that 11 different riders were deployed in totting up that tally, for 15 individual owners ranging from ultra-wealthy patrons such as the Riccis and champion owner JP McManus, to owner-breeders like the Flynns and Eleanor Manning. The days of being over-reliant on anyone are long gone, having felt slightly exposed when Michael O’Leary withdrew 60 horses from the yard due to a disagreement over training fees five years ago.

Capodanno was an eye-catching victor for McManus and Mullins, becoming a remarkable 100th winner at the Punchestown Festival for the Limerick native, who got off the mark with this writer’s first favourite horse, Jack Of Trumps in 1978.

Patrick Mullins was deadlocked with Jamie Codd in the race for qualified riders’ honours at the beginning of the week but it was Mullins Jnr who had the artillery to cement a 13th crown, highlighted by Grade 1 successes on Echoes In Rain and Klassical Dream.

The level at which these nominal amateurs have been operating at is best illustrated by the fact that they finished sixth and seventh in the overall jockeys’ tables, at a strike rate far superior to any of their professional brethren.

If the organisers at Punchestown would have been offered the choice of two results, they would have plumped for Honeysuckle to retain her unbeaten record by bagging her third Champion Hurdle of the season for Blackmore and Henry de Bromhead, and for one of the British raiders to return across the Irish Sea with a chunk of change.

To that end, they must have been delighted. There were four English-trained winners, with Clan Des Obeaux benefiting from a really positive ride by Sam Twiston-Davies to see off Al Boum Photo in the Ladbrokes Punchestown Gold Cup. It was a fitting reward for supplementing the dual King George hero, who is a genuine champion. Not acting around Cheltenham doesn’t change that.

The palpable relief was not confined to rider and trainer after an underwhelming week to that point, when Honeysuckle responded to the challenge of Sharjah having decided that she had enough done approaching the last, to pull away and make it a perfect 12 on the track.

Eight of those triumphs have been at Grade 1 level and the brilliant mare displayed guts as well as class to put a smile on everyone’s faces.

Jessica Harrington has had her quietest jump season in a number of years as her flat numbers increase but Punchestown has long been a priority at Commonstown Stables, so it was no surprise to see her depart with three winners.

Perhaps the achievement of the week was that of Philip Rothwell in equalling Harrington’s tally. The Wicklow-based handler has had his string in very good form since the turn of the year and given his enthusiasm for the game through some lean times in the past, it would take a cold heart indeed not to be pleased for him.

There were winners too for Simon Torrens and Jody Townend, and they went on to collect their champion conditional and lady amateur riders, along with Mullins father and son, and Townend’s big brother Paul.