Patrick Mullins reflects on the Cheltenham Festival and reveals his strongest Grand National fancy

It was a terrific week for the Mullins yard with father Willie collecting the top trainer award thanks to six wins including five Grade 1s, while Patrick rode Gaillard Du Mesnil to National Hunt Chase glory.

"To win the Gold Cup and the Champion Chase with Galopin Des Champs and Energumene, that’s half the pinnacle races so that was great," Patrick said on the Sporting Life Racing Podcast: 'Festival Fallout.'

"Then two brilliant novices like Impaire Et Passe and El Fabiolo coming through, that’s the future, while Lossiemouth and Gaillard Du Mesnil are two exciting horses as well.

"We brought 76 horses over this year and it’s a funny one, maybe without Galopin Des Champs winning we might have just hit the target which might sound a bit strange to say, but considering the quality and quantity of the team we bring over that’s probably where the standards and expectations are at."

Asked to pick out a horse for the rest of the spring Festivals, Patrick nominated Ballymore third Champ Kiely, who has Punchestown on the horizon.

He said: "I think Champ Kiely’s performance has to be hugely marked up. He hung to his right for the entire last lap and you can’t really see it on the replay, but at the first hurdle down the back he’s gone off out towards the car park, brought Hermes Allen with him and Impaire Et Passe followed him out, too.

"For him to hang like he did, Danny [Mullins] couldn’t ride a finish on him from the second last, and still finish third, I thought it was a huge performance. Back right-handed at Punchestown, he’ll be a player."

Before then it's the Randox Grand National Festival at Aintree and Patrick rode the two big Mullins hopefuls for the Grand National at Cheltenham - Gaillard Du Mesnil and Mr Incredible. But which one is a better fit for Liverpool?

"The worry with Gaillard Du Mesnil is we haven’t got anything up our sleeve, we’ve shown all our cards, but he’ll jump well, stay well and settle well, he’s a horse that will suit the race," Patrick said.

"He’ll get in with 11-1, which is a nice weight this year, but I think Mr Incredible might have more room for improvement.

"He starts a bit slowly but at least he starts, he was running on well down to the last, missed the last, but I think he was just starting to come to the end of his tether.

"I think the National will suit him.

"I think a big field is important to him, for him to be able to keep passing horses, be in amongst horses, and he gets in right at the bottom of the weights off 10-4, as a seven-year-old, unexposed, not a lot of runs, has big-field experience, he ticks an awful lot of boxes for the Grand National."

To listen to the podcast in full, where you can also hear Patrick discuss the whip rules amongst other subjects, just hit the play button via any of the platforms below.

Racing Podcast: Festival Fallout | Ben Linfoot is joined by Patrick Mullins, Ed Chamberlin, Graham Cunningham, Billy Nash and David Johnson to review the Cheltenham Festival including bets for Aintree and Cheltenham 2024.

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