British trainers’ championship
When Willie Mullins won the British National Hunt trainers’ championship in 2023/24, he bridged a 70-year gap to Vincent O’Brien. The former master of Ballydoyle, the legendary Doctor O’Brien, became the first Irish-based National Hunt trainer to be crowned champion in Britain when he claimed the title in 1952/53, the year that he won the Cheltenham Gold Cup with Knock Hard and the Aintree Grand National with Early Mist, and, remarkably, he retained the title the following year, assisted not insignificantly by Royal Tan’s victory in the Grand National.
The magnitude of the legendary trainer’s achievement grew stronger with every year that passed after that. Wilie Mullins finished fifth in the British championship in 2018/19 and he finished fourth in 2019/20, helped in both seasons by the £351,688 that Al Boum Photo netted for winning the Cheltenham Gold Cup. Henry de Bromhead finished third in 2020/21, that remarkable season during which he won the Champion Hurdle with Honeysuckle and the Champion Chase with Put The Kettle On and the Gold Cup with Minella Indo, as well as the Grand National with Minella Times.
No trainer, British or Irish, had ever won those four races in the same season before, and still he finished only third in the championship, almost £950,000 behind the winner Paul Nicholls. Therein lies the arduousness of the task that faces Irish trainers, and therefore the magnitude of the achievement.
Willie Mullins finished fourth in the British National Hunt trainers’ championship in 2021/22 and he finished fourth again in 2022/23, almost £2 million behind the winner Paul Nicholls. And that was with six Cheltenham Festival winners, including Energumene in the Champion Chase and Galopin Des Champs in the Gold Cup. It was difficult to see then how Mullins could ever manoeuvre himself into a position from which he could challenge for the British title.
Even through the early stages of the 2023/24 campaign, it wasn’t really a consideration. By the end of November 2023, Willie Mullins had just £57,442 in the bag in Britain. Dan Skelton had £739,582. Even at the end of February 2024, just two months to go, Mullins had accumulated just £297,689, which left a gap of £1,458,111 between him and Skelton.
But Mullins had another hugely successful Cheltenham Festival that year, nine winners, including Galopin Des Champs in the Gold Cup and State Man in the Champion Hurdle, so that, by the end of March, he was within range, £1,914,789 to Skelton’s £2,586,011. He continued the momentum through April, through Aintree. Impaire Et Passe won the Aintree Hurdle and Dancing City won the Sefton Hurdle and Mystical Power won the Top Novices’ Hurdle and Il Etait Temps won the Manifesto Chase. Then, crucially, Mullins won the Grand National with I Am Maximus and added half a million.
Mullins saw out the season strongly too. He won the Scottish Grand National with Macdermott and he put the seal on it when he won the Bet365 Gold Cup with Minella Cocooner on the final day of the season, and bridged that 70-year gap to Vincent O’Brien.
It was a similar pattern last year. Mullins wasn’t mapped in Britain during the early throes of the season. At this stage last year, by the end of November, he had accumulated just £28,636. Dan Skelton had £1,222,329 in the bank. Again, even by the end of February, Mullins had netted just £178,859, while Dan Skelton had £2,374,630. Mullins was over £2 million behind.
It was only in March, once again, that Mullins got going in Britain. He had 10 winners at the Cheltenham Festival and banked £1,254,632 in total in March, and that was without winning the Champion Hurdle (State Man fell at the final flight when in front) or the Gold Cup or the Champion Chase or the Stayers’ Hurdle. Dan Skelton won £423,137 in March, so that reduced the gap to £1,364,276.
Mullins had a remarkable Aintree last season. Impaire Et Passe won the Manifesto Chase and Murcia won the Anniversary Hurdle and Gaelic Warrior won the Aintree Bowl and Lossiemouth won the Aintree Hurdle and Green Splendour won the bumper. Then there was that extraordinary Grand National in which he had the 1-2-3, the winner ridden by his son, and the fifth and the seventh as well. And he won the Scottish National again a week later with Captain Cody.
And even after all that, and even with Absurde and Emerald Poet winning at Plumpton and Kiss Will and Fun Fun Fun winning at Perth and Dysart Dolomite winning at Ayr, going into the final day of the season, Bet365 Gold Cup day at Sandown, Skelton was still £68,483 ahead.
Mullins had 21 runners at Sandown on the final day of the season, while Skelton had nine. The Irishman had the 1-2 in the Oaksey Chase, with Gaelic Warrior winning and Appreciate It chasing him home, and, when Il Etait Temps beat Jonbon in the Celebration Chase, in the third last race of the entire season, Mullins hit the front. A 2-3-4-5 in the Bet365 Gold Cup and Jump Allen’s victory in the concluding handicap hurdle put the seal on it.
This season is following a similar path to the path that each of the last two seasons followed. Skelton out in front, setting up a lead, Mullins remaining largely inactive in Britain. It’s a little bit different this season though. Skelton’s approach has been more targeted. Panic Attack’s victories in the Paddy Power Gold Cup and in the Coral Gold Cup were big contributors to a lucrative November for the trainer, his most lucrative month ever with a haul of £992,871. That left him on a total of £1,693,196 at the end of November. That’s £442,231 ahead of where he was at the same stage last year, crucially, with just 425 runners, as opposed to 482 last year. That’s an increase in prize money of over 35% with a reduction in the number of runners of over 11%.
Consequently, the odds about Dan Skelton landing his first title have shortened. From 4/5 or 5/6 in early October to 2/5 and 1/2 in mid-November, to around 2/7 now. And the odds about Mullins completing the hat-trick have been extended, from 6/4 and 2/1 out to 5/2 and 3/1 now. That may be an over-reaction. The disparity in their respective prices may be greater now than it should be, influenced, as they are, by recency. It shouldn't be surprising that the season is following a similar pattern to the pattern than it has followed for each of the last two seasons.
It's going to be fascinating to see how it pans out as we move more deeply into the season. It should be another intriguing battle between the two, a thread that could run as an undercurrent to the season all the way through Cheltenham and Aintree and beyond.
© The Sunday Times, 7th December 2025
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