Willie Mullins: ‘Cheltenham is my All-Ireland final’

It’s been a trying year for Willie Mullins, but the legendary trainer is still looking forward to the festival with his usual relish

Willie Mullins at his yard in Co Carlow with Gold Cup hopeful Djakadam Picture: Lorraine O’Sullivan

There is plenty of pre-match tension in the air at Willie Mullins’s famous yard in Closutton, Co Carlow. With just days to go to the first race in the Cheltenham Festival, there is much to be done and plenty still to be decided by the most successful racehorse trainer in Ireland.

An army of stablehands buzzes purposefully around the network of sheds, tending to the needs of some of the country’s most famous ...