Willie Mullins will no longer train horses for Michael O'Leary's Gigginstown House Stud after failing to reach agreement over training fees.
Mullins has trained a number of top racehorses for the Ryanair chief executive, including the current crop of Apple's Jade, Don Poli and Blow By Blow. A total of 40 Gigginstown horses raced for Mullins last season and it is thought the stable has up to 60 this term.
But Mullins told The Irish Field this morning that Gigginstown had decided to remove its horses after the trainer raised his training fees.
"We're parting company – it's basically over fees, I imagine. I put up my fees for the first time in 10 years and Gigginstown chose not to pay them. That's it, we're just parting company," he told the racing publication .
They've been very good to us over the years, they've bought some fantastic horses and there's a fantastic team of horses going to whoever is going to get them, I don't know where they are going to go."
"It's only been in the last few hours this has come about. I wish them the best, it's the way it is, we move on.
Gigginstown, which is managed by O'Leary's brother and racing manager Eddie, confirmed it had been unable to reach agreement with Mullins on the increase in training fees.
"We have agreed – with considerable regret – to move the Gigginstown horses to alternative trainers for the coming 2016/17 season," the stud said in a statement issued to RTÉ Sport. "Gigginstown wishes to sincerely thank Willie and all the team at Closutton for the many grade one races we have won together over the past seven years.
"We hope that an agreement can be reached at some time in the future which will allow Willie to resume buying and training more graded winners for us.