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Dominance is What Elite Sport is All About

The growing supremacy of the Willie Mullins stable in National Hunt racing begs the question: is it damaging anybody or anything?

Dominance is the raison d'etre of elite sport. When Rafa Nadal was winning 14 French Open tennis titles it never entered his head that what he was doing might be harmful to the game. Manchester City won't be thinking that five Premier League title wins in six seasons is quite enough, thank you very much, and that to make it six in seven would be detrimental. If you're preaching against reigns and dynasties, you might as well chastise the tide for going in and out.

But the issue raised by the Mullins operation's brilliant scouting and training of jump racers isn't about his right to annex the sport. The small flares of disquiet relate more to the effect it might have on public enjoyment, other trainers and owners, betting turnover and the sport's profile at a time when National Hunt racing is bedevilled by small fields and worrying economic indicators.

Let's lay out the stats.

Mullins is even money to train more winners at this year's Cheltenham Festival than Great Britain (one trainer versus a whole country)
He has 14 ante-post favourites for the 28 races at next month's meeting.
At the recent Dublin Racing Festival he won all eight Grade 1 races and saddled 29 of the 48 Grade 1 runners
Ten of the last 13 Cheltenham Festival leading trainer's titles have made their way back to his base in County Carlow
Entries for this year's Supreme, Ballymore, Albert Bartlett and Triumph revealed a total of 80 names from the Mullins yard

Nobody disputes the skill (and wealth) required to spot, buy, train and deliver horses capable of overwhelming Henry de Bromhead, Nicky Henderson, Paul Nicholls and Gordon Elliott. Henderson, it should be said, has the best horse in National Hunt training – Constitution Hill. The Mullins numbers are powerless to negate that reality. The hard part is knowing when success becomes weaponised – and starts to do harm.

Dissenting voices are few. Richard Johnson, the former champion jockey, is an admirer of Mullins, but sounded an ominous note in a recent discussion with BoyleSports bookmakers. Johnson said: “It definitely is not good for racing. It is not good for competitive sport. When you are looking at the racing at Dublin last weekend people were saying Irish racing is so strong. It's not Irish racing. It's Willie Mullins who is so strong.”

Johnson's belief that Mullins is distorting the Anglo-Irish balance of power is contradicted by this year's Grand National entries. Astonishingly: 61 of the 94 are trained in Ireland (54 was the previous high).

Another part of Johnson's lament is the repetitive nature of the storyline, which you could also sometimes diagnose in Flat racing, with Aidan O'Brien and Coolmore. “Looking at more of the same isn't great and doesn't encourage new people into our sport,” Johnson said.

Is this true? Plenty on the other side point to Tiger Woods and Usain Bolt and ask whether interest dipped when golf and Olympics sprinting felt like pageants.

In his Daily Mail column at the weekend, ITV Racing's Ed Chamberlin wrote: “Of course, true sport relies on competition but does the might of Mullins threaten to ruin Cheltenham? Not for one second. The archetypal racegoer to Cheltenham, or ITV viewer, simply wants a good time and a bet, especially an each-way one.”

Evidence to prove an exodus by punters put-off by odds-on favourites constantly 'going in' for Mullins would be hard to find, given the other possible socio-economic explanations for betting turnover fluctuations. And so far rival trainers are understandably wary of graffitiing the Mullins legend with accusations of unfairness.

Mullins is only six short of a century of Cheltenham Festival winners and we can expect the 100 to be reached next month at a course where, in 2022, he won a record 10 of the 28 races. Having 29 of the 86 entries for the Baring Bingham Novices' Hurdle is only one illustration of his power to swarm the biggest targets.

In football and other team sports, when a trophy is being raised and the tickertape is falling, a journalistic reflex prompts us to ask: is this the start of a dynasty, should everyone else panic, is a new age of dominance upon us? With Liverpool in the 1970s and 80s – yes. With Manchester United subsequently – yes. With Manchester City now – yes.

Often dominance entrances us. Sometimes it suggests imbalance, repetition, staleness, even injustice, if money is the real dominating force. The shadow debate in jump racing around the Mullins numbers hasn't shed much light on the effect on other good yards of owners taking the easy option of sending horses to Closutton, or on the polarisation of wealth in National Hunt racing, or whether racegoers and punters care who saddled the winner.

One thing, we know: being too polite to even discuss those aspects is a quiet form of harm.

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‘Start Of A New Legacy’ – Jetara Bids To Do Outstanding Family Proud At DRF

Gerry McGrath, breeder of Champion Hurdler Jezki (Ire) (Milan {GB}) and high-class performers Jett (Ire) (Flemensfirth), Jered (Ire) (Presenting {GB}), Jetson (Ire) (Oscar {Ire}) and Jenari (Ire) (Milan {GB}) all out of the outstanding broodmare La Noire (Ire) (Phardante {Fr}), has outlined hopes that the legacy can continue with leading Dublin Racing Festival contender Jetara (Ire) (Walk In The Park {Ire}).

A granddaughter of La Noire, the mare who was famously gifted to McGrath by his late father in the nineties, Jetara will take on the boys in the G1 Nathaniel Lacy & Partners Solicitors Novice Hurdle on Saturday and will arrive at Leopardstown in the form of her life after posting three wins on the trot.

It was in 2020 when McGrath, 72, decided to offer the majority of his breeding and racing stock as part of a dispersal at Tattersalls Ireland. All bar the first foals out of each broodmare he owned were offered under the hammer and, once again, lady luck was on the breeder's side with the now Grade 1 aspirant Jetara one of the fillies he decided to retain.

McGrath joked, “It's hard to get out of this game! It was a couple of years ago when Michael O'Leary said he was getting out but he still has plenty of horses. Basically, Jetara is the start of a new legacy, isn't she? If she stays safe, she is going to continue on the line.”

There is a common theme with McGrath's horses. They all begin with the letter J and, for the most part, they have been trained by Jessica Harrington.

McGrath may well have felt that the final chapters of his famous association with the La Noire family had been written after the dispersal of less than four years ago which makes Jetara's emergence as a top-notch prospect all the sweeter.

“I hope that the best may still be to come with Jetara,” he explained. “She was superb in a Grade 3 at Leopardstown the last day and Jessica says that she will be even better on a nicer surface. We will see how Saturday goes but we will probably skip Cheltenham and target Fairyhouse and Punchestown, although that will be Jessica's decision.”

He added on his association with Harrington, “She is fantastic. Jessica is straight-talking and you know exactly where you stand with her. She always does the best she can by you and, what she has gone through last year, she is as strong as an ox. Nothing keeps her down.”

What makes McGrath's achievements even more mind-boggling is the fact that, prior to being gifted the amazing foundation mare La Noire, he had no knowledge about breeding or racing horses. Nobody could accuse him for being asleep at the wheel with Jezki's memorable Champion Hurdle performance in the colours of JP McManus last decade put forward as an obvious highlight.

He said, “Jezki winning the Champion Hurdle was an amazing day. And it's funny, you know, everybody knows the horse but they don't know his name. They call him jet ski. He was named after my daughters Kim and Zoe. So, as usual, we start off with the J, and added in the Z for Zoe and the K for Kim.”

It may be common practice in some jurisdictions for a horse's name to begin with a certain letter depending on when they were born. However, in this case, the naming of the steeds is once again down to nothing but pure superstition.

McGrath explained, “Well, the mother was La Noire, which translates to black, and I just thought when you think of black, you think jet black. The first one beginning with the letter J was successful and, given we are a very superstitious crowd, we kept it going.”

He added, “I wasn't born into horses. My Dad was big into the breeding but he used to give away the fillies and race the boys. I was out helping him in the yard one day and he told me he was about to give La Noire away but asked me if I wanted her first. It was purely timing, otherwise somebody else would have owned La Noire. I hadn't a clue about breeding but learned as I went along. I knew what I had and I knew what I hoped to produce. One and one doesn't always make two and, even when you think you have the perfect formula, it doesn't work that way with breeding. But luck has been on our side. La Noire was so prolific. I must also say that Coolmore have been a great help to me.”

Having carried McGrath's colours for the early stages of his career, Jezki was sold to JP McManus, for whom he sported the famous green and gold hoops of the legendary owner when out-battling My Tent Or Yours (Ire) (Desert Prince {Ire}) in the 2014 Champion Hurdle. Similarly to Jezki, two more siblings, Jenari and Jered, were sold mid-career to McManus, and McGrath revealed that Jetara will probably change hands at some point in the near future such is the need to keep the wheels turning.

He said, “Jetara reminds me so much of Jezki. The way she jumps and travels is similar to him and, you know, she's probably a roomier mare to La Noire so she should make a very good broodmare down the line. I don't have an interest in breeding anymore so, if somebody does come in for this filly, there is a likelihood that she will be sold. It has to make some business sense.”

He added, “When we had the dispersal, I decided to keep the first foal out of each of the mares. I kept Jetara in the hope that she'd be good and thank God that luck has been on my side again. We also have Jekiki (Ire) (Soldier Of Fortune {Ire}) in training. She is out of Jeree (Ire) (Flemensfirth), who hasn't produced anything of note yet, but she has a lovely four-year-old by Order Of St George (Ire) who is in Jessica's and is apparently showing the right signs. Do you want to know what he is going to be called? Jerrari. Like Ferrari, only with a J in front of it. Now, he's not red, but hopefully he's as fast as one!”

It's not just the naming of McGrath's horses that have captured the imagination down through the years. His bright orange colours, which can be seen from outer space, are just as synonymous as the names.

“I am a bit of an artist so I drew up some blank colours and started colouring them in to see what worked. Orange and black works nicely so, when it came to getting the colours made up, I had two types of orange to choose from. I went with the bright fluorescent orange. You can see the colours through the fog.

“But it's funny, they say racing is the sport of kings. Well what town in Ireland do you associate kings with? Tara. Say no more!”

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Bumper Catalogue For The Tattersalls Ireland Derby Sale

A total of 416 stores have been chosen for the Tattersalls Ireland 2023 Derby Sale, set to take place June 28-29 at Fairyhouse, the sales company announced on Tuesday. All horses catalogued for the Derby Sale are eligible for the 2024 €100,000 Tattersalls Ireland George Mernagh Memorial Sales Bumper.

The Derby Sale achieved more winners at the Dublin Racing Festival, Cheltenham Festival and Aintree Festival than any other store sale again this year and has claimed 12 Grade 1s in 2023.

“Exceptional doesn't come close to what we have on offer at this year's Derby Sale,” Simon Kerins, CEO of Tattersalls Ireland, said. “Our team have worked tirelessly with vendors to handpick the best individuals with pedigrees to match, resulting in an outstanding line-up of superior National Hunt prospects–a catalogue that is unparalleled in quality.”

The catalogue is now available to view online.

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“I Never Realised A Jumps Filly Could Be Worth So Much,” – Lossiemouth’s Breeder

Ian Kellit, the joint-breeder of Lossiemouth (Fr), a short-priced Triumph Hurdle favourite who is expected to extend her unbeaten record to four for Willie Mullins and Paul Townend at the Dublin Racing Festival on Saturday, has revealed that he was totally unaware that a jumps filly could be so valuable before the gorgeous grey came along.

Lossiemouth bolted up in the Prix Geographie Hurdle at Auteuil for Yannick Fouin on debut, at which time she was part-owned by Kellit, the Scottish native who has resided in France for over 30 years.

While Kellit has sold many good horses back to Britain and Ireland, he never managed to make any money from a filly; that was before Lossiemouth, who he describes as “a bit of a life-changer,” came into his life.

Kellit said, “I was back in the UK when she won on debut at Auteuil but Nicolas Madame, my racing partner, phoned me after the race to tell me that his phone hadn't stopped ringing ever since she crossed the line in front. We thought she'd run well. But did we think she'd do what she did? I don't think so.

“I never realised that a jumps filly could be worth so much money, simply because we had never sold one for big money before. She could be a bit of a life-changer.”

The dream could well have been over before it ever began for Kellit and his crew as Lossiemouth went through the sales ring at Arqana back in November 2020. Thankfully for Kellit, Lossiemouth, who he bred from bargain mare Mariner's Light (Fr), was led out unsold at €14,000 before selling for multiples of that figure to Rich Ricci, for whom she is a warm order to land the G1 Spring Juvenile Hurdle at Leopardstown on Saturday.

Kellit recalls, “She went with Yannick Fouin with two or three others but Yannick got pretty excited about Lossiemouth from about January last year. The vibes started to get really good from there. He went straight for the Prix Geographie and off she went–luckily Jeremy Da Silva managed to stay on after she jumped to the left at the last and she went on to win 10 lengths.

“We've got Springcroft (Fr), the half-sister to Lossiemouth, and we are looking at sending her to a much more fashionable stallion this year for obvious reasons. Before Lossiemouth came on the scene, we were wondering about breeding from her again but now we definitely will. It's such a long game. It's a bit like wine. You start with an idea and it's not until four or five years down the line where you can see what you've got.”

He added, “The tendency has been to sell the males and keep the females. Lossiemouth is the outlier. She is probably the first female that we sold–the rest were more or less given away.

“We've bred a few black-type horses, including Tocca Ferro (Fr) and Le Bec (Fr), who did well for Emma Lavelle. That goes back the best part of 20 years. We also owned a good Martaline (GB) mare, Martalette (Fr), who won a Grade 3 at Auteuil but Lossiemouth is the best of them.”

Mariner's Light has turned out to be Kellit's shrewdest investment yet and she didn't cost a whole pile either. That's because her Group 1-winning brother Lord Glitters (Fr) had yet to appear on the page when Kellit acquired her.

Kellit said, “Nicolas had a share in Mariner's Light with Yannick Fouin while she was racing. When they retired her from racing, they asked if I wanted to pick her up, which I did for next to nothing. Nobody knew about her half-brother Lord Glitters back then so the page became a lot more interesting after I bought into her.

“She produced a few before Lossiemouth, but this is the first decent horse that Mariner's Light has bred. She's not in foal this year but she's going to go back to see Great Pretender this year. It seems like it could be a good idea!”

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