Jump Trainer of the Year

JUMP

TRAINER of the Year

HENRY DE BROMHEAD EMMET MULLINS

WILLIE MULLINS PAUL NICHOLLS

JUMP TRAINER OF THE YEAR by Alan Sweetman THE NOMINATIONS

HENRY DE BROMHEAD

Having rewritten the record books in 2021, when becoming the first trainer to win the Champion Hurdle, the Queen Mother Champion Chase, the Cheltenham Gold Cup and the Grand National in the same year, Henry de Bromhead again made us delve into the chronicles of jump racing in the 2021-22 season.

In order to find precedent for his feat in retaining both the Champion Hurdle and the Cheltenham Gold Cup, one had to go all the way back to 1950, to the days of Vincent O’Brien, Cottage Rake and Hatton’s Grace. Honeysuckle arrived at Cheltenham defending not only her crown but an unbeaten record that had stretched to 14 after a third consecutive victory in the Hatton’s Grace at Fairyhouse and likewise a hat-trick in the Irish Champion Hurdle at Leopardstown. She defeated the 2020 winner Epatante with little or no fuss and went on to Punchestown where she had to work just a little harder to extend the sequence to 16. A Plus Tard, runner-up to Minella Indo in the 2021 Gold Cup, began the season by routing a strong field in the Betfair Chase at Haydock in November. A short head defeat in the Savills Chase at Leopardstown’s Christmas meeting was an unexpected reverse, but De Bromhead produced him in perfect condition for the Festival. He turned the tables on Minella Indo in devastating fashion, drawing clear to score by 15 lengths, enabling Rachael Blackmore to deliver another shattering blow to the glass ceiling as the first woman to win jump racing’s premier race. One of the highlights of RTE’s between-races coverage of last season’s Punchestown festival was a lively chat between presenter Brian Gleeson and Henry and Heather de Bromhead’s young son Jack. A cheerful little segment, it is now suffused with unthinkable poignancy.

EMMET MULLINS

A fifth Irish-trained triumph in the Grand National in the past six editions was not a surprise, but it was astonishing that it was executed by 31-year-old Emmet Mullins with a horse who had run over fences for the first time only six months previously.

The seven-year-old Noble Yeats was the first horse of his age to win the National since Bogskar in 1940, and the first amateurridden victor since 1990. A bumper and maiden hurdle winner, Noble Yeats made a winning debut over fences at Galway in October 2021. Mullins then set about giving him experience against more seasoned opponents. For a while, this bold strategy seemed to backfire, his jumping not up to scratch at times. A fine second to Ahoy Senor in the Grade 2 Towton Novices’ Chase at Wetherby in February provided reassurance, before a less auspicious display when down the field in the Ultima Handicap Chase at Cheltenham, with Sam WaleyCohen aboard for the first time. Just over three weeks later, equipped with cheekpieces and sent off at 50-1, Noble Yeats settled into a good rhythm at Aintree and was well placed behind the leaders when the field reached the Canal Turn for the second time. Disputing at the second-last, he lost a little momentum over the final fence before getting the better of a duel with the Ted Walsh-trained Any Second Now on the run-in. It was a brilliant training performance, aided and abetted by WaleyCohen, who drew on a wealth of experience of the famous fences on the final ride of a distinguished career. Training since 2016, and with a first Cheltenham festival success on the board courtesy of The Shunter in the 2021 Paddy Power Plate, Mullins has cultivated an unobtrusive persona reminiscent of his grandfather Paddy, noted for his reticence and an aversion to publicity. It will be hard for him to avoid the limelight from now on.

WILLIE MULLINS

During the final two months of 2021, Willie Mullins won five Grade 1 races, and yet by the end of the season, even a win as prestigious as that achieved by 28-1 shot Tornado Flyer in the King George at Kempton was relegated to the status of a footnote in the context of a triumphant campaign.

At home, Mullins was crowned champion jumps trainer for the 16th time after a Punchestown festival during which he won nine of the 12 Grade 1 races, adding to a six-winner Grade 1 haul at the Dublin Racing Festival. But the strongest indicator of the stable’s current strength came at Cheltenham where he saddled a record-breaking ten winners, including five on an amazing final day. Success came over a broad spectrum of Festival races, Grade 1 wins for rising stars Sir Gerhard, Facile Vega, Vauban and The Nice Guy, and for established chasers Energumene, Allaho, and the mare Elimay, the National Hunt Chase with Stattler, and the County Hurdle with State Man who graduated to Grade 1 honours at Punchestown. For good measure, Billaway won the hunter chase championship. Galopin Des Champs, desperately unlucky when falling at the last with the Turner Novices’ Chase at his mercy, powered to victory at Fairyhouse. He can be rated the most exciting prospect in a cohort of novice chasers that included four other Grade 1 winners, Blue Lord, Capodanno, Ferny Hollow and Gentleman Du Mee, It all adds up to a formidable array of jumping talent for the trainer who has led the way in tilting jump racing’s balance of power in Ireland’s favour in recent times.

PAUL NICHOLLS

Paul Nicholls maintained his domination of the domestic scene in Britain, as he added a 13th Trainers’ Championship in 2021/22, taking him within two of Martin Pipe’s record of 15. Just as for many of his recent titles, he showed how astute he is at placing his horses to best advantage.

The yard didn’t send out a single Cheltenham Festival winner and there were only two Grade 1 victories after the start of the year – Clan des Obeaux in the Bowl at Aintree and Greaneteen in the Celebration Chase at Sandown – but in small-field conditions races, in which places are well rewarded, the stable was so often in there for a share of the pie. A standout example: Nicholls’ fourth biggest earner on the season was Hitman, who didn’t win a single race, but who claimed over a hundred grand for four placed efforts. The gap between Paul and Nicky Henderson was a little over £100k on winnings but over £500k when place money is included. Paul has made an excellent start to the 2022/23 season, with total prize money over a million pounds gathered in well before the end of November, with the stable’s runners striking at a rate of one in three. Notable wins so far include another for Greaneteen, in the Haldon Gold Cup, one for the magnificent Frodon, in the Badger Beer, and two valuable strikes over hurdles for Knappers Hill. At the time of writing his lead over his former assistant Dan Skelton is only just over £140,000 and Nicky Henderson is finding his stride, but Paul Nicholls looks well placed to get one closer to the record in 2022/23.