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Paddy Mullins died this morning aged 91. Dawn Run still the only horse to win both a Champion Hurdle and Gold Cup.
"…and the mare’s beginning to get up"
RIP
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A life well worth celebrating
RIP
Irish Grand National:
Vulpine (1967), Herring Gull (1968), Dim Wit (1972), Luska (1981)Galway Plate:
Boro Quarter (1986), The Gooser (1992), Nearly A Moose (2003)Champion Stakes (Newmarket):
Hurry Harriet (1973)Irish Oaks:
Vintage Tipple (2003)Cheltenham Festival:
Herring Gull (Sun Alliance Novices Chase 1968)
Counsel Cottage (Sun Alliance Novices Hurdle 1977)
Hazy Dawn (National Hunt Chase 1982)
Macks Friendly (National Hunt Chase 1984)
Dawn Run (Champion Hurdle 1984)
Dawn Run (Gold Cup 1984)Some trainer. There wouldn’t be enough time to add in what his sons, his daughter, his daughter in law and his grandsons have won – the greatest NH dynasty in Ireland.
RTÉ News tribute:
http://www.rte.ie/sport/racing/highlights.html?2844697,2844697,flash,255
I echo all of the sentiments here and on all racing sites.
Of course Dawn Run’s unique feat will for ever be associated with the great man (not to mention his "man management" of said mare’s owner!), however I would like to add a little uttered fact from the RP comments page which is that Hurry Harriet, the filly who arguably gave him most pleasure, was steered to victory over the legendary Allez France by
Jean Cruguet
– the veteran pilot who rode Seattle Slew to victory in the US Triple Crown – that great horse becoming the only winner of that prestigious honour to do so as an unbeaten horse (even the mighty Secretariat had been defeated prior to becoming the first colt since Citation in 1948 to bag the trio).
Irish Grand National:
Vulpine (1967), Herring Gull (1968), Dim Wit (1972), Luska (1981)Galway Plate:
Boro Quarter (1986), The Gooser (1992), Nearly A Moose (2003)Champion Stakes (Newmarket):
Hurry Harriet (1973)Irish Oaks:
Vintage Tipple (2003)Cheltenham Festival:
Herring Gull (Sun Alliance Novices Chase 1968)
Counsel Cottage (Sun Alliance Novices Hurdle 1977)
Hazy Dawn (National Hunt Chase 1982)
Macks Friendly (National Hunt Chase 1984)
Dawn Run (Champion Hurdle 1984)
Dawn Run (Gold Cup 1984)Some trainer. There wouldn’t be enough time to add in what his sons, his daughter, his daughter in law and his grandsons have won – the greatest NH dynasty in Ireland.
RTÉ News tribute:
http://www.rte.ie/sport/racing/highlights.html?2844697,2844697,flash,255
I was lucky enough to be at Cheltenham to see Dawn Run (86, btw) win the Gold Cup, had a few quid on as well.
RIP Paddy Mullins.
I wa there that day as well, incredible day, in the replay you can see my hat sailing up the air after JJ passes the winning post.
Paddy’s forbearance with difficult owners should also be mentioned. Any other owner and Dawn Cup would have won the next three Gold CupsA great man no doubting that at all. To train Dawn Run on the one hand and Hurry Harriet to beat the mighty Allez France in the Champion Stakes. that puts him up there with the best.
Jim Bolger put him in the same sentence as Vincent O’Brien, Paddy Prendegast and Tom Dreaper. Say no more really.
We use the word great or genius or legend so lightly these days when they are quite inappropriate, but in this case they can be rightly applied to Paddy Mullins the quiet legend of Irish Racing.
"Dawn Run, of course, ought to have been his crowning glory. But the mare’s celebrated heroics left Mullins somewhat cold. At the time his son Tony was stable jockey and Mullins was dismayed that before both of her epic Cheltenham victories Charmian Hill, Dawn Run’s owner, had insisted on replacing Tony with Jonjo O’Neill. Mullins never forgave her. "That woman," he would say in the few interviews he did, before pointedly referring to Hurry Harriet’s Champion Stakes victory in 1973 as his most treasured racing memory."(Irish Sunday Independent)
Paddy was a wonderful father and that was his only weakness as a trainer.I believe the golden rule is you should always employ the best jockey available in a group one race."That woman" paid him the highest compliment by having him train her great horse.If the truth were spoken she made the correct decision since the horse won both races under JJ. She also paid the bills.Why did he not just have her remove her horse from his yard and let someone else train the great horse.I just don’t understand it.Then again nobody is perfect I suppose.May they both rest in peace and race in harmony.
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