Danny Mullins celebrates on Tullow Tank at Fairyhouse earlier this month.
INPHO/Morgan Treacy
Horse Racing
Danny Mullins hoping he's in for a big Christmas
“It’s going to be a very hectic and exciting few weeks ahead and I know that I am blessed that I have the opportunity to partner some of the best horses currently in training.”
DANNY MULLINS HAS one of the best jobs in National Hunt Racing. The former flat jockey is currently retained by the highly-successful businessman and prominent Irish based owner Barry Connell, as his number one rider.
Mullins was born in to one of the most famous racing dynasties in the country. His grandfather Paddy Mullins is a member of the Irish racing Hall Of Fame, while his uncle Willie is one of the most successful trainers this country has ever produced. His father Tony will always be associated with the wonder mare Dawn Run, whom he rode to victory on many an occasion. Danny’s parents train horses successfully and two of his cousins, Patrick and Emmett Mullins, are also leading jockeys.
“I am in a very fortunate position riding for Barry Connell. He has some very exciting horses in training for the season. I am looking forward to riding Our Conor in the Ryanair Hurdle at Leopardstown over the Christmas Holidays. It’s going to be a thrilling contest with the possibility of My Tent Or Yours and Jezki lining up and of course Hurricane Fly,” he says.
“I feel that Hurricane Fly will be the one that we all have to beat and it will be extremely difficult to do so. Our Conor has bags of talent which he showed to great effect when landing last season’s Triumph Hurdle in jaw dropping style” said Mullins.
Advertisement
Like so many of the current crop of riding stars , Mullins learned his craft on pony racing circuit, racking up an impressive 126 winners. The young rider left school at the age of 15 and signed on as an apprentice with one of the world’s leading flat trainers, Jim Bolger.
Bolger has mentored some of the biggest names in the sport over the past few decades. The likes of Tony McCoy and Paul Carberry benefited greatly from the “master of Coolcullen” in the early stages of their careers and it was Bolger who supplied Mullins with his first victory inside the rails shortly after he celebrated his 16th birthday.
“My biggest winner on the flat was on the Barry Connell owned Rock and Roll Kid at Galway in 2009. I was very lucky to be riding for such a power house in the sport at a very young age and to have enjoyed some big race success over the past few seasons. I won the Kerry National aboard Faltering Fullback for Eric McNamara and last year I was victorious in the Ulster National with the Philip Fenton trained Pineau De Re who is also owned by Barry.”
Looking forward to the busy Christmas period Danny has a good book of rides lined up.
“I expect Mount Benbulben to put up a great show in the King George on Stephen’s day. I fell off him the last day but if I manage to keep the partnership intact he should be involved in the business end of the famous race.
“I won the Royal Bond Grade 1 Chase recently with the tough performer The Tullow Tank and he will be heading to another Graded contest at Leopardstown over Christmas and should run a big race.”
“Also Ted Walsh’s Foxrock will step up to Graded status at Leopadstown. This fella is an exciting prospect and should go close”, said the 21 year old.
Mullins believes that the racing industry as a whole is on the way up. He feels that the likes of his boss along with JP McManus and Rich Ricci are doing wonders for the sport on account of the large amounts of money they are investing in horses every year.
“The big owners are paying healthy amounts of money to small owners and trainers for the horses. Without them there wouldn’t be that much cash around in the sport. Barry’s magnificent gesture of donating all of Our Conor’s prize money this season to the JT McNamara and Jonjo Bright rehabilitation fund is very generous, but it also raises public awareness in the sport”.
“It’s going to be a very hectic and exciting few weeks ahead and I know that I am blessed that I have the opportunity to partner some of the best horses currently in training,” he says.
Danny Mullins hoping he's in for a big Christmas
Horse racing news brought to you in association with GallopsLive.com
DANNY MULLINS HAS one of the best jobs in National Hunt Racing. The former flat jockey is currently retained by the highly-successful businessman and prominent Irish based owner Barry Connell, as his number one rider.
Mullins was born in to one of the most famous racing dynasties in the country. His grandfather Paddy Mullins is a member of the Irish racing Hall Of Fame, while his uncle Willie is one of the most successful trainers this country has ever produced. His father Tony will always be associated with the wonder mare Dawn Run, whom he rode to victory on many an occasion. Danny’s parents train horses successfully and two of his cousins, Patrick and Emmett Mullins, are also leading jockeys.
“I am in a very fortunate position riding for Barry Connell. He has some very exciting horses in training for the season. I am looking forward to riding Our Conor in the Ryanair Hurdle at Leopardstown over the Christmas Holidays. It’s going to be a thrilling contest with the possibility of My Tent Or Yours and Jezki lining up and of course Hurricane Fly,” he says.
“I feel that Hurricane Fly will be the one that we all have to beat and it will be extremely difficult to do so. Our Conor has bags of talent which he showed to great effect when landing last season’s Triumph Hurdle in jaw dropping style” said Mullins.
Like so many of the current crop of riding stars , Mullins learned his craft on pony racing circuit, racking up an impressive 126 winners. The young rider left school at the age of 15 and signed on as an apprentice with one of the world’s leading flat trainers, Jim Bolger.
Bolger has mentored some of the biggest names in the sport over the past few decades. The likes of Tony McCoy and Paul Carberry benefited greatly from the “master of Coolcullen” in the early stages of their careers and it was Bolger who supplied Mullins with his first victory inside the rails shortly after he celebrated his 16th birthday.
Looking forward to the busy Christmas period Danny has a good book of rides lined up.
“I expect Mount Benbulben to put up a great show in the King George on Stephen’s day. I fell off him the last day but if I manage to keep the partnership intact he should be involved in the business end of the famous race.
“I won the Royal Bond Grade 1 Chase recently with the tough performer The Tullow Tank and he will be heading to another Graded contest at Leopardstown over Christmas and should run a big race.”
“Also Ted Walsh’s Foxrock will step up to Graded status at Leopadstown. This fella is an exciting prospect and should go close”, said the 21 year old.
Mullins believes that the racing industry as a whole is on the way up. He feels that the likes of his boss along with JP McManus and Rich Ricci are doing wonders for the sport on account of the large amounts of money they are investing in horses every year.
“The big owners are paying healthy amounts of money to small owners and trainers for the horses. Without them there wouldn’t be that much cash around in the sport. Barry’s magnificent gesture of donating all of Our Conor’s prize money this season to the JT McNamara and Jonjo Bright rehabilitation fund is very generous, but it also raises public awareness in the sport”.
“It’s going to be a very hectic and exciting few weeks ahead and I know that I am blessed that I have the opportunity to partner some of the best horses currently in training,” he says.
- Danny Mullins
West Cork woman makes debut in Australian legends football league
The Super Bowl could be moved to a Saturday if the weather is really bad
To embed this post, copy the code below on your site
Horse Racing national hunt racing