Whilst most sports are now moving to develop and promote their women’s game independently of the men’s, racing has the rare distinction of allowing both sexes to compete directly against one another.

The majority of jockeys are male, but there has been breakthrough after breakthrough in the women’s ranks and responsible for much of that progress is the great talent of Hollie Doyle.

Doyle is not just a supreme female jockey, but a leading rider regardless of gender and is one of only a handful of jockeys to enjoy a retained role as the go-to for Imad Al Sagar’s Blue Diamond Stud.

It is aboard their star mare Nashwa that she has enjoyed great success in recent seasons, winning three Group Ones and collecting several placings at the top level in a career that looks set to continue when the Flat season really starts next month.

John and Thady Gosden train Nashwa but Doyle is the stable jockey for Archie Watson, for whom she has registered countless victories aboard big names such as Glen Shiel, Outbox and last year’s Royal Ascot scorer Bradsell.

With a stable jockey position and a retainer, Doyle could be expected to take only a limited book of outside rides, but her CV proves she is in demand whenever available and she is the rider associated with Alan King’s top stayer Trueshan.

Her status would also grant her the right to sit out the lower quality meetings and choose not to travel the length and breadth of the country for all-weather rides, but Doyle is arguably one of the hardest-working riders in the weighing room and took just shy of 800 rides last year in Britain alone.

During the window that determines the British Flat jockeys’ championship, she rode 89 winners last season, finishing fifth behind William Buick, Oisin Murphy, Rossa Ryan and her husband, Tom Marquand.

In addition to that, she has plied her trade in almost every significant racing jurisdiction that exists and last year brought home prize money from Japan, France, Germany, Sweden and Italy – something she does not take for granted.

“I get loads of support from everyone and it’s really nice to feel that I have such an open book of trainers that are willing to use me,” she said.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Hollie Doyle (@holliedoyle7)

“It is great to have the association I have with Imad Al Sagar and it’s even better that Nashwa is in training for another year, and that’s something to look forward to for the season ahead already.

“I’m really lucky, I’m attached to Archie’s stable and always busy in that regard, he has a nice team of horses to go forward with.

“I’ve been riding all around the world, I did a stint in Japan and I thoroughly enjoyed that – it’s something I’ll be hoping to do a lot more of.

“It’s great as it’s always hard to go to a new jurisdiction and pick up some good rides, you have to take it all in and adapt to the style of racing riding there.”

Hayley Turner broke many barriers at a time when there was some reluctance to use female jockeys, with her success then paving the way for younger riders like Doyle.

“Hayley was a massive trailblazer for everyone, especially when I was young and she was really at the peak of her career,” she said.

“She definitely carved out a path and that’s had an impact on us all.”

Managing director of the Netball Super League Claire Nelson hopes netball can “capitalise on this moment for women’s sport” as it strives for professionalisation.

England Netball announced last year that the Super League will be relaunched in 2025 with the vision of clubs playing in bigger venues, enhancing live and TV audience experience and providing closer competition.

Professionalisation will also aim to provide “advancements in the elite environment to ensure players can choose and experience rewarding careers in netball”.

Nelson was appointed to her role in April last year having previously worked for Netball Scotland and Strathclyde Sirens and hopes netball can “capitalise” on its moment.

She told the PA news agency: “We have some amazing targets. We talk about our 10-year strategy, but we want to win golds on the world stage at World Cups and we want to build the most competitive, commercially vibrant, captivating league in the world.

“When you look at what we have as foundations, they’re so good and everything we’re doing now is to actually capitalise on this moment for women’s sport, but more importantly for our sport.

“This is a moment for netball, our bounce back post-COVID has seen us absolutely smashing our participation and membership numbers – we’re a big sport.

“We’ve now got this professionalisation opportunity where we can go into bigger arenas and take our sport to more households.”

The Super League is already three games into the 2024 season ahead of next year’s relaunch and Severn Stars and Manchester Thunder are the only unbeaten teams, sitting three points ahead of defending champions Loughborough Lightning.

The sport’s professionalisation ambitions follow in the footsteps of other women’s sports which are continuing to flourish at the highest level and Nelson believes netball is the “biggest untapped opportunity”.

“For me, netball’s the biggest untapped opportunity in women’s sport bar none,” she added.

“We’re in this moment where women’s sport is front and centre, so people are wanting to see, to experience, to consume, to support women’s sport.

“Then what we bring to the table is the opportunity to blank canvas, create this product which actually is an intersect from what happens on a court to what’s happening digitally and how we can become more lifestyle and music and fashion and entertainment, how we can unlock the talent potential in our athletes and tell their stories.”

Domestic professionalisation can only be helped by England’s Vitality Roses, who continue to enjoy success on the international stage.

The Roses earned an historic gold medal at the 2018 Commonwealth Games on the Gold Coast in a dramatic final against Australia and they finished third in the World Cup on home soil in 2019.

More recently, England took silver in their maiden World Cup final appearance in South Africa last year and Nelson believes the Roses are the “pinnacle” of England Netball’s aims.

She said: “This is the beauty of what we do here at England Netball, we’ve got the whole sport, we’ve got international, we’re going to have professional domestic and then we’ve got grassroots and community.

“All of these should be integrated and they should be complementary and that’s what we’re trying to build – this ecosystem of a sport where everyone can enjoy their experience and thrive in it, but the Roses are absolutely the pinnacle.

“I have to get the best performance programme and competition in the Super League because that is going to ensure that we have Roses success on the world stage. Roses success on the world stage makes people want to show up and support.

“It’s all interconnected and it’s all complementary, it makes my job a whole lot easier when we have great performances from these incredible athletes on the world stage.”

The Grand National remains the world’s most famous race and on International Women’s Day, a woman stands proudly at the helm in Liverpool.

Sulekha Varma was appointed clerk of the course at Aintree in 2019 after gaining years of experience in the racing industry.

As a teenager, Varma went on a work experience placement at the yard of dual Grand National-winning trainer Lucinda Russell. Upon graduation from Edinburgh University she gained a place on the British Horseracing Authority Development Programme, during which she spent time on the news desk at the Racing Post.

After returning to Russell’s yard as racing secretary and working for the Arabian Racing Organisation, Varma then began to take the first steps towards her current career with a trainee role at the Jockey Club that led to spells at Market Rasen, Nottingham, Warwick, Huntingdon and then Hamilton Park.

That experience stood Varma in good stead when the role of clerk of the course at Aintree became vacant and she subsequently became the first woman to hold the position, in the very thick of the action on the world’s most famous and watched day of racing.

“It’s a great honour. I can’t believe it’s been four years already since I took on the role,” she said.

“Working for Lucinda was a great grounding for me in horse racing. Learning about sport from the very grassroots; how a yard operates and what life is like at that end of the sport, and from then I moved into the administration side.

“I did the BHA Development Course in 2006, straight out of university, and my placement was at the Racing Post which was incredible, I got to write a double-page spread for the paper which was something I never thought was going to happen.”

Naturally Varma’s success is the result of drive and hard work, but she credits the industry with being filled with people who are willing to help those looking to advance their career.

“I met a huge number of people who were very willing to help me out, whether it be work experience or just talking through opportunities and learning about the industry,” Varma added.

“I think you have to open doors for yourself, but there are also a lot of people who, if you show enthusiasm and love for the sport, they will also open doors for you.

“Being the first female to fill this role is something that I’ll always treasure. Absolutely.”

Willie Mullins has confirmed the newly-named Gallagher Novices’ Hurdle as Ballyburn’s Cheltenham Festival target, with Mystical Power and Tullyhill both bound for the Sky Bet Supreme Novices’ Hurdle.

Beaten by Firefox on his hurdling debut at Fairyhouse in December, Ballyburn subsequently bolted up over two and a half miles at Leopardstown before successfully reverting to two miles to strike Grade One gold at last month’s Dublin Racing Festival.

The six-year-old has been at the head of ante-post lists for both the Supreme and the Gallagher Novices’ Hurdle since that latter triumph and Mullins moved to clarify running plans on Thursday.

“Mystical Power will run in the Sky Bet Supreme and Ballyburn, all being well, will run in the Baring Bingham (Gallagher Novices’ Hurdle),” he told Sportinglife.com.

“Paul Townend will probably ride Tullyhill in the Supreme.”

Mystical Power, a son of Galileo out of Champion Hurdle-winning mare Annie Power, is two from two over hurdles and looks likely to be partnered by Mark Walsh, retained jockey for part-owner JP McManus.

The Cheveley Park Stud-owned Tullyhill was beaten at 1-8 on his hurdling debut, but has since registered two wide-margin wins at Naas and Punchestown respectively.

Willie Mullins is the most successful trainer in the history of the Cheltenham Festival and on the brink of registering a landmark 100th winner at the showpiece meeting.

He currently sits on 94 winners and if recent history is anything to go by, he is likely to bring up his century this year having been the leading trainer for nine of the last 12 Festivals

Here, we take a look at those most likely to take Mullins into a realm many would have thought impossible when his career began.

State Man (Champion Hurdle)

Constitution Hill’s defection has left the door open for Mullins to land the opening-day feature for the first time since Annie Power in 2016. State Man has won 10 of his last 11 starts, with the only defeat coming against Nicky Henderson’s ailing superstar in this race 12 months ago. February’s Irish Champion Hurdle success at the Dublin Racing Festival was his third Grade One triumph of the current campaign and this consummate professional has a happy knack of getting the job done with the minimum of fuss.

Galopin Des Champs (Gold Cup)

While Mullins treasures every Cheltenham winner as if it is his last, there is no doubt that having your biggest weapon in the blue-riband event among an arsenal of ammunition must be something of a comfort blanket. Things may be going smoothly now and he is coming in off the back of two utterly dominant performances, but Mullins deserves credit for getting him back to top form as he was beaten on his two subsequent outings after winning the Gold Cup last year. He is going to take some stopping.

El Fabiolo (Queen Mother Champion Chase)

Perhaps the best example of Mullins’ strength in depth is that his Energumene has been denied the chance to bid for a third Champion Chase through injury and yet the stable will still field the odds-on favourite for the race. Winner of the Arkle last year, he did have the tendency to make the odd mistake as a novice but in two runs this season, while he has not been forced to come out of second gear, his jumping has looked assured. With his major rival Jonbon blotting his copybook last time out, El Fabiolo will be a banker for many.

Ballyburn (Supreme Novices’ Hurdle/Gallagher)

While many love playing a game of ‘Mullins Bingo’ before the Festival, trying to guess which race his horses will run in, the form book says it is undisputable that Ballyburn is his best novice hurdler. His pedigree suggest he will stay three miles no problem, and he did win over two and a half miles by 25 lengths. However, dropped back to two miles at the Dublin Racing Festival he won a Grade One by seven lengths and that could easily have been doubled. Mullins has other novices that in different yards would be their best chance of the Festival, such as Tullyhill, Ile Atlantique and Mystical Power, but Ballyburn is surely Closutton’s best chance in those events wherever he goes.

Fact To File (Brown Advisory Novices’ Chase)

When Mullins announced in the autumn that Fact To File was to eschew a hurdling campaign and be sent straight over fences, it was easy to be reminded of the ‘Florida Pearl’ route. Of course, the difference being that Florida Pearl, perhaps Mullins’ first really great horse, won the Champion Bumper while Fact To File finished second to A Dream To Share (as he had done at the Dublin Racing Festival). He was beaten on his chasing debut but November is always early for a Mullins horse and he has shown the last twice what he is made of, most recently when completely demoralising Gaelic Warrior, a stablemate who previously had looked imperious over fences. There is no doubt Fact To File is seen as a major Gold Cup contender next season.

Lossiemouth (Mares’ Hurdle)

The standout juvenile last season, the decision was taken to miss the first half of the term after Vauban, who represents the same connections, struggled against the very best in his second season over hurdles. Commentators of the sport did not seem to disagree with the decision, that was until a sparkling reappearance at Cheltenham on Trials day when she blitzed the field, albeit lacking any Champion Hurdle contenders. Mullins has not got to nearly 100 Cheltenham winners by over-facing his horses, though, and will be quite content to have a go at the big one next year with her, all being well.

Willie Mullins is showing no signs of taking his foot off the accelerator as his Closutton juggernaut threatens to steamroll the opposition at this year’s Cheltenham Festival.

There is very little to say about Ireland’s perennial champion trainer that has not already been said, particularly this season, when his stranglehold on the sport has come under increased scrutiny.

It is important to preface any analysis of whether the remarkable dominance of the Mullins machine is good for the overall health of the sport by stating no blame can be laid at the door of the man himself.

Indeed, Mullins deserves nothing but the highest praise for assembling what is surely the most formidable squad of equine talent National Hunt racing has ever seen.

The fact that all eight Grade Ones at the Dublin Racing Festival went to only one man gave further weight to the theory this is Willie’s world and the rest of us just live in it, and yet there is absolutely no evidence Mullins is taking his success for granted.

“I say every year, we find it extraordinary ourselves that these horses keep coming and I’m delighted,” he said at what has become an annual pre-Festival press morning at his yard in early February.

To visit Closutton is a pleasure and a privilege. Imagine Sir Alex Ferguson or Pep Guardiola inviting several members of the media into their living rooms for coffee or tea and a generous serving of smoked salmon on a glorious Monday morning – it simply would not happen.

This is a man who is at the very pinnacle of his sport, and yet he comes across with the sort of down to earth charm of someone who would be quite happy to have a pint with you – and potentially drink you under the table if given the opportunity.

When it was put to him that some racing fans may find his seemingly never-ending flow of big-race winners “boring”, it soon became clear Mullins had already given the answer some thought.

He said: “We’re very lucky to have the team we have, but we buy horses from a selection of areas – France, English point-to-pointers, Irish point-to-pointers, the odd bumper horse and some stores.

“All those horses are available, I think, for everyone. Maybe we just get a bit luckier and maybe our riding team is good.

“It’s not as if we go in and plunder all the good horses out of France or out of England or out of point-to-points, clearly not. We very seldom partake in those sales, so I don’t know what to say.

“We just do what we do and I suppose it’s cyclical, isn’t it? England aren’t having the best time at the moment, but there’s some brilliant trainers there and some very good horses going to Cheltenham.”

There is no doubting that Mullins’ spending power is greater than most. Success breeds success and he now has several owners who are not shy in dishing out the big bucks in search of top honours.

However, he is certainly not the only trainer with multi-millionaire backers, so what is it that puts him so far clear of the chasing pack?

“My theory in life is if you’re not going up, you’re going down and I always look at and try to learn lessons from other sports and other trainers from over the years,” he went on.

“I’m always amazed how some trainers get to a pitch, really fantastic trainers, and then it comes down and I say ‘why, what did they do wrong?’. I look at that, analyse it and come up with our own answers.

“You look at teams in any sport, why do they win two or three leagues or All-Irelands or whatever they win and then go down? I look at that and try to put that into our game and get around that, which I think has been working so far, and that’s why we are where we are.”

Not only is Mullins hoovering up all the big prizes, but he is regularly filling out the places and, as seen at the Dublin Racing Festival on the odd occasion, saddling most, if not all of the field.

Again, it is difficult to argue such scenarios are “good for the game”, but that is not Mullins’ fault.

“My take on it is we run all the horses for individual owners, we get the horses ready for those big races and a lot of our first team didn’t win at the Dublin Racing Festival, the other ones won and I was delighted for them,” he said.

“I would say we probably compete in 45 per cent of the races (in Ireland) only. People say we dominate everything, but we don’t even run in a lot of races.

“I don’t think our dominance is any bigger than good Flat yards over the years, or other jumps trainers. Every generation, there’s a cycle of people at the top and I think it’s just nature taking its course – and it will with us too, as we get older.”

You could spend a whole day at Mullins’ yard and still not see every horse stabled there. There are barns beyond barns and the gallops can often resemble Piccadilly Circus, with horses coming at you from every angle and heading in different directions.

There is now room for around 200 horses to be in training here at any given time, dwarfing all but the biggest Flat yards. Mullins insists it has grown way beyond what even he had planned for.

“I’m amazed at the amount of horses we have, I didn’t want this many horses and I didn’t envisage having this many horses, but the opposition kept putting up the amount of horses and I said to stay relevant in the game, I have to get as big as the opposition,” he added.

“To stay on par in Ireland, we had to build more stables. Eighteen months ago, I was very happy where I was with a hundred-plus horses, but the thing has grown way bigger than I ever envisaged and it’s a lot of work.”

And so the focus turns to Cheltenham, a place where Mullins is king.

Next season’s Festival will mark the 30-year anniversary of the then small-time trainer’s first ever success at the showpiece meeting, when Tourist Attraction landed the Supreme Novices’ Hurdle.

Wind the clock forward a few decades and he is now out on his own as the most successful trainer in Festival history with a staggering haul of 94 winners – and you have to go back to 2019 to find the last time he saddled less than the half dozen he now needs to reach a magical century.

On reaching the 100-mark, he said: “It’s not something anyone in racing ever thought of. Someone mentioned it last year and thought I’d go by that mark then, and often getting to the mark can be very hard.

“We’ve gone one or two days in Cheltenham without a winner before and no one is gifted winners in Cheltenham. It’s only when you go back every year that you remember how hard it is to win there.

“Everyone is so hyped up when they get to Cheltenham and it’s so tough, so we don’t go there expecting to win, we hope to win, I always say.”

Two of the trainer’s biggest guns for this year’s Festival are State Man and Galopin Des Champs, who will bid for Champion Hurdle and Gold Cup glory respectively.

Throw in novice hurdler Ballyburn and brilliant mare Lossiemouth and it is not difficult to see why Mullins will wake up every morning between now and then with a degree of trepidation.

“We’re lucky the team we have, but I’m always dreading a Monday morning and my phone goes off and it’s someone out in the yard telling me that we’ve got three lame horses. As long as I don’t see State Man, Galopin Des Champs and those type of horses, it’s fine,” he said.

“Someone said we’ve got 12 favourites. I always say any day you get a winner is a good day, but at least six of those will get beaten. I don’t know which ones, but I’d be delighted if six of them won.

“Suppose State Man and Galopin Des Champs went (injured), that puts a fair dent in your team and I’ve seen it here, if a good horse goes, the next thing the whole yard goes down, it’s amazing.

“We have so many and we’re just hoping that most of them can run true races. You take horses over and they can’t take the occasion, or they lose a shoe the night before. There’s different reasons for horses either being non-runners or failing to give their best performance.

“I’m just trying to get the team there in A1 order and hopefully the good ones come to the top.”

Mullins is keen to stress his operation is far from a one-man show, with his son Patrick, assistant David Casey and former stable jockey Ruby Walsh all major cogs in a wheel that never stops turning.

“We have the back-up team. I can sip tea with you all morning and they’re away working,” he added.

“Patrick looks after the staff, Grainne (Whelan, racing secretary) looks after getting the horses to Cheltenham and David Casey makes sure they’re in the right races.

“Between Patrick and David, they do all the race planning and when they’ve all that done, they come back to me and I would look at it and say ‘maybe we’ve forgotten one’. I just balance up what they do.

“I have my own judgement and then I have Patrick, Davy, Ruby and Paul (Townend). Everyone throws in their tuppence worth and we try to come up with the right answers.”

There was a major shock in the football world recently when Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp made the shock announcement he was to take a break from the sport at the end of the season, citing a lack of energy for his decision.

When asked whether he can see himself suffering burnout eventually, Mullins said: “Of course I’m going to say no, because the moment someone says yes, you’re signing your own thing.

“I’m very happy with what we’re doing at the moment. I still enjoy it, as when it’s not work, it’s very easy to do, isn’t it?”

It is clearly not easy – never mind “very easy” – but nobody makes it look quite as straightforward as Willie Mullins.

Paul Nicholls knows this year’s Cheltenham Festival will be a poignant place with Keagan Kirkby “up there watching us” after the jockey’s tragic death last month.

Kirkby, a popular member of Nicholls’ Ditcheat team, died in a fall while riding at a point-to-point in Kent on February 4.

The 25-year-old was laid to rest on Tuesday with mourners in the Somerset village bedecked in the blue and white of Kirkby’s beloved Bristol Rovers.

Champion trainer Nicholls described Kirkby at the service as the “ultimate star player” and that his death had left “a big hole in that team”.

It has been a painful time for Nicholls following the death of Paul Barber, owner of his first Gold Cup winner See More Business in 1999, and part-owner of Denman, the 2008 champion.

Nicholls said: “It’s been tough from the day Keagan died but everybody has knuckled down and worked hard. Everyone is thinking of Keagan.

“It’s been a tough year for me, losing Mr Barber at the start of the season. It’s been quite hard not having him about this season and then losing Keagan.

“But the team have rallied together, everyone has worked hard and helped each other. It’s a young team and it’s been quite tough for a lot of them, but everyone has kept the winners flowing and we will all be looking forward to Cheltenham.

“I know Keagan will be up there watching us. He loved Cheltenham and anything to do with horses.

“He used to ride Blueking D’Oroux, Afadil, Firefly who won two days after he died, that was quite a poignant winner and he loved the game.”

This year’s Cheltenham Festival marks the 25th anniversary of Nicholls’ breakthrough into jump racing’s elite.

Flagship Uberalles got the ball rolling in the Arkle that year, Call Equiname landed the Queen Mother Champion Chase, and See More Business rounded it off with Gold Cup glory.

Nicholls’ team indeed partied like it was 1999 and, a quarter of a century on, he is two winners from reaching a Cheltenham milestone.

“When you start off as a trainer, you always want Cheltenham winners,” said Nicholls.

“I think it was eight years I’d been training and I hadn’t had a Cheltenham winner. Then I had three in a week, so that was a good week.

“Flagship Uberalles won the first day so I remember we went down the pub on the night, had a bit of a party and thought we’d best enjoy it.

“The next day Call Equiname won the Champion Chase so we repeated that and thought ‘we can’t believe this’. Then we won the Gold Cup the next day and I think I stayed there for a week!

“It was amazing, just amazing – you pinch yourself because you can’t believe it has happened.

“That kickstarted everything for us really and I hadn’t thought about it being 25 years ago. I think I’ve had 48 winners now, so it would be nice to get the 50.”

Nicholls is sending a streamlined squad into action at Cheltenham with quality rather than quantity appearing to be his Festival strategy.

Ginny’s Destiny, unbeaten in his last three starts over fences at Cheltenham, is a big hope for the Turners Novices’ Chase and Stay Away Fay – a Festival winner in last season’s Albert Bartlett Novices’ Hurdle – is a real contender for the Brown Advisory Novices’ Chase.

Last year’s Gold Cup runner-up Bravemansgame is aiming to go one better in the main event, while Stage Star and Hitman are contenders in the Ryanair Chase. Captain Teague and Teeshan could also excel on the Gloucestershire course.

Nicholls won his fourth Gold Cup in 2009 when Kauto Star won his second.

He accepts life has become more difficult at Cheltenham because of Ireland’s firepower and the strength in depth that Irish trainers Willie Mullins and Gordon Elliott possess.

“It’s always hard to win at the Festival, it’s always competitive,” said Nicholls.

“You’re up against Gordon and Willie’s battalions, it’s got harder, but it’s all about having the right horses.

“We’ll probably have a dozen runners over the week, but they’re horses with chances. I’ve learnt over the years you want a small, select team of horses that have chances.”

On the prospect of replicating past glories, Nicholls said: “In those days we had Kauto, Master Minded, Denman, Big Buck’s, Celestial Halo.

“We had the right horses and with the right horses, you can compete. Like in any team sport, you need the right players.

“It’s a surreal feeling when you walk into the winner’s enclosure when you’ve won the Gold Cup, there’s nothing else like it.

“It’s unbelievable and that feeling drives you on and makes you want to do it again.

“They were amazing horses, but you have to move on and find the next generation, which hopefully we are.”

With Willie Mullins on the verge of an incredible 100 Cheltenham Festival winners, those who face the battle of taking him on could be forgiven for feeling a little resentment.

But there is not a bit of it from Gordon Elliott, perennially the runner-up to Mullins in the Irish championship and who comes up against him more than anyone else.

Rather than feeling hard done by or suggesting that Mullins is making the sport “boring” like many did after all eight Grade Ones at the Dublin Racing Festival went the way of the Closutton maestro, Elliott relishes the challenge and says the pair are pushing each other to new heights.

“I’ve been second to Willie eight or 10 years in a row (in the trainers’ championship). We’re definitely not making him better, we’re making him hungrier and he’s making us better,” said Elliott.

“I can’t have people whinging and giving out about Willie Mullins or whoever. These people giving out have chips on both of their shoulders. Willie sets the standard and we all have to chase him, make yourself better. There’s no excuse for not wanting to be the best.

“A couple of years ago we were the first to train 200 winners in a season and I think a week later he trained 200 and ended up beating us by eight or 10 that season.

“We’re in a great position and we keep training winners. We’re just probably unfortunate that we were born in the same era as probably the greatest trainer of all time. We’ll keep trying.

“The lads that know how hard it is to get to that level are not jumping up and down and shouting. The lads that are jumping up and down and shouting have had it all and let it all slip through their hands.”

Nicky Henderson is Mullins’ closest rival when it comes to Festival winners, but had a huge head start and has been left trailing in his wake somewhat with 73 winners to Mullins’ 94.

“No one would have ever thought that would be possible,” said Henderson of a possible century of winners for his great friend and rival.

“It’s a lot of races and we’ve been very lucky to win so many ourselves. I won’t say he has been luckier, but the ammunition he has these days is unbelievable.

“We are the ones who have to fight off the invasion and we’re outnumbered by Willie three to one at least, often four to one.

“You’ve got to have admiration, of course I do. But we’ve been very lucky ourselves and we have to concentrate on what we’ve got and what we can do. We’ve got a great team of people and horses and owners, and we’ve got to do the best we can.”

At the other end of the scale Fergal O’Brien is still searching for a first ever Festival win, but rather than moan about it, his daughter Fern has been over to Closutton this season as a work rider.

“I wouldn’t say she’s a spy, espionage we call it! Fern loves being there and loves working with those people,” said O’Brien.

“I’m lucky enough to have been and it’s a fantastic set up. People go on about Willie’s dominance, but it didn’t come overnight, he’s got a great system there, they’re great buyers of horses and he’s obviously a fantastic trainer.

“Fern is in a great place and I’m very proud of her.”

Robbie Power won the Gold Cup and Grand National as a jockey and is now attached to Henry de Bromhead’s stable. While he does admit Mullins’ dominance can be a little disheartening, he does at least run his best horses against each other regularly.

“I don’t see it as a problem, it is a little disheartening I suppose for a lot of people that Willie is so dominant but as the old saying goes, if you win in the sales ring then you win on the racetrack and Willie has been able to get all these horses – he has the owners, he has the ammunition,” Power told Boylesports.

“I suppose the one difference to the Flat with Aidan O’Brien for example, it’s all Coolmore whereas Willie’s runners are spread among five or six different owners. At DRF they all had Grade One winners and Willie is never afraid to have his runners take each other on, he often has three, four or five in the Grade Ones so it makes for competitive racing.”

Andy Edwards is not your typical racehorse owner. When he acquires a newcomer to his string, he is not just its owner but he becomes its guardian and friend. Now one of his greatest equine pals, L’Homme Presse, will bid to give him the greatest moment in his racing life when lining up in the Boodles Cheltenham Gold Cup.

L’Homme Presse is far from the first horse Edwards has been involved in nor will he be the last, but he has easily been the most successful and has taken Edwards – along with his wife Pam and fellow co-owners Peter and Patricia Pink – on a magical journey which has already incorporated triumph at the Cheltenham Festival.

Not too dissimilar to his co-owner, L’Homme Presse’s story has humble beginnings and his French racing career was somewhat tottering on the brink when the then injured son of Diamond Boy was plucked out of a field in Normandy by an admiring Edwards.

Little did the gelding know at the time, but he had just gained his most valuable ally, and not just a new owner, but someone who – alongside trainer Venetia Williams – was prepared to put in the hours of care and nurture required to help him fulfil his destiny.

“I adopt a soul for life,” said Edwards, explaining his ownership philosophy.

“That’s what happens and that’s what it is for me. I become their guardian not their owner and as any good guardian who adopts a child or animal it is a big responsibility and you need to guide them through their life as best you can.

“We have to be patient as owners and the other three all buy into the philosophies. We feel like we have been rewarded, but more importantly, the horse has been rewarded. Because of our beliefs, the horse has been able to be the best he can be every time he goes out.”

There is something warming about Edwards’ hands-on approach to both ownership and L’Homme Presse.

‘The horse is my number one priority’ is anything but meaningless where Edwards is concerned. L’Homme Presse’s well-being is always at the forefront of his mind during regular phone calls with his trainer and the frequent visits to the handler’s Herefordshire base.

“I’m in lots to see L’Homme Presse, I go two or three times a week,” continued Edwards.

“Venetia is an amazing lady and all of her staff – Jess and Beth and the vets – are all brilliant.

“When Venetia rings me, I tell her not to say hello just to say ‘all good’ before she says anything else, and luckily, she mostly does.”

L’Homme Presse’s connections have felt the full range of emotions the Cheltenham Festival can provide over the past few years.

In 2022 there was ecstasy as their charge stormed home on a wet Wednesday afternoon in the Brown Advisory Novices’ Chase, but their was also a sense of longing 12 months ago when their staying star was sat on the sidelines as the Gold Cup took centre stage on the final afternoon of the meeting – a race Edwards actually watched from right at the heart of the action.

“The win in the Brown Advisory was the most fantastic day you could imagine,” continued Edwards.

“At the time I stood there in the rain with my palms held up and looking up to the sky with a big grin saying ‘this is liquid sunshine’.

“Our friends are Bruce and Karen who own Ahoy Senor and they very kindly invited us last year to be with them in the paddock and for lunch. It was really lovely of them and they said to us ‘you should be here, it’s not right you are not here’. It was a lovely thing of them to do.

“But at the same time it was quite a weird feeling being their for the Gold Cup cheering on someone else’s horse – which of course we were happy to do. However, the year before we had thought we would be the ones standing in that paddock with our own horse.”

Now L’Homme Presse is just days away from finally getting his chance to line-up in the blue riband, the summit of a long adventure that has finally reached its peak.

“It’s a privilege to be there and you have to pinch yourself,” said Edwards. “The four of us (the co-owners), none of us have come from privileged backgrounds and to be in this position is dreamland.

“We have all got to try to enjoy it whatever happens and celebrate. It has been a five-year journey for me now personally and to get to that pinnacle of the sport is a massive win in its own right and an incredible achievement.

“Our attitude at the moment is to enjoy the build-up and enjoy every moment. We will accept whatever happens. I fully understand the highs and lows of this incredible sport that we’re all involved in.

“We’ve got lots of friends coming down and we will enjoy the build-up. It’s going to be a fantastic race whoever wins and a great spectacle. If all horses come back happy that would be brilliant.”

L’Homme Presse would spend over a year on the sidelines before making a triumphant return at Lingfield in January, but there was to be no repeat of heroics when he was tasked with dropping back in distance for the Ascot Chase last month.

The two-mile-five-furlong Grade One event was scheduled to be the ideal spot for L’Homme Presse to fine-tune his engine ahead of his Cheltenham assignment, but with drying ground and the emphasis becoming more about speed than endurance, the nine-year-old was unable to lay a glove on track-and-trip specialist Pic D’Orhy.

Many would see the performance as a severe dent on L’Homme Presse’s future big-race ambitions, but connections have been far from despondent and are still confident the outing will have a positive effect on his Gold Cup claims.

“The timing of the Ascot Chase was perfect for us, but the distance and the ground wasn’t perfect for us,” explained Edwards.

“At the beginning of the week they were saying we were going to get 20mm of rain and we got 2mm. It went from being soft at the beginning of the week to good ground by 3.30pm on the Saturday.

“Everything was against us but we still came second in a Grade One over a trip which was far too short for a three miler and on ground he doesn’t excel on, so we are very happy.”

While Harry Cobden was receiving plenty of plaudits for his winning ride in the aftermath of that Ascot event, it was L’Homme Presse’s jockey who was coming under fire for the amount of ground he conceded to the champion jockey elect in the early salvos of that contest.

However, the ever-loyal Edwards does not agree. He said: “It’s a shame Charlie got so much criticism as it wasn’t what we intended and he has to ride the horse that is underneath him at that moment in time.

“From our point of view Charlie gave him a great ride as he got him going and he got him running through the line and he managed to get us second in a Grade One at Ascot when at the start and halfway round things weren’t looking too healthy.”

The next stop on the L’Homme Presse odyssey is the Gold Cup itself and although there may be some nerves when Williams, Deutsch, and the staying star himself enter the bustling Prestbury Park paddock before the main event, the one thing guaranteed is that Edwards will always have the trio’s back.

“One thing I will be saying to Charlie and I always say to Venetia is, we as a group of owners believe in Venetia, we believe in Charlie and we believe in our horse,” said Edwards.

“All of us will enjoy the moment and we will definitely keep the faith.”