Sir Alex Ferguson was in the Cheltenham Festival winner’s enclosure as Paul Nicholls got off the mark for the week when Monmiral hunted down Kyntara in the Pertemps Network Final Handicap Hurdle.

Running in the famous yellow colours of Ferguson’s co-owner John Hales, the seven-year-old has always been held in high regard by those at Ditcheat.

Despite that, he was sent off at 25-1 in the hands of Harry Cobden, sporting first-time blinkers as he was given a patient ride by his title-chasing jockey.

Cobden edged his mount into contention heading down hill for the second time, but it seemed the bird had flown when the bold front-running Kyntara set sail in his bid to provide Mel Rowley with a first Festival success.

However, Monmiral still had plenty in reserve and emerged as Kyntara’s sole challenger at the last before storming home to crush the long-time leader’s dreams.

Top sprinter Highfield Princess will not return to training and has been retired after sustaining a significant injury.

The seven-year-old has been the apple of trainer John Quinn’s eye for the past few seasons, enjoying an astonishing rise from the handicap ranks to a string of Group successes.

The bay has 14 victories on her CV, including the Prix de l’Abbaye, Flying Five, Nunthorpe and Prix Maurice de Gheest – all Group One events.

She was also second in the Nunthorpe and the King’s Stand by just a length apiece last season and amassed over £1.8million in prize money throughout her career.

Connections had intended to keep her in training for another season but she suffered a serious injury in her stable on Tuesday and has therefore been retired.

A statement from John and Sean Quinn read: “It is with sadness that we announce that our star mare Highfield Princess has been retired from racing with immediate effect.

“On Tuesday morning she suffered an injury in her stable that was at the time very serious and concerning. That morning she was transferred to Rainbow Equine Hospital and has been in their care ever since.

“Her progress over the past few days has been encouraging and whilst she still has a way to go to make a full recovery, we are hopeful that with time and care she will be OK.

“What she has done for our yard over the past four seasons has been nothing short of remarkable. From humble beginnings she climbed to the very top of the sprinting ladder to be crowned European Champion Sprinter in 2022.

“She was the gift that kept on giving. As a racehorse she was always there for us when we needed it and now it is our turn to be there for her.”

John Fairley, owner and breeder of Highfield Princess, added: “What a fantastic mare she has been. An Australian owner commented last year that she was probably the fastest mare in the world.

“To have bred and raced a mare to win three Group One races in five weeks in 2022 was fantastic. We hope that she will make a full recovery and be fit to take up broodmare duties next year.”

Grey Dawning continued Dan Skelton’s fabulous Cheltenham Festival with a brilliant victory in the Turners Novices’ Chase.

Paul Nicholls’ Ginny’s Destiny never missed a beat out in front as he attempted to repeat Stage Star’s victory in this race 12 months ago, but Grey Dawning was never far away in the hands of the trainer’s brother, Harry, and as they headed down hill it became clear it would be an all-British shoot-out up the famous hill.

The duo swung the bend locked in unison but having jumped two out matching strides, it was the 5-2 joint-favourite who edged to the front at the last and stayed on strongly to see Skelton oust his former Ditcheat boss and register his third triumph of the week at the showpiece meeting.

Venetia Williams’ Djelo came home in third to complete a one-two-three for the home team, with Zanahiyr the best of the Irish in fourth.

Salver will bid to provide Gary Moore with JCB Triumph Hurdle redemption when he takes his chance in Friday’s Cheltenham Festival opener.

Four years ago the trainer saw Goshen unseat his recently-retired son Jamie with the race at his mercy following a freak incident after the last and he now saddles two as he attempts to correct the record.

Moore also runs last year’s Irish Derby fourth Peking Opera, but it is the mount of Gavin Sheehan who holds the strongest claims, with Salver heading to Prestbury Park unbeaten in four starts over hurdles.

Despite claiming Grade Two honours at Chepstow over the Christmas period, the Lower Beeding handler feels this will be the acid test of his ability as he meets high-class operators from across the Irish Sea.

“Any significant rain would give him an advantage. This race owes me one,” said Moore.

“He deserves his spot in this line-up and a lot of people would have run him in the Fred Winter because he’s only rated 128, but it was always going to be the Triumph.

“He’s only ever shown his class on a racecourse, he’s never shown anything at home really. His last piece of work was a good piece of work that I was happy with, but to be quite honest, I think he has won four weakish races.

“There are a few bits of form that show him to be quite useful but he hasn’t met a superstar yet, so he has to go out there and prove himself, this will be his test.

“Niall (Houlihan) will ride the other horse and poor Caoilin (Quinn) is sidelined, so Gavin rides.”

Willie Mullins has won three of the last four renewals and is blessed with a plethora of chances, saddling seven of the 13 heading to post and dominating the top of the betting lists.

Kenny Alexander’s Kargese is one of the Closutton battalion and the likeable filly will attempt to go one better than the owner’s Gala Marceau did 12 months ago in the race – having followed in that stablemate’s footsteps by claiming the Spring Juvenile at Leopardstown en route to the Cotswolds.

She got the better of fellow Mullins runners Storm Heart (second) and Majborough (third) on that occasion and her pilot Danny Mullins feels they are a closely matched bunch.

“The first four home were from Willie’s (at the Dublin Racing Festival) and any one of the four could pop up and win in Cheltenham,” said Danny Mullins.

“Storm Heart was close to me, Majborough back in third ran a bit keen on the day. You can make solid cases for them all finding the necessary improvement to be good enough to win a Triumph.

“It’s probably the one division where the horses are still developing, so what you’re seeing pre-Christmas versus what you see come March in Cheltenham can be two different things.”

Those sentiments have been echoed by the master of Closutton himself in the build up to the Cheltenham action, but there is a clear apple of his eye amongst his collective, with the imposing Majborough courting plenty of favour from his record-setting handler.

“Majborough ran a cracker (at Leopardstown). Every time I see him I think Gold Cup, not Triumph Hurdle, he’s just a magnificent beast,” said Willie Mullins.

“I was surprised when he arrived from France to see what an individual he was. He’s not a typical juvenile hurdler, you’re looking at him and thinking three years down the road.

“Maybe he could be like Douvan and just fully develop as a four and five-year-old. I’ve got some nice juveniles, but he’d be in the top couple of picks.”

The Festival’s leading trainer is also represented by impressive Limerick winner Bunting, who was a place further back in fourth at the Dublin Racing Festival, while Ethical Diamond (sixth) and Highwind (eighth) were others taking part in the Irish capital with outside claims for Mullins.

The Closutton septet is rounded off by the intriguing Salvator Mundi, who was less than two lengths behind long-time race favourite Sir Gino when they met in France and he could prove an exciting ride for Brian Hayes, making his stable debut in Grade One company – ironically for the sidelined Sir Gino’s owners Joe and Marie Donnelly.

Joseph O’Brien’s Nurburgring has solid form from the early part of the season and has been kept fresh for this event, with Fairyhouse scorer Fratas completing the Irish contingent representing Michael Mulvany.

Warren Greatrex will saddle Mighty Bandit – his expensive recruit from the Caldwell dispersal – who handed Tuesday’s Boodles winner Lark In The Morning a near 10-length beating in November, while Dominic Ffrench Davis takes a shot at this valuable prize with Newbury winner Ithaca’s Arrow.

If anybody had said in the year 2000 that approaching the 2024 Cheltenham Festival a single trainer would be on the verge of saddling 100 winners at the meeting, it would have been seen as preposterous.

Nicky Henderson already had 20 to his credit and he now sits on a very respectable 73, but back then Willie Mullins only had six – and four of those had come in the Champion Bumper.

It is quite remarkable, then, that this year Mullins has brought up his century, after getting the required six to hit the magic number inside the first two days of the meeting.

Here, we take a look at 10 of the very best horses that appear on Mullins’ Cheltenham roll of honour:

Tourist Attraction (1995 Supreme Novices’ Hurdle)

The very first Cheltenham Festival winner for Mullins. At a time when he was still an amateur rider himself, he entrusted Mark Dwyer with the mount on the mare who went off a 25-1 outsider. In beating subsequent Arkle winner Ventana Canyon, Mullins proved he was capable of mixing it with the very best. She only ran once more herself but went on to produce Pete The Feat, a prolific winner for Charlie Longsdon who went on to race until he was 15.

Cousin Vinny (2008 Champion Bumper)

By 2008, Mullins was a major player at the Festival and had begun to farm the Champion Bumper having won it five times in all. However, there is no doubt if you were to ask him which was his most memorable success in the race, he would nominate Cousin Vinny, as it was a first Festival winner for his then 18-year-old son, Patrick, who has gone on to break all records as an amateur jockey.

Quevega (Mares’ Hurdle 2009-2014)

There was not much to the diminutive mare who arrived from France in 2007 but once Mullins worked out the key to her, she created her own piece of Cheltenham history. While some disagreed with the way she was campaigned, as from 2010 onwards she made her seasonal reappearance at Cheltenham, there could be no doubting the execution of the plan. The extra races have undoubtedly helped Mullins rack up his incredible numbers and many would have preferred to have seen Quevega try her luck in the Champion Hurdle or more likely the Stayers’ given she won the Punchestown equivalent four times. Either way, just running in the same race six times is a notable achievement, never mind winning it.

Hurricane Fly (Champion Hurdle 2011 and 2013)

Another who created his own piece of history. Hurricane Fly, who came with a tall reputation as a Listed winner on the Flat in France, became the first horse to win the Champion Hurdle, lose it and then regain the crown. Injury meant he missed the first two Cheltenham Festivals he was eligible for, and given he beat that year’s Supreme winner, Go Native, by 10 lengths at Leopardstown in the Christmas of his novice season, you would have to think that is one that got away, and the year after that he came back from injury to win at Punchestown. His defeat in the 2012 Champion came on the fastest ground he encountered and the winner of 24 of 32 hurdle races certainly loved the mud.

Vautour (Supreme Novices’ Hurdle 2014, JLT Novices’ Chase 2015, Ryanair Chase 2016)

In terms of pure natural ability, Vautour has to be among the best Mullins has ever trained. The day he won the Supreme Novices’ Hurdle by six lengths he looked impregnable and he would have taken all the beating in the Champion itself. Sent straight over fences, he recovered from a blip at Leopardstown to bolt up by 16 lengths in what is now the Turners. A horse who certainly saved his best for Cheltenham, he won the Ryanair with a display that took the breath away, even if it met a muted reception due to owner Rich Ricci stating at a Cheltenham preview evening the horse would run in the Gold Cup.

Faugheen (Neptune Novices’ Hurdle 2014, Champion Hurdle 2015)

One of Mullins’ most popular trainees, on his day he looked nigh on unbeatable. A very easy winner of what is now the Gallagher Novices’ Hurdle, the following season he endured a very un-Mullins-like preparation for the Champion Hurdle by running at Ascot and Kempton first. His only run in Ireland that season came after he had already won the Champion, when he went to Punchestown and was even more impressive. Sadly, injury curtailed him after that and he did not run between January 2016 and November 2017. Never quite the same, he did win a Grade One novice chase at Limerick and it was to his credit that his final start came at Cheltenham when third in the 2020 edition of the Marsh (Turners) Novices’ Chase.

Douvan (Supreme Novices’ Hurdle 2015, Arkle 2016)

Oh what might have been. Super talented but also, ultimately, incredibly fragile. There were no signs of the heartache to come as he waltzed through his novice hurdle season unbeaten, or when he won all six of his novice chases the year after. That he had a subsequent Gold Cup winner in Sizing John seven lengths behind him in the Arkle spoke volumes. However, when 2-9 favourite for the Champion Chase the year after, he made mistakes and trailed in seventh, finishing lame. He had a year off but returned for the same race only to fall four out when leading the field a merry dance.

Al Boum Photo (Gold Cup 2019 and 2020)

Despite dominating the Festival by now, Mullins had yet to win the blue riband, coming close on several occasions. Step forward the unglamourous Al Boum Photo. No star over hurdles, he would have gone close in the 2018 RSA Novices’ Chase when falling two out, breaking Ruby Walsh’s leg in the process. The following season he ran once before the Gold Cup, winning a minor race at Tramore, and his 12-1 success at Cheltenham caught a few out. But he repeated the trick 12 months later, with Mullins sticking to the same routine. He finished a five-length third to Minella Indo when bidding to emulate Best Mate.

Allaho (Ryanair Chase 2021 and 2022)

If ever a race and a horse were a match made in heaven it was surely Allaho and the Ryanair Chase. Viewed as a stayer in his younger days, when he was third in the Albert Bartlett and RSA in his novice hurdle and chase seasons, it was not until the intermediate trip was settled upon that he was seen to his best. Eschewed by Paul Townend in favour of Min in 2021, Rachael Blackmore made no mistake and the punters sent them off favourite, suggesting Townend had made the wrong call pre-race and so it proved, with Allaho winning by 12 lengths. Townend did not make the same mistake again, with a 14-length success a year later. Unfortunately injury has ruled him out of the past two Festivals.

Galopin Des Champs (Martin Pipe 2021 and Gold Cup 2023)

Unfortunate not to be going for a fourth successive win at the meeting given he tipped up when miles clear as a novice in 2022, he must have been some certainty in the Martin Pipe the year before off 142. Mullins has got him right back to his best mid-season after two defeats and he looks to hold massive claims of emulating his former stablemate Al Boum Photo and you would not put it past him to go one better.

Willie Mullins set himself apart with his 100th Cheltenham Festival victory on Wednesday – a hallmark of the trainer’s domination of the National Hunt scene.

Going into what for many is the biggest week of the year, Mullins boasted the favourites for all but a handful of the 28 races, making it something of a foregone conclusion he would break new ground with a century of wins, with just six victories required.

That the feat – which took just two of the four days – was achieved in the Champion Bumper by a horse ridden by his son, Patrick, seems fitting for a man who is the very embodiment of a racing dynasty.

The 67-year-old is the eldest of four sons and one daughter for the late trainer Paddy Mullins, the man who handled the great mare Dawn Run – the only horse to win both the Champion Hurdle and Cheltenham Gold Cup.

His brothers Tony and Tom are also Grade One-winning trainers, while the aforementioned Patrick is a record-breaking amateur rider whose nephews include top-level jockey Danny, Grand National-winning rider David and Grand National-winning trainer Emmet, illustrating the family’s influence over both Irish and British racing.

A fervent Manchester United supporter, Mullins was a very capable amateur rider himself, riding a Festival winner aboard Wither Or Which back in 1996. But there is no doubt the best thing he ever did was hang up his saddle and concentrate fully on his training career.

It has been a series of smashed records ever since, with Mullins crowned the champion trainer in Ireland in each of the last 17 years, clicking through the number milestones with regularity, sending out his 4,000th career winner in January 2023.

Some true equine giants of the sport have passed through his hands, with Florida Pearl the first marquee name for the Closutton team, although Hedgehunter’s 2005 Grand National win propelled him onto the front pages as well as the back.

Mullins’ career has been defined by his Cheltenham domination though, with Hurricane Fly, a 22-times Grade One winner, Un De Sceaux, Douvan, Vautour, Faugheen and Annie Power all achieving superstar status in the Cotswolds.

However, the Cheltenham Gold Cup proved elusive for a long time, with six second places illustrating the difficulty of achieving jump racing’s holy grail.

But Al Boum Photo righted that wrong in 2019, before following up in 2020, with Galopin Des Champs adding a third triumph for the trainer last year and a hot favourite to make it four on Friday.

The Mullins momentum has barely been checked and he is an illustration of the old adage success breeds success, with owners clamouring to send their big-money recruits to be trained by a true genius of the sport.

Even Ryanair chief Michael O’Leary – a man not known for a lack of opinion – had to change his mind about jettisoning Mullins’ services back in 2016.

Increased training fees were mentioned as a reason at the time, but O’Leary had runners back in the yard for the first time since this season, proving that maybe you really do get what you pay for.

Patrick Mullins in fact pointed to that split as a catalyst for the yard’s exceptional success in recent years, describing how that blow drove his father forward to seek new horses, owners and staff, underlining his determination and willingness to look beyond the obvious.

Married to Jackie, the couple took part in the royal carriage procession before racing at Royal Ascot last year.

There is no doubt Mullins is out on his own at this point by any measure and while he admitted on Wednesday he would relish a bit more competition, his rivals have more than a bit of ground to make up.

Perhaps his former jockey Ruby Walsh – himself a great of the sport – put it best: “It’s awesome, an incredible achievement as a manager, because that what he is, a sporting manager.

“He is like the CEO, his wife is the CFO, his son is the managing director and he’s doing it all.”

Ruby is right – when it comes to managers, in racing terms Mullins is Sir Alex Ferguson and Pep Guardiola rolled into one.

Sir Gino, the long-time ante-post favourite for the JCB Triumph Hurdle, has been declared a non-runner on the final day of the Cheltenham Festival.

His absence is the latest blow for trainer Nicky Henderson, who has endured a trying week with four of his five runners on Tuesday pulled up, as well as Jingko Blue in Wednesday’s Gallagher Novices’ Hurdle.

Having already taken Shishkin out of the Gold Cup and Jonbon out of the Champion Chase, with Constitution Hill ruled out of the Champion Hurdle last week, Henderson’s biggest hope of the Festival now joins them on the sidelines.

Albert Bartlett contender Shanagh Bob has also been withdrawn and the Seven Barrows team will try to get their stars back on song for Aintree or Punchestown.

In a statement on X, Henderson said: “Very sadly we have had to make a very tough decision which is not to run Sir Gino in the Triumph Hurdle tomorrow and the same applies to Shanagh Bob in the Albert Bartlett.

“Both horses appear to be in great shape but we cannot ignore the performance of all our horses throughout this week and indeed last week as well and we feel it would be crazy to chance it with two very high class young horses with their lives in front of them.

“Joe Donnelly who owns both of these as well as Shishkin has been incredibly supportive as have all our owners as well as the media and indeed racing as a whole, and we appreciate that enormously.

“We are very much looking forward to hopefully Aintree and Punchestown as soon as we get the team back to normal.”

A late setback has ruled Dysart Enos out of the Ryanair Mares’ Novices’ Hurdle on day three of the Cheltenham Festival.

Fergal O’Brien’s star mare has won each of her six starts to date, with three bumper triumphs last season followed by a hat-trick of victories over hurdles this term.

The six-year-old was Britain’s biggest hope in Thursday’s penultimate event against two unbeaten Irish raiders in Gordon Elliott’s Brighterdaysahead and the Willie Mullins-trained Jade De Grugy, but she was declared a non-runner on the morning of the race.

O’Brien said: “It’s a huge blow, she’s got an overreach unfortunately.

“It’s not serious, it’s just horrendous timing. If it had happened earlier we might have been able to do something about it, but that’s where we are.

“We’ll get her right before we make any plans.”

Ruby Walsh hailed the “incredible achievement” of his former boss Willie Mullins after he became the first trainer to notch up a century of winners at the Cheltenham Festival.

The showpiece meeting’s most successful jockey has known the master of Closutton since childhood and it was Mullins who provided Walsh with his first Festival winner at Prestbury Park when get getting the leg-up aboard Alexander Banquet in the 1998 Champion Bumper.

They would go on to unite for many great days in the Cotswolds, with Walsh the man in the saddle for four of Mullins’ Champion Hurdle victories and at the heart of the action as Mullins became the dominant force in National Hunt racing over the last decade.

Despite retiring in 2019, Walsh remains a key part of the team at Closutton and has witnessed first hand how the operation has grown into the vast equine centre of excellence it is today, bursting at the seams with huge winners.

However, despite the yard’s growth, it is still the boss who holds the most sway and Walsh is full of admiration for the way he oversees matters both at home and on course.

He said: “It’s awesome, an incredible achievement as a manager, because that what he is, a sporting manager.

“He is like the CEO, his wife is the CFO, his son is the managing director and he’s doing it all.

“If he was in any other sport they wouldn’t be telling him he was too dominant.

“He’s just an incredible manager, that’s what he is and the sport is lucky to have him.”

It was Jasmin De Vaux who brought up Mullins’ century in the hands of his son Patrick, with great Irish rival Gordon Elliott filling the podium places with Romeo Coolio and race favourite Jalon D’oudairies.

However, he was thrilled to see the man he one day aspires to beat in the Irish trainers’ championship reach the landmark figure at jumps racing HQ.

Elliott said: “I’m just lucky to have been born in the same era as Willie Mullins. Listen, he’s a great man and I’m delighted for him to get his 100 winners at Cheltenham.”

There was relief for bookmakers after El Fabiolo’s Champion Chase defeat saved them a a “multi-million pound” pasting from the punters on day two of the Cheltenham Festival.

After a Willie Mullins treble landed on day one of the meeting, the layers were staring down the barrel of a repeat after Ballyburn and Fact To File had both landed the spoils at short odds.

With the absence of Jonbon, El Fabiolo was sent off the 2-9 favourite to inflict more misery on the bookies in the Betway-sponsored feature, but they were given a reprieve as the market leader’s jumping fell apart – being subsequently pulled up, with fellow Irish raider Captain Guinness limiting the damage as he obliged at odds of 17-2.

“After his opening day treble, we knew the three Willie Mullins-trained hot favourites would feature in many, many accumulators on day two, and the writing looked on the wall when Ballyburn and Fact To File landed the first two legs,” said Coral’s David Stevens.

“On this occasion, however, it wasn’t to be, and to the great relief of the layers, an early blunder from the favourite saw punters’ hopes dashed.

“It wasn’t up there with the Annie Power fall, but we needed a result and we got it, and we go into day three with all to play for.”

Lawrence Lyons, spokesperson for BoyleSports, added: “Punters were jumping for joy when Willie’s first two favourites bolted up, but El Fabiolo threatened major damage so we’re saying cheers to Captain Guinness who definitely pulled a rabbit out of the hat for us.”  

Although not many punters benefitted from the victory of Captain Guinness, one winner was the ‘Rachael Blackmore – Serial Winners Fund’ with Betfair adding a further £10,000 to the charity initiative set up to raise funds for both the Injured Jockey Fund and the Irish Injured Jockeys.

“What an amazing win for Rachael and the injured jockeys’ charities in the UK and Ireland,” said Betfair’s Barry Orr.

“The pot now strands on £205,000 and hopefully there are more celebrations to come this week.”

One firm refusing to get carried away in the Captain Guinness celebrations was BetVictor, with representative Sam Boswell feeling the advantage very much lies with the punters with two days of action still to go.

He said: “After winning the first race with Ballyburn the pressure was on as punters rejoiced, Mullins then had Fact To File win the Brown Advisory Novice Chase at 8-13.

“The respite of a domestic winner in the Coral Cup was limited as Langer Dan (13-2) was a popular pick to score back to back wins.

“It came down to the Champion Chase where El Fabiolo looked set to put us to the sword. It was only a jumping error that prevented potentially significant payouts across the industry as Rachael Blackmore was able to take advantage on Captain Guinness.

“It was another big day for punters and at the halfway stage bookies are very much 2-0 down.”

Those sentiments were echoed by Paddy Power, with spokesperson Paul Binfield adding: “El Fabiolo’s unfortunate mistake was the crucial moment of the day for the bookies and was absolutely massive saving us a seven-figure payout.

“We were slightly up on the day, but after a resounding victory for punters on Tuesday, they’re still in front.”

NB: You can watch the Cheltenham Festival live on Sportsmax.