Willie Mullins has done pretty much everything in National Hunt racing but now he can add 100-1 hurdling debutant winner to his CV after Poniros' shock victory in the JCB Triumph Hurdle on the final day of the 2025 Cheltenham Festival.
The County Carlow handler saddled 11 of the 17 runners in the Grade One opener on Boodles Cheltenham Gold Cup when his Galopin Des Champs was bidding for a historic hat-trick of successes in the blue riband. Although the Closutton maestro had won the last three runnings of the Triumph Hurdle in Vauban, Lossiemouth and last year Majborough, they were all among the favourites for the two-mile juvenile event. This time Blue Lemons, ridden by Rachael Blackmore, was his lowest-priced at 12-1.
The race was meant to all about the British team, despite Mullins' numerical advantage. James Owen's unbeaten East India Dock went off the 5-4 favourite ahead of Nicky Henderson's once-raced French import Lulamba (11-4), who had won on his debut for the Seven Barrows handler at Ascot in January. And for a moment it looked like it would be a two-way battle as East India Dock, under Sam Twiston-Davies, hit the front over the last flight, with Lulamba and Nico De Boinville quickly upsides. But as Lulamba get the better of the favourite, Poniros – having weaved through runners coming to the final flight. He came on the outside of both, under Jonjo O'Neill Junior, to hit the front and score by a neck from Lulamba. East India Dock was a further three-quarters-of-a-length back in third with another of Mullins' squad Lady Vega Allen (14-1), under Paul Townend a further length-and-three-quarters adrift in fourth.
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The win was as much as shock to Mullins as the almost silenced punters at Cheltenham. The son of Epsom Derby winner Golden Horn, now owned by Brighton and Hove Albion FC owner Tony Bloom, has been plying his trade on the Flat. He had won just once, on his debut at Nottingham, in eight starts when owned by Amoo Racing. But now having won on his first start over hurdles for Bloom he could bid to land the Grade One juvenile double in the Boodles Anniversary 4-Y-O Juvenile Hurdle at the Randox Grand National Festival at Aintree Racecourse on the opening day of the meeting on Thursday, April 2.
A shocked Mullins, landing a seventh winner of the week and his 110th at the Cheltenham Festival, said: "He's by Golden Horn and I think he's going to make a very good sire. He's the sort of horse you're looking for, but I didn't expect that. We were hoping he'd run well and be a nice horse for next year, so he's ahead of schedule. We bought him in October, we just schooled him and then gave him a break. We thought we'd better drag him in from the field and get him ready for Cheltenham, so that's what we did, but I didn't expect any more than a nice run.
"We'd a lot of horses in the race and they all came here with the same plan and I couldn't believe it when I saw him flying through."
