Willie Mullins on Saturday's British National Hunt season finale at Sandown
Willie Mullins is looking to emulate Vincent O'Brien by winning back-to-back British jump racing Champion Trainer titles
Willie Mullins is predicting the race between himself and Dan Skelton to be crowned British jump racing Champion Trainer to go right down to the wire.
The British National Hunt season draws to a close on Saturday at Sandown and with £685,000 on offer in prize money across the meeting, everything will be to play for between the two trainers at the Surrey track.
The 68-year-old has had another stellar year with major wins at the Cheltenham Festival in the form of Kopek Des Bordes in the Supreme Novices’ Hurdle, Lossiemouth in the David Nicholson Mares' Hurdle and Lecky Watson in the Brown Advisory Novices' Chase to name but a few.
Those triumphs have propelled Mullins into contention to defend the crown he won last year for the first time as he tries to chase down Skelton.
“Dan is in front and getting points on the board which is what it is all about,” he said.
“Having them on the board is worth everything and Dan has some nice chances.
“It is tough for him. People were calling him the champion all year and he has done everything right.
“We have come along late in the play but that is what we always do every year.
“We do not set out to start early, and I find that works best for us.
“It will come down to Saturday.”
Who can forget perhaps Mullins’ moment of the year when his son Patrick rode Nick Rockett to victory at the Grand National in April – a race which saw the four-time Gold Cup-winner train five of the first seven finishers.
“I think Aintree sealed what I think is one of my biggest achievements, having your son ride you a Grand National winner,” he continued.
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“What more can I say? To me, my son riding the winner at Aintree.
“Just to put that into perspective, I was hoping to give him one or two rides in the National and who knows how many rides in the race he would have had in his lifetime?
“But for him to get a winner was just something else.”
Last year, Mullins followed in the footsteps of the great Vincent O’Brien when he became the first Irish-based trainer to win the British title since 1954.
O’Brien had done so in 1953 too and the feat of retaining the crown is something which Mullins is now also on the cusp of achieving.
But being based either side of the Irish Sea, the 17-time Irish Hunt Champion trainer admitted he does not have too much contact with Skelton.
“The fact we are both in different countries means we are not meeting each other in the weighing room like you would an Irish trainer, so it has been very quiet in that respect,” he said.
“We do not ring each other up to ask, ‘what are you running and not running’ or anything like that.
“He is doing his business, and I am doing mine and that is the way it is.
“We will have a bit of fun on Saturday. One of us will walk away disappointed and the other will walk away with what I call the cookie jar.
“I kept all my sweets in the British Championship Trainers Cup this year - I could not keep it full of Brandy and Champagne you see!
“So, whoever wins it on Saturday, there might be one or two left at the bottom.”
However, for the heavily decorated Mullins, the most enjoyable aspect of Saturday’s finale will be watching the best horses compete with one another against the backdrop of an enthusiastic crowd.
“We had a great day last year on the Saturday, Sandown looked after us very well,” he added.
“We were totally amazed with the amount of support we got but I think people were delighted to see the good horses taking each other on.
“It was not so much an Irish-versus-English thing.
“The day was great because of that and there was a fantastic atmosphere.”