Willie Mullins is odds-on to beat the British at Cheltenham as festival fever builds

Willie Mullins is a red-hot 4/6 favourite with BoyleSports to train more winners at the Cheltenham Festival than all of the British based trainers combined. Savvy punters, with many travelling from Tipperary, have been locking on to a Willie Mullins bonanza at this year’s Festival, with the possibility of a record breaking four-day haul of winners firmly on the agenda if the stable gets off to a flier on the opening day.  

The Tuesday at Cheltenham has been synonymous with giving the punters an early lead over the bookies in a titanic four-day tussle, and Mullins will field favourites in six of the seven opening races. A flurry of accumulators has already seen a significant gamble snowball on day one, with Lossiemouth and State Man emerging as the early Irish bankers. 

As Mullins kicks off the Festival with a wealth of talent, he will have favourites in all of the opening day Grade 1s, and a favourite’s chance in the Ultima and the National Hunt Chase. He could claim a famous hundredth Cheltenham Festival victory as early as Tuesday with the Carlow based handler just 1/12 to claim his 11^th leading trainer title and stable jockey Paul Townend a 1/3 shot to become leading jockey.

With a haul of 10 winners in 2023 holding the current Festival record, team Mullins is just 7/2 to have 11 winners or more on this year, and 9/1 to win an unbelievable 12 races or more across the four days. 

Despite failing to have a winner in the opening fourteen races at the 2017 Festival, Mullins still managed to send out six winners in total, including a four-timer on Stayers’ Hurdle Day and a slow start is no guarantee that the bookies have escaped unscathed. As the depth of his stable only increases, the best is yet to come. 

Brian O’Keeffe, spokesperson for BoyleSports, said: “The countdown to this year’s Cheltenham Festival is firmly underway, and if Willie Mullins starts firing in the winners on the opening day, it could be a very long week for the bookies and a record breaking four days for the punters.”

In the betting to see who becomes the Top Jockey, Killenaule high flyer Rachael Blackmore is available at odds of 20/1. Check out some of the odds below. 

How many winners will Willie Mullins train at the 2024 Cheltenham Festival? 

3/10      8 or More

4/5        9 or More 

6/4        10 or More

7/2        11 or More

9/1        12 or More 

Top Trainer

1/12      Willie Mullins 

6/1        Gordon Elliott 

16/1      Nicky Henderson

Top Jockey

1/3        Paul Townend

11/2      Jack Kennedy

10/1      Nico de Boinville

10/1      Mark Walsh

20/1      Danny Mullins

20/1      Rachael Blackmore

25/1      Bar

Willie Mullins Special

4/6        Willie Mullins to train more Cheltenham winners than all GB trainer’s combined