Paddy Mullins
(1919 - October 28, 2010)
Paddy Mullins was an Irish horse racing trainer, who will forever be remembered for sending out Dawn Run to win the 1984 Champion Hurdle and 1986 Gold Cup.
The hugely respected Mullins, who was from a farming and hunting background in Kilkenny, had a racing career spanning 52 years.
His first winner was Flash Parade, which won the 1953 La Touche at Punchestown. Although he was predominantly a jump trainer – with six Cheltenham Festival successes, four Irish National winners and 10 Irish jump trainers' title under his belt – two of his greatest successes were achieved on the Flat.
In 1973, Hurry Harriet won the Champion Stakes, an achievement he rated above Dawn Run's exploits because she beat Allez France, then the best horse in Europe. Then in 2005, two years before he handed over his Goresbridge yard to son Tom, he won the Irish Oaks with Vintage Tipple, ridden by Frankie Dettori.
But Paddy Mullins will always be associated with Dawn Run, the only horse to have won both the Champion Hurdle and Gold Cup. Ridden in both races by Jonjo O'Neill, she is commemorated with a statue overlooking the Cheltenham paddock.
Mullins married his wife Maureen in 1954 and between them they founded a racing dynasty. Three of their sons – Willie, Tony and Tom –are trainers, as is Sandra McCarthy, their daughter. Their other son, George, runs a horse transport business, while two of their grandsons are successful jockeys.
Paddy Mullins passed away peacefully.
RIP
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