MULLINS WARNS CHELTENHAM IT RISKS LOSING TOP HORSES OVER FESTIVAL GROUND

Willie Mullins has delivered a pointed warning to Cheltenham, saying the sport's best jumpers could start bypassing the Festival unless the course produces softer ground in March. The champion trainer claimed that some of his runners on the final two days of this year's meeting suffered "significant damage" because the track had not been watered properly, comments reported by the Irish Examiner.

Mullins was speaking on Wednesday after welcoming the media to his Closutton yard in County Carlow to launch his National Hunt season. He pointed to Bambino Fever, the even-money favourite who was well beaten in the Mares' Novices' Hurdle on the Thursday of the Festival, saying the mare came out of the race jarred up. On the same afternoon, owner JP McManus withdrew Fact To File from the Ryanair Chase, a horse Mullins rated as probably his most solid chance of the week.

A CALL FOR WINTER GROUND

The trainer contrasted the current approach with the era of former clerk of the course Simon Claisse, when, he said, runners could expect the going to include the word soft on the opening day, with watering decisions then made according to the forecast. Mullins argued that if Cheltenham wants horses who race on soft and easy ground all winter, it has to provide that surface, and warned that a quicker track would change the type of horse the Festival attracts.

"People with really good horses won't go there," he told reporters, according to the Racing Post. He added that leading owners Simon Munir and Isaac Souede are not especially keen on going to Cheltenham, and that more of his owners are already leaning towards the spring festivals at Aintree and Punchestown.

AN ISSUE THAT HAS NOT GONE AWAY

The ground was a talking point throughout the 2026 Festival, with Mullins voicing his frustration to Racing TV at the time after the Fact To File withdrawal. His latest remarks carry real weight: he is the most successful trainer in Festival history and saddles a huge share of the meeting's leading fancies each year, so any move by his owners towards Aintree or Punchestown would be keenly felt at Prestbury Park.

Racing Daily has not seen any public response from Cheltenham so far. The course stages its November Meeting from Friday, headlined by Saturday's Paddy Power Gold Cup, while next year's Festival takes place in March.