Five years on with 211 winners under his belt, he’s now only 24 but has been disillusioned with riding for some time. Mullins is the nephew of champion trainer Willie Mullins and said he wants to retire and start breeding and buying his own stable of horses. His last race was at Naas where he rode Blackbow to a third-place finish on January 13th.

Lingfield 3-Horse pile-up

In other news this week, the Lingfield meet on the 18th Monday was marred by an accident involving Jerry McGrath. His horse Vegas Blue was challenging on the final turn when she got crowded out and fell, unsaddling McGrath and bringing down 2 other horses, Lord Howard and Perfect Percy. Their riders and all 3 horses got to their feet with only McGrath injured and taken to hospital for X-rays and treatment. It’s suspected shoulder and hip surgery are required with fractures to both, but thankfully no damage to back or neck. Let’s hope he is alright and recovers soon. From initial reports, it is unlikely he will be race-ready for Cheltenham where he has won twice before.

Betting Opportunities – Hot News

Every year the Cheltenham Festival stirs up hot betting news and having a flutter on the races is a tradition in the UK as well as for many around the globe. Plus, it’s never been easier than now to place bets online via sportsbooks with betting tips, betting offers, and betting tops such as the freebets.com Cheltenham betting guide. You can even place a bet now on the horse you fancy and if it does not run, don’t worry because the bookies will refund the bet via the Non-Runner No Bet (‘NRNB’) option.

If you happen to get a chance to sign up, then there are free bets for new members so you can back a horse with long odds and as one of your outside favourites. Plus, when you make a deposit, you can grab hold of more free bets on the Cheltenham Festival 2021!

The Cheltenham Festival

The Cheltenham Racing Festival is a highlight of the UK racing calendar. This year’s event is going ahead and looks set to attract a bumper audience. It starts Tuesday 16th March and goes over 4 days finishing on Friday 19th March. If you want to see what else is coming up, a good horse racing calendar is the BBC page showing the races month by month.

The Cheltenham Gold Cup

At this year’s event lookout for the fan favourite Altior looking to win in a fifth Festival race. And if Al Boum Photo can win the Gold Cup again, it will be the third consecutive year, a feat last accomplished by the brilliant Best Mate in 2002, 2003 and 2004. The Gold Cup is the year’s highlight for most stables and punters. Al Boum Photo is the unmistakable top runner and a genuine Cheltenham Hall of Famer already, having won consecutive Gold Cups over the last 2 years. Al Boum succeeded at Tranmore at the new year by a huge 19 lengths so you can see the justification for putting him clear favourite. The other horses that may give him a run are Minella Indo, Santini and Champ.

For some sign of the form of those 3 horses, watch the Cotswold Chase at Cheltenham on January 30 where a solid field will show us on if Champ is a contender or not and, afterwards in February when Santini gets a run out at the Newbury Denman Chase. With chases and jumps, Cheltenham is mainly for jump fans and makes for more drama and tension as the horses have to jump over the hurdles as they vie for position. For an explainer on different types of horse-racing see this guide.