Willie Mullins became emotional as he discussed his late mother on RTÉ radio on Sunday morning.
Mullins’ mother Maureen passed away at the age of 94 at the end of last month.
She was honoured at the Cheltenham festival last week with Tuesday’s final race named as the Maureen Mullins National Hunt Steeple Chase Challenge Cup in her honour.
Discussing her loss with Miriam O’Callaghan on RTÉ radio, Mullins became emotional as he discussed the void her passing has left.
“That was the one thing…” Mullins said through a croaking voice.
“There was no-one to ring up after the racing. That was my only disappointment of the week,” he said.
“She loved her racing. Loved meeting people. Loved going to Tramore, to Thurles, to Cheltenham, they were all the same to her.
“I’d ring her up, ‘do you want to go racing?’
“‘Give me five minutes,'” she’d say, “‘Hat, bag, coat, lipstick, boots and away. She’d be ready. It wouldn’t be this thing waiting two hours for her,” he said.
Her son Willie enjoyed yet another extremely successful Cheltenham festival last week, saddling nine winners at the Cotswolds.
Having started the week with 94 winners to his name, he became the first trainer ever to rack up the century on Wednesday evening, when his son Patrick rode Jasmin de Vaux to victory in the Champion bumper.
The Mullins team enjoyed success in the Champion Hurdle, with State Man and in the Gold Cup, where Galopin Des Champs took victory for the second year in a row.
These were the headline acts in a string of highly impressive performances, with the highly rated Ballyburn dazzling in the Gallaghers’ Novice’s hurdle while Gaelic Warrior also showed his class in the Arkle.
A homecoming was held in the Carlow town of Leighlinbridge on Tuesday evening, where Galopin des Champs was paraded through the streets, with the team’s eight other festival winners also present.
Reflecting on his mother’s passing, Mullins described the ‘hugely important’ role racing played in her life, especially through the Covid pandemic.
“It was hugely important in her life.
“I thought after Covid, she wouldn’t make it through, like anyone in Covid, stuck at home on their own.
“And then I brought her racing after Covid to Punchestown one day.
“And I thought one day would be plenty. And you know the next morning, she was on the phone ‘are we going?’
“So I brought her five days to Punchestown, not tired, not anything, just her, back to herself.”
