ONE of the pleasing parts of the historic Willie Mullins Grand National win and the Scottish National to follow last week was that it put different owners in the spotlight.

Similar to last season when the two big handicaps, the Scottish National and the Bet365 Gold Cup were won by Macdermott (Gallagher Bloodstock Limited) and Minella Cocconer (David Bobbett), the 2025 winners were in ownership outside the big four.

You tend to expect the McManus/Ricci/Donnelly/Munir & Souede colours to dominate the big races, but the last two weekends brought a big win for Stewart Andrew and Captain Cody’s owners Vincent Caldwell and Angela Shamoon.

The 2022-2023 season saw the Mullins yard provide 19 individual Grade 1 winners for 14 different owners with smaller, one horse representations for the likes of Michael Masterson (Champ Kiely), Blue Blood Racing Club (Ashroe Diamond), Joanne Coleman (Klassical Dream), Linda Mulcahy & Mary Wolridge (Flame Bearer), Barnane Stud (Echoes In Rain), Hammer & Trowel Syndicate (Facile Vega) and in the US, Malcolm Denmark (Scaramanga).

Last season 20 Mullins horses won Grade 1s for 10 different owners, and while the likes of Kenny Alexander and Audrey Turley are expected to be on the winning lists, Tim O’Driscoll (Redemption Day), Ronnie Bartlett & David Manasseh (Ballyburn), Hollywood Racing & Barnane Stud (Il Etait Temps) and Cheveley Park Stud (Grangeclare West) were among the Grade 1 winners.

And the champion trainer has a knack of always pulling a few unexpected winners from the hat to fit each Festival, with Gaelic Warrior and Murcia, both of whom were produced off lower key seasons to win the Grade 1s at Aintree, as well as Gentleman De Mee coming up trumps in the Topham.

IT was almost a welcome change this week, following so much negativity after the Grand National and Scottish Grand National, to have the classic trials under way and just having discussions on whether three-year-olds winning trials over seven furlongs would last the mile of the Guineas.

Aidan O’Brien must have been pleased with the three-year-old debuts of Camille Pissarro and Henri Matisse but has chosen to keep his number one Guineas contenders away from the track until the big day.

Fairy Godmother has been injured and main rivals Godolphin also lost one classic colt in Ancient Truth but have also kept Shadow Of Light and Desert Flower to just a racecourse workout until the big day.

Field Of Gold jumped to the head of the 2000 Guineas list in winning the Craven impressively. One of the notable sights in the 2024 European Two-Year-Old Rankings was, that of the top 42 juveniles, all rated 110+, not one came from the Gosdens’ yard.

By contrast, Aidan O’Brien had 12 rated over 110. It was only slightly better in 2023 where the Gosden yard had just two horses rated in that top 35 on 110+.

It’s a bit of a surprise, given the quality of horse he usually has in the yard, that the 2000 Guineas is still one that has eluded Gosden and has yet to be put on the list of winners.

While the higher rated opposition chose to sit out the trials, Field Of Gold took centre stage this week for the Newmarket handler.

For the fillies, the 1000 Guineas winner has proven almost more elusive to find in recent years than the Grand National and has thrown up long odds winners in 66/1 shot Billesdon Brook in 2018, Hermosa at 14/1 the following year, Cachet at 16/1 and then Elmalka at 28/1 last season. Even the high class Ballydoyle winner Mother Earth was sent off at 10/1 in 2021.

It’s looking like two intriguing classics and it will be interesting to see how things play out in two weeks’ time.

Andrew O’Connor@Wharfemeister

Gosden/Shoemark silencing their doubters and critics after a poor season last year. That’s racing for you

Richard Hoiles@RichardHoiles

One of the most under rated horses of recent seasons. 108 starts, all codes. 142 over fences, 136 hurdles and 80 flat at one stage or another. Tough mare. [On the retirement of Effernock Fizz]