WITH 237 winners and over €6.6 million in prize money (and that’s just in Ireland), Willie Mullins had a record-breaking season, which ended in style last week at Punchestown where the champion trainer had 17 winners.

During the course of the campaign, Mullins had 850 runners, which means he had a strike-rate of almost 28%. If you add in his placed horses, the strike-rate doubles to 56%.

By comparison, Gordon Elliott’s win strike-rate was 15% (39% with placed horses included) and Henry de Bromhead weighed in at 14.5% for winners (40% with placed horses added). So, it’s not far off the mark to say Mullins is twice as successful as his nearest rivals.

The previous season Mullins ‘only’ had 203 Irish winners and €5.8 million in prize money, which works out at around a 15% increase this season.

What of the others? Elliott and de Bromhead were back slightly on their totals from the previous season. Joseph O’Brien’s increased focus on the flat saw his number of winners over jumps almost halve though prize money won remained high, thanks to the likes of Busselton and Home By The Lee.

It was lineball for Gavin Cromwell, who continues to close in on the big three to the effect that we are very close to including him in ‘the big four’.

There’s a fair gap then to Noel Meade whose total of 23 winners was his lowest on record. He usually has around 50 but, to be fair, he is another – like Jessica Harrington – who has pivoted more towards the flat in recent years with good results.

Peter Fahey held his own this term, as did Philip Rothwell, Oliver McKiernan, Denis Hogan, Liz Doyle, Padraig Roche and Dermot McLoughlin, despite not winning the Irish National.

Emmet Mullins and Martin Brassil both won Grade 1 races at Punchestown and you’d have to say they had good seasons, even though both of them had fewer winners than the year before. I would describe this pair as almost boutique or ‘target’ trainers. There is a plan for every horse in their yards and the bare stats don’t always tell the story.

So, what trainers are coming up in the world? Well, top of the list has to be John McConnell. His domestic tally rose from 17 to 30 and he also had winners at both Aintree and Cheltenham.

Barry Connell got a namecheck on this page last year, having gone from nine winners to 12. Now he’s gone up again to 19 and it’s pretty clear things are really clicking for this private operator.

A shout-out too to Tony Martin who jumped from nine winners to 14, headed by Tudor City’s Galway Hurdle win. The stats don’t include his Cheltenham success with Good Time Jonny.

Special mention has to go to Charles Byrnes who had 22 winners. He returned from suspension in August 2021, so this was his first full season since 2019-’20 when he had 20 winners. Given he is winning bumpers as well as handicaps these days, it’s reasonable to say he is going better than ever.

Finally, here’s six trainers under the radar with eye-catching stats from last season - Patrick Foley (eight winners), Norman Lee (10), Ross O’Sullivan (9), Eoin McCarthy (13), Anthony McCann (eight) and Paul Flynn (nine).

They might not have Willie Mullins worried just yet but they are going in the right direction.