Mullins: updates on my leading lights for the 2025-26 Jumps season

Galopin Des Champs, State Man, Lossiemouth, Ballyburn, Il Etait Tempts, Nick Rockett...the list of star names among Willie Mullins' squad for the 2025-26 Jumps season is almost endless, and the Closutton maestro arguably has his strongest ever team for the months ahead.

Mullins, who has won 19 Irish trainers’ titles and scooped back-to-back British trainers’ titles in 2024 and 2025, has been busy mapping out plans for his battalion. 

Speaking at the HRI's launch of the jumps season on Wednesday morning, Mullins shared an update on some of the key names among his hugely powerful team.

“Anzadam looks to have enough potential to go down the Champion Hurdle route.

“There’s been little bits of bother with him but this year everything has been good. He has the ability but sometimes his training schedule gets interrupted.

“If I can get a clear run into him, I think we’re looking at going for the Fighting Fifth with him. Like State Man he’s owned by Joe and Marie Donnelly and there seems little point in both of them going for the Morgiana.

“It’s more to keep an owners’ horses apart than looking at the championship, but obviously that’s no harm either.”

“We’re looking at going back over hurdles with Ballyburn. He just didn’t really take to chasing and I’m thinking he’d have to really kick up a gear this year, out of novice company into Grade Ones.

“He might be better off sticking to the long-distance hurdle races which might be easier for him.”

“On the hurdling front there’s Bambino Fever who won the Bumper, could she be good enough to even go against the boys in the top novice hurdles rather than just go down the mares hurdle route?

“She’s got a huge engine and is a lovely big mare. I’m always a believer to look at the races you can win rather than be an unlucky loser so I’d imagine we’ll go down the mares route, but if she looks like she needs a trip we could go to the Ballymore. I’d be hard pressed to think of a mare better than her.”

“I think the Gold Cup will be his aim again. He’s nine so he’s young enough to have another go at the Gold Cup again and be a real potent force.

“He ran really well last year, he was just beaten over the last fence but I think he’s still got enough in him to be a real contender this year.”

“Il Etait Tempts is going to start out earlier this year, he’s going to go across for the Tingle Creek at Sandown where he won so impressively on the last day of the season this year.

“We might try and get a run into him before that in the Clonmel Oil Chase.

“If that form is proper form he’s going to be a real addition to our top chasing ranks.”

“I haven’t decided on Jasmin De Vaux yet and looking how he jumped last year, you wouldn’t immediately go novice chasing.

“In his favour when we went out in trip he was a lot better. He might have more respect for fences but looking back at his point, he wasn’t a natural that day.”

“I imagine Lossiemouth will start in the Hatton’s Grace then after that you’ll have to guess as I don’t think I want to get into the same hassle we had last year, the way it worked out,” said Mullins.

“She’ll tell us after the Hatton’s Grace but she’d look a hot order for the Mares’ Hurdle.”

“He’s quite entitled to go back for the Grand National but I think he deserves a Gold Cup entry.

“I thought his performance last year in the National was very good, he has all the attributes for a Gold Cup entry this year.

“I’ll have to have a chat with Stewart (Andrew), his owner, about which way he’d like to go and the horse will probably tell us during the season after his first few runs.

“I think Nick Rockett winning with Patrick riding him was maybe the highlight of my life, as a father, putting your son up to win a Grand National is huge. Ted Walsh knows all about that, but I got a great kick out of it.”

“I think Salvator Mundi has the ability to be a Champion Hurdle horse too but as they have Anzadam and State Man, I’m going to go over fences with him and it might teach him to settle better,” said Mullins.

“He shows more at home than he has on the track. Maybe fences will bring that out, he could be a huge player.”

“State Man was just unlucky at Cheltenham. 

“He showed every one of us what Paul (Townend) had been saying all along, it had never entered his head not to ride him even if Lossiemouth had run (in the Champion Hurdle). He had State Man way ahead, which probably was hard to see in the evidence of his runs but he’s just been lazy until we changed tack (cheekpieces). We’ll keep it similar with him.”