WILLIE MULLINS gave an incredibly emotional tribute to his late mother Maureen while appearing on RTE’s Sunday with Miriam.
Mullins enjoyed yet another successful Cheltenham Festival during the week with Galopin des Champs topping it off by securing the Gold Cup on Friday.
The 67-year-old also earned his 100th win at Cheltenham putting him out in a league of his own.
However, this was Mullins’ first Festival without his mother after her sad passing last month at the age of 94.
The legendary trainer choked up as he paid tribute to Maureen during an emotional interview on RTE Radio One this morning.
Miriam O’Callaghan asked him how proud Maureen would have been over the Festival’s success and Mullins replied “Hugely, that was the one thing…” before pausing to hold back tears.
Mullins continued: “There was no-one to ring up after racing. That was my only disappointment of the week.
“She loved her racing, loved meeting people, going to Tramore, to Thurles, going to Cheltenham – they were all the same to her.
“In the car, I’d ring her up: ‘Do you want to go racing?’. ‘Give me five minutes.’ Hat, bag, coat, lipstick, boots, and away. She’d be ready.
“It was hugely important in her life.”
Mullins also revealed that he brought Maureen for a day out at Punchestown after the end of the Covid-19 lockdown.
Maureen enjoyed it so much that she told him she wanted to attend all the other days of the festival.
Mullins added: “It showed my how important racing can be in people’s lives, socially.”
The Mullins family matriarch was a leading figure in the sport for decades prior to her passing.
Maureen came from a farming family in Ireland and had an interest in horses from a young age.
In 1954 she married famous Irish trainer Paddy Mullins, who was responsible for six Cheltenham Festival successes while assisted by Maureen.
They ran their operation together out of Goresbridge, Co Kilkenny for more than 50 years before Paddy died in 2010.
She also rode herself, winning the ladies event at Gowran Park in 1982.
Maureen went on to become a director and shareholder at the Kilkenny racecourse.
She and Paddy had five children together; Sandra, Willie, George, Tony and Tom.