Today we are going off course and throwing it back to the 2019 Cheltenham festival and more importantly the Gold Cup which saw Willie Mullins land the event for the first time in his career.
Mullins has been known at the Cheltenham festival for over a decade of landing consistent winners, but the race that had always eluded him until 2019 was the feature race of the four day meeting.
However, Fielding four in the race he finally got the win he deserved with Al Boum Photo under Paul Townend going on to stay the best up the hill in the final stages.
Like London buses, Mullins in 2020 went on to land back to back renewals of the race with the same horse and having waited all that time for just one win in the race, he now had two in two years.
Both performances by Townend and Al Boum Photo were superb, with his preparation going into the race being exactly the same each time.
This term the Cheltenham hall of fame trainer will send his star down the same path again with the third consecutive Gold Cup well within their sites.