Willie Mullins Threatens Cheltenham Boycott Over Hard Ground Concerns

If the ground is going to be like this, we're not going to bring them." Willie Mullins, the man who has saddled 118 winners at Cheltenham and is statistically the most successful trainer in the Festival's history, dropped that warning on Thursday after withdrawing Ryanair Chase hot favourite Fact To File shortly before the feature race. This is not a grumble from a trainer having a bad week. This is an existential threat to the Festival's marquee status, delivered by the man who defines it.

Mullins had been signalling his unease all morning. Speaking to Racing TV presenter Nick Luck earlier in the day, he described Fact To File as "a good mover but the ground is lively" — understated language that carried a clear message. By the time the Ryanair Chase approached at 4pm, patience had run out. Mullins consulted with owner JP McManus and pulled the horse. "I talked with JP, and said, these horses are too difficult to acquire," Mullins explained. "We waited all day for rain that was half-promised, so we made the decision not to run."

The alarm bells had been ringing across the McManus camp for hours. AP McCoy, working for the owner, told TalkSport: "I don't know if Fact To File is definitely running." McManus's racing manager Frank Berry was more direct: "I'm very worried about the ground, it's up in the air at the moment." In the betting markets, Fact To File had already been drifting, bookmakers' representatives nervously talking up a short-priced treble that was collapsing in real time.

Fact To File had been expected to follow up what The Guardian described as "his imperious success in this race last season" and entered Thursday as the warm favourite. Instead, Mullins pointed squarely at racecourse management. "We were promised watering. And I'm not sure the watering we were promised has been done. I'm a little bit annoyed about that," he said. To Racing TV, he sharpened the critique further: "We think the ground is not good enough for the type of individual we are buying, we are trying to race. I know the forecast has not been kind, but few people complain about too much rain. The conditions suit some horses, but for the big favourites we would like it softer."

Clerk of the course Jon Pullin pushed back, saying "selective watering" had been carried out "on the majority of the new course" to maintain going described as "good, good to soft in places." The racecourse has faced persistent challenges all week, with previously anticipated rain failing to materialise, though overnight downpours were expected. That explanation did not satisfy Mullins, and the distinction between what was promised and what was delivered remains the core of the dispute.

The withdrawal of Fact To File also landed in a festival already carrying the weight of two equine fatalities in its opening two days. Thursday passed without further incident on that front, but the ground row now becomes the dominant story heading into the Gold Cup weekend.

Mullins had no winners at all on Thursday, a rare blank for a trainer of his volume and strike rate. With Nicky Henderson's Jonbon, a horse who has won just two of his six Cheltenham starts, stepping into the Ryanair void, and Impaire Et Passe trading around 5-1 as Mullins's next realistic winner candidate, the Irish superpower's St Patrick's Thursday turned into something far quieter than anticipated. Whether his boycott threat hardens into something permanent depends entirely on whether Cheltenham's groundstaff can deliver what the sport's biggest operator says he was promised.