Willie Mullins On Plumpton ‘Easter Hunt’ As Trainers’ Title Race Heads To East Sussex

We could see some leading Plumpton Willie Mullins runners at the East Sussex jumps venue over Easter as the Closutton handler continues to ramp-up his British entries in search of landing another jumps trainers’ title.

Amongst the star names that Plumpton racegoers could see at the track are former Cheltenham Festival winner Absurde, as well as Irish Champion Hurdle runner-up Daddy Long Legs and the 2022 Ballymore Novices’ Hurdle winner Sir Gerhard.

Absurde One Of The Willie Mullins Plumpton Runners Over Easter Sunday and Monday

With Willie Mullins having a purple patch in Britain now – which have included a bumper Aintree Festival, a Grand National win and also a Scottish National success last weekend – the top Irish handler has catapulted himself right back in the trainers’ title race – a prize he won for the first time last season.

Prior to Aintree, Mullins had openly said it would be a tall order to catch Dan Skelton, who was around £1.3m ahead of him, but has since closed the gap to just a few thousand and is now long odds-on with the best horse racing betting sites in the UK to successfully defend his trainers’ title.

However, Skelton isn’t rolling over and continues to send out a stack of runners each day too. You can keep updated on both their entries and their latest prize money hauls here.

In response, Mullins is now sending over a lot more runners to the lesser jumps tracks in Britain – including Plumpton. Where the East Sussex venue has over £450,000 on offer across the two-day meeting which runs over Easter Sunday and Monday.

Plumpton Will Have Over £450k In Prize Money On Offer Over Easter

Plumpton’s Chief Executive Craig Staddon said: “We’re over the moon with Willie’s entries and we’ve still got entries to come for the Sussex Champion Chase on Easter Monday tomorrow. So let’s see if he has more to come too.

“We’ve got more than £450,000 of prize money on offer across the two days and it’s fantastic to get the big guns coming. Patrick [Mullins] was fantastic when he came over last month and we were chatting about Easter then. The last thing he said was he was looking forward to coming back. So fingers crossed we see that at declarations time.”

Dan Skelton is also expected to be mob-handed at Plumpton so there should be some fascinating swings in the prize money race.

With the likes of Knickerbockerglory, Rock House and Aintree scorer She’s A Saint holding entries at this stage.

“It’s great Dan looks like he’ll be sending a fair few runners too and hopefully this puts Plumpton in the broadsheets. We’re hoping it’ll keep our momentum going as we’re a small racecourse who has put a lot of effort in and we’ve seen significantly higher interest for the two days. People are in for a treat.

“However, there’s also plenty of support for the local trainers too as there’s good prize-money for everyone. It’s testament to Marcus [Waters, clerk of the course] and the grounds team because they’ve spent a lot of time setting up the track perfectly for this weekend.” Staddon added

Willie Mullins Has Only Had One Previous Plumpton Runner – And It Lost At 1/8

Whereas Skelton has had many runners at Plumpton over the years, Willie Mullins has only saddled one previous horse at the track.

This was earlier this season on the Monday before the Cheltenham Festival when his More Coko was stuffed at long odds-on (1/8). He’ll be hoping Plumpton is a better ‘hunting’ ground this Easter.

The British trainers’ title race will end on Saturday 26th April at Sandown Park, with the bet365 Gold Cup one of the feature races.

Willie Mullins Plumpton Runners and Entries

Sunday 20th April 2025

Monday 21st April 2025

Plumpton Race Schedule Easter Sunday: April 20th 2025

Plumpton Race Schedule Easter Monday: April 21st 2025