Maureen Mullins, the mother of perennial champion trainer Willie and Irish racing’s great matriarch, died the morning of Feb. 14 at the age of 94 following a short illness.
Along with her late husband Paddy, also a multiple champion trainer who died in 2010, she leaves behind an indelible legacy through the remarkable exploits of their children and grandchildren. Together they had a daughter and four sons who have cemented the Mullins name as synonymous with Irish racing.
Confirming the news of her death at home in Goresbridge, County Kilkenny, on Wednesday morning, her son Tony said: “She died peacefully at home, and I suppose that’s all we can all hope for. And she had a full life—she missed nothing. It is always a shock, but it is nice that she didn’t suffer for long.”
Maureen Mullins had been one of the most familiar faces on a racecourse for the best part of seven decades having been a key cog in her husband’s long and distinguished training career. More recently, she could be seen frequently attending the track accompanying her children and grandchildren, and she was still undertaking some official duties only a few weeks ago.
“She cut the ribbon to open the new weighing room at Gowran Park in January, and a couple of days after, she came down with pneumonia or the flu, and she was in the house since,” Tony said. “She was moving around with some assistance up to a few days ago, so it was relatively peaceful, and people have been great here.”
As well as Tony, a former champion jockey, and Willie—her eldest son—Maureen was mother to Tom, George, and Sandra.
Her grandchildren have continued the phenomenal tradition of the family, with Patrick, the record-breaking amateur rider, and multiple grade 1-winner Danny, David, Charlie, Fiona, and Emmet having all ridden winners. In 2022, Emmet emulated his uncle Willie by becoming a Grand National-winning trainer when Noble Yeats landed the Aintree showpiece, six years after cousin David won the race on Rule The World for Mouse Morris.
Patrick Mullins with grandmother Maureen after winning the Morgiana Hurdle for a second time at Punchestown Racecourse
On Tuesday, Charlie partnered Coco Masterpiece to victory in the bumper for Willie at Thurles, which she didn’t miss.
“In her husband’s time, she was a leader around here,” Tony said. “She continued her massive interest in racing right up to the very last day. Would you believe, she had €20 win on Charlie in the bumper yesterday—that was her last bet.
“She was interested right up to the very end. Charlie winning the bumper at Thurles was one of the last things she was aware of, and she said to me before, ‘If I can’t ever go racing again, what’s the point?’ She was able to get out there right to the end, which is what she wanted. There is no doubt that, even in her last couple of weeks of sickness, she wanted to know the results every single day, and she was most proud of Willie and Danny’s great day in Leopardstown last week. That definitely had her in great humor that night.”
Mullins was always recognized as being one of the driving forces behind the success of her husband, who trained Dawn Run to complete the unique Champion Hurdle-Gold Cup double in 1984 and 1986, and she excelled in many facets of the sport, including as an owner and breeder. She also rode a winner at her local Gowran Park on board Razzo Forte in a race for wives and daughters of trainers in 1982.
As an owner-breeder, she won a number of prestigious flat handicaps, including the Irish Cambridgeshire with I’m Ready in 1979 and Girl In Blue, who landed the Irish Lincoln in 1984. Willie steered Pargan to success in his mother’s colors in the GPT Amateur Handicap at Galway in 1985, while Grabel, who she co-owned, was ridden by her son Tony to extraordinary success in the Dueling Grounds International Hurdle in 1990, the richest jump race ever held in North America.
More recently, she bred and owned Kilcruit, which was named after the village in which she spent her formative years in County Carlow. The Stowaway gelding began his career trained by Tony prior to being sold to race for Willie after finishing runner-up in a Clonmel bumper and went on to land the grade 1 bumper at Punchestown in 2021.
Her five children all rode winners on the track and four have been in the winner’s enclosure as trainers, while George operates a world-renowned horse transport business.
However, much like her husband when he was in his pomp, Willie now exerts an inordinate influence over the jumps scene. He has been champion jumps trainer in Ireland every year since the 2008-09 season and has amassed 94 Cheltenham Festival successes, while Tony and Tom are also both grade 1 and Cheltenham Festival-winning handlers, as is her grandson Emmet.
Mullins will repose at her son George’s home in Closutton, Bagenalstown, County Carlow, R21 W725 Feb. 15 from 3 p.m. to 8 p.m., with funeral arrangements yet to be confirmed. Family flowers only, and donations can be made to the Irish Injured Jockeys Fund.
