Funiculi Funicula

Trained by Willie Mullins, the most successful jumps trainer in Ireland and arguably in the world, Funiculi Funicula is part of a yard that has sent out 220 winners this season alone. That figure is almost absurd — it works out at roughly one winner every day of the jumps calendar. For a horse to earn regular starts in that operation, it has to be earning its place.

The ground is worth noting. On wet or muddy going, Funiculi Funicula has won 2 of 3 races — a 67% win rate, which in racing terms borders on the extraordinary. That is not a coincidence; it is a pattern. When conditions are soft, something clicks. Whether that is a physical preference or just confidence is hard to say, but the yard clearly know it and will plan around it.

The career began with a first win at Clonmel in January 2025, and the trajectory since has been upward. Mullins had earmarked this horse for chasing — racing over fences rather than hurdles — and was encouraged by how well it had schooled at home. The transition has clearly worked. Most recently, Funiculi Funicula won at Punchestown, one of Ireland's most prestigious jumping venues, just this week. Winning there is not like winning at a small midweek meeting; Punchestown draws the best horses and the sharpest competition.

The post-race mood after that Cork run earlier in the campaign told its own story. The jockey described nerves mounting as five other fancied rides had come and gone without a winner — then relief and delight when this one delivered. "He jumped fantastically the whole way around," came the verdict. That matters for a chaser. Clean jumping, especially in soft ground, is the difference between a horse that places and one that wins, and right now Funiculi Funicula is winning.