Il Etait Temps

What makes the numbers even more striking is where those wins have come from. Three of his 11 victories have been in Class 1 races — the biggest races in Britain and Ireland — and he has won two of them at Sandown Park alone, most recently the Tingle Creek in December 2025. Willie Mullins, his trainer and arguably the most successful jumping trainer in the world, has admitted he was surprised the first time Il Etait Temps landed at Sandown, and was almost disbelieving when the horse came back and did it again. That is the kind of form that demands respect. Mullins' yard has sent out 230 winners this season alone, so when a horse stands out even there, it means something.

The transformation in how the horse actually races is what his team finds most remarkable. His jockey described riding him as genuinely brave work at Cheltenham — unable to match the pace early on, he sat and sat, then came alive down the hill with every stride better than the last. Mullins has spoken about a time when you would barely dare ask him to jump a fence early in a race in case it wound him up. That horse is gone. The version now described as measured, clean, and almost serene through a race is a different animal entirely. Removing a hood appears to have played a part in settling him mentally, and the timing of that tweak, with his best performances clustering afterwards, is hard to ignore.

His regular partner Danny Mullins has ridden him in 12 of his races and won 4 of them — roughly 1 in every 3 — which is a solid ratio at this level. His most recent win came at Punchestown just this week, keeping him firmly in the conversation for the Champion Chase at Cheltenham. At eight years old, at the height of his powers, finally looking like the horse everyone suspected he could be, Il Etait Temps has picked a very good time to arrive.