Love Me Tender

Love Me Tender is a five-year-old trained by Willie Mullins, the most powerful yard in Ireland. Mullins' operation has sent out 230 winners already this season alone, so getting serious attention from that team means something. His career began at Tramore in May 2025, where jockey Jody Townend — who had ridden him at home — said she knew she'd won coming down the hill. She was careful to note he probably hadn't beaten much that day, but added he couldn't have done it more impressively. That is a trainer's kind of debut: efficient, unfussy, with room to spare.

The bigger moment came at Tipperary in October, when Love Me Tender won a Grade 3 race — one step below the very top level — over two miles. That is a meaningful jump in quality, and Paul Townend, one of the best jump jockeys in the business, was clearly excited afterwards. He described the horse's jumping as electric, saying he was "looking for the next hurdle all the time." That kind of natural rhythm over obstacles is not something you can teach — horses either have it or they don't.

What makes Mullins' comments from November particularly interesting is how openly ambitious they are. He has said he plans to train Love Me Tender like a Grade 1 horse — the very highest level — and believes the horse will actually improve as the trips get longer. He pointed to the family: a line of horses that got better the more they raced. Love Me Tender has 8 races under his belt and has placed in 6 of them. The trajectory is pointing firmly upward, and if the ground comes up soft this winter, he will be very hard to ignore.