Willie Mullins and Gordon Elliott at Aintree© Photo Healy Racing
As Tiger Roll and Pleasant Company flashed past the post in Saturday's epic Aintree Grand National finish the thought struck home that Irish racing has never seen a rivalry to compare to that of their trainers - Gordon Elliott and Willie Mullins. Lots view their duopoly either positively or negatively. But the scale of their accomplishments is indisputable. Theirs is a rivalry to compare with anything in sport. Familiarity though means we forget to acknowledge how special it actually is.
In terms of the National result itself this link is an attempt to fit it into the overall context of an unprecedented period of success for Irish racing - Irish Racing's Golden Age
But never before has domestic dominance been so routinely transferred across the Irish Sea as Elliott and Mullins continue to do. That they should fight out the National finish feels only apt considering what they're doing at home and how they saddled 15 of the 17 Irish trained winners at Cheltenham. And now there's another epic trainers championship climax to look forward to at Punchestown. It's a rivalry that straddles the sport like nothing before.
What's great is that it's a proper one. There's nothing lopsided about it. Both are masters of their craft. Both are intensely driven. But as with all proper face-offs there are enough differences to make it enthralling. It's difference that feeds the portrayal of all sporting rivalries and if sometimes they get reduced to cartoons it's still good for those of watching on.
McEnroe was famously hot to Borg's cold. Coe was posh to Ovett's prole. The reality was a lot more subtle. But it's the sort of representation that resonates with the public. That's why F1 is desperate to flog Vettel V Hamilton. In fact what they'd really like is the German to be the dickhead. And if there could be a dash of genuine hate like Ali-Frasier, then all the better.
Irish racing has never had anything like that. Trainers and jockeys are instinctively reserved. And two genuine top-dogs fighting for supremacy is so rare in the sport anyway. A few senior colleagues used to refer to Vincent O'Brien and Paddy Prendergast not being particularly close personally but there wasn't animosity. And Aidan O'Brien is so supreme on the flat now that rivalry there is irrelevant.
It's novelty is partly why the Mullins-Elliott struggle for supremacy should be cherished. Another is that it's being conducted with more than a little class by both. Both are duly admiring of the other, come out with the right tone in their public comments. And if the suspicion is that their private thoughts might be a lot more spicy then it's a poor day when such decorum becomes a bad thing.
If anything there's a 'Fedal' feel to it. For non-tennis fans that's the rivalry between Roger Federer and Rafa Nadal that just might be the greatest example of sustained excellence any sport at any time has ever seen. It's scrupulously respectful but each has become defined by the other. And there's a similar sort of vibe to racing's version.
There's an urbanity and fluency to Mullins that's Federer-like. And having been No.1 for so long, when his younger opponent emerged furiously running down anything that moved, there remained a widespread sense of where superiority still lay. Elliott seemed a classic clay court scrapper. But he himself has been Nadal-like in defying categorisation.
If Federer used to affect a faintly dismissive air of his rival's challenge then that epic 2008 Wimbledon final when Nadal finally won out on grass represented a transformation of roles. The Spaniard kept nodding to the Swiss as a maestro. But it's been a clash of equals ever since. And it's interesting to ponder if this season might prove a similar turning point in racing.
Losing out so narrowly on a second Aintree National will have stung Mullins. Losing it to his greatest rival will have made it sting a lot more. There was only a head in it in the Irish National too. If Elliott proceeds to land a first trainers championship at Punchestown then his status as racing's new No. 1 will be assured. And even then we can look forward to the response.
Mullins might cut a more elegant public figure than Elliott but you don't get to transform and dominate a sport for so long without being intensely competitive. So even if he does lose the title - and Mullins is a 7-4 outsider - this story is going to run and run. Because the one certainty is there's going to be a response. Just look at 'Fedal' still swapping one and two ranking status a decade later.
Ultimately it's the similarities that are at the root of the Mullins-Elliott competition. Differences such as one man being born to racing and the other coming from obscurity, or the different kind of public face they present, help the portrayal of that rivalry. But it's the substance that counts. And this is substantial enough to engage anyone with even the slightest interest in racing.
Although, somehow, I don't see 'Mulliott' catching on!
The National itself was a wonderful contest with a wonderfully game first and second whose jockeys both deserve immense credit, not least for how in the heat of desperate competition for the sport's ultimate prize neither resorted to overusing the whip.
Instead the paradox of breaking the rules yet still winning was illustrated at Aintree a couple of days before when champion amateur Jamie Codd got a 17 day suspension for his winning ride on Getaway Katie Mai. No matter what the jurisdiction 17 days is a hell of a slap and reflective of a serious breach of the rules. But the outcome was unaffected. And that's just illogical.
Separately, the importance of the whip when riding a horse is invariably stressed by professionals. And there's always a credibility gap when it comes to any sort of whip debate if you haven't ridden a thousand winners or whatever.
So it was interesting to watch an 'At The Races' interview with Martin Pipe recently when he spoke about methods of working horses during his legendary training career. As a by-the-way he mentioned that during gallops "the staff were not allowed carry whips." The idea was to get horses relaxed in their work.
In the same interview Pipe ridiculed his attempts at trying to become a jockey. But he didn't do too badly as a trainer: maybe even well enough to argue he knows a bit about what he's talking about when it comes to use of the whip.
