Patrick Mullins

The winning most amateur rider in Ireland, Patrick Mullins, carries the weight of his family name on his shoulders and has made a huge success of his career over the years. The Mullins family needs no introduction, and Patrick, son of Willie, is one of the many horsemen from the family who have had outstanding results.

Born in December 1989, Patrick has become a massive part of the operation at Closutton. He is a rider for his father but is also an assistant trainer at the yard. While we’re some way from Willie retiring just yet, Patrick is seemingly heir to the throne and will one day more than likely take over the training of horses in the yard.

Patrick has always retained his amateur status in riding, a decision that some have questioned over the years. However, this status has been a key to the success of Team Mullins, as Patrick can ride as an amateur in many races where professionals can’t, meaning Willie can always call on the best jockey in the race for those moments.

Full Results

Early Career & Breaking Records

Patrick’s first winning ride came in 2006, and after that, he quickly rose to prominence. Of course, some will say that he was given plenty more opportunities than other amateurs, and that’s true, but he certainly took them and delivered on stages big and small for his father.

The firepower was behind him, and the winners kept on rolling, as Mullins became the man to follow in amateur contests, while he was able to stand tall against the professionals in the weighing room too.

In 2012, he set the record for the most winners for an amateur jockey, scoring 74 victories in the year. That record remains intact now and, prior to him breaking it, had stood since 1915, a long-standing record that he was good enough to beat.

Further success would come later in his career. In 2018, Mullins passed the record for amateur wins, which Ted Walsh had set. The figure that Walsh set, and Patrick would storm past it and keep going, making him the winning most amateur rider of all time in Ireland.

In September 2023, still going strong, Mullins broke the 800 barrier for career wins. When he does eventually stop and retire, it’s going to be a huge total for another amateur to come and try to beat, one that will likely never be beaten.

Success hasn’t just come in amateur races, though, on small stages. Patrick has won at the Cheltenham Festival, while other big races, such as the Galway Hurdle, have also gone his way. He’s dominated the Irish amateur rider championship, multiple times back-to-back winner, and on some occasions, no one was anywhere close to his total.

Grand National Win in 2025

But the pinnacle of his career so far has been his Grand National success in 2025 aboard Nick Rockett. One of six runners in the race for his father, and not the first choice of those, Patrick was given the ride on this horse, who had good form going into the contest.

Despite that, he was sent off at 33/1, and the joint-biggest price of his fathers’ runners, few expected him to come out on top. But travelling well throughout and handling the jumping test around Aintree with ease, Nick Rockett always looked like a runner who would move into contention in the closing stages of the race.

That’s exactly what he did, coming to battle it out with stablemate and Mullins first string, I Am Maximus, the horse that won the 2024 Grand National. Up the run in, the Mullins pair went heads to head, but it was Patrick and Nick Rockett that pulled out a little bit more and kicked clear to record a victory.

It was a very special day for the family, as not only was this a winning father-and-son combination in the biggest race in UK racing, but Nick Rockett led home a 1-2-3 for Mullins, showcasing his dominance in the sport.

Finally, as an amateur, Patrick Mullins is not eligible for his share of the prize money when he wins races. Usually, a small amount, the Grand National is different. His cut, had he been a professional, would have been in the region of £40,000, but he was given nothing.

Of course, with a job in the biggest yard in the UK and Ireland, that doesn’t matter too much, but it’s a quirk of him still being an amateur that prize money isn’t something he can look forward to as a rider.