Grand National winner I Am Maximus received a hero's welcome in Leighlinbridge, County Carlow on Tuesday evening.
Trained in nearby Closutton by Willie Mullins, the eight-year-old won the Randox-sponsored Aintree spectacular on Saturday in impressive fashion, enhancing a season which has already seen the all-conquering yard send out the winners of the Champion Hurdle and Gold Cup at the Cheltenham Festival, along with numerous other top-level races at home and abroad.
I Am Maximus was the second winner of the race for Mullins, following the victory of Hedgehunter in 2005, while nephew Emmett trained Noble Yeats to win the race two years ago.
The joy in the area since Saturday afternoon has underlined what the success means to all associated with the JP McManus-owned bay.
The Grand National is different, as Mullins acknowledged this evening: "It is. It's the one race everyone wants to win from the time they start off watching TV, it's the race most people see on TV. It's fantastic for Paul [Townend, jockey], owner JP McManus and Noirin [wife of the owner], for Closutton.
"We're all delighted. It's great for the locality as well to have a Grand National winner. Our second Grand National winner. Emmett won it a few years ago but hopefully it will become more of a tradition."
I Am Maximus, who has recovered well from his weekend exertions, is likely to be a campaign towards the Cheltenham Gold Cup.
"He'll have to take on his stablemate Galopin Des Champs who is over there in the box, and that is plan A I think. I'm not sure going back to handicaps again would be a good idea," Mullins revealed.
In the meantime, there's a tilt for the handler at the British jumps trainers' championship, with Vincent O'Brien the last Irish trainer to lift the crown. At the moment, the Irish champion has a slender lead over Dan Skelton and Paul Nicholls.
"There's no truth in the rumour they're arranging a ferry strike or anything like that," Mullins quipped. "We're trying to get a team together to tackle it for the next two weeks, we've got a good few entries. We're trying to target the high-value races, but at this end of the season a lot of the horses are tired. You've got to try and pick ones that are a bit fresher and will put in a good performance for us."
Of course, the season has been tinged with sadness following the death earlier this year of Maureen Mullins, mother of Willie and his siblings, and regarded as the matriarch of a great racing family.
"I'd love if Ma were there, she'd have been in her element both in Cheltenham and in Aintree. But you know, there we are, life goes on. She was happy, she got to see a lot of the success in Closutton," the trainer added.
The National winner, who won the Irish version of the race last year, was brought into Leighlinbridge this evening by staff and after posing for some photographs in the car park of the Lord Bagenal Inn, walked down the street and across the bridge, with more photos and videos taken along the way, before heading back to the quieter environs of Closutton.
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