The Irish veteran had winners in the first two races of the festival.
Willie Mullins is leading the way in the Cheltenham Top Trainer market and is now as short as 10/11 to reclaim the title he last won in 2016.
Klassical Dream and Duc Des Genivres provided the perfect start to the festival for the Closutton-based trainer, and it could have been even better had odds-on shot Benie Des Dieux not fell at the last in the Mares Hurdle.
Elsewhere, there were wins for some of the smaller yards, with Gavin Cromwell (Espoir D’Allen),
Dan Skelton (Roksana), Henry De Bromhead (A Plus Tard) and Ben Pauling (Le Breuil) all scoring victories, with Nicky Henderson also getting on the board after Beware The Bear won the Ultima.
Ante-post favourite Gordon Elliott had a day to forget, with only one of his horses finishing in the top three of any race. Tomorrow could be better with Battleoverdoyen (7/2) in the Ballymore, Delta Work (2/1) in the RSA and Tiger Roll (11/10) in the Cross Country. He’s currently 10/3 to retain the Top Trainer crown.
Oddschecker spokesman George Elek: “You'd think we would have all know by now to never underestimate Willie Mullins at Cheltenham, yet the five time top festival trainer can still surprise us.
Despite a fairly poor winter by his standards, his horses hosed up in the first two races and barring a fall at the last he would have had three winners on the day. He is now the man firmly in the driving seat.
