For so long, Irish jockey Paul Townend lived in the shadow of the legendary Ruby Walsh. Since the latter’s retirement, however, Townend is now firmly in the spotlight of the National Hunt racing world. Willie Mullins’ number one jockey is one of the first names that punters look for when picking their bets at horse racing betting sites, and this page is here to provide you with a one-stop shop for all of the horses that Paul Townend rides today, Paul Townend’s booked rides for tomorrow and also a place to find all of the top jockey’s rides in the future.

Paul Townend Punchestown Rides

If you want the low down on all things Paul Townend - live prices for all of his booked rides and free bets from the UK’s biggest and best bookmakers and betting sites - then you are in the right place.

Paul Townend Rides Today

This section provides you with all of the information and up-to-date horse racing betting prices on Paul Townend’s rides for today’s racing action. We have all of the best live prices available throughout the day of racing, so keep an eye out for any major moves that could be occurring on one of Paul Townend’s horses.

Paul Townend Rides Tomorrow

As well as giving you live prices for Paul Townend’s rides for today, we also have all the information on his booked rides for tomorrow. Prices from the biggest betting apps will be available as soon as entries are confirmed, and it always pays to keep your eyes peeled for the early prices, as the value on a Paul Townend mount may quickly disappear. 

Paul Townend Future Rides

Here you can find all of Paul Townend’s booked rides, or potential rides for the season ahead. Given that Townend is number one jockey for the powerful Willie Mullins yard, it is a good assumption that he will be on board one of his boss’ top horses. Prices may not always be available for some races, but there will be ante post horse racing markets available for the biggest races of the season, particularly for the Cheltenham Festival.

Predicting Paul Townend’s Rides in Big Races

Paul Townend has his pick of the best horses for Willie Mullins, so it is no surprise that he will be booked to ride well-fancied horses in most of the big races of the season. This section is dedicated to supplying you with all of his known booked rides in the big races, and, below, our experts will try to decipher which horses he may ride in others that are not confirmed. If ante-post prices are available, you will see them here, and it might just be worth taking a chance on the current price, as Paul Townend horses are nearly always well-backed closer to race time.

Who will Paul Townend ride in the Grand National?

The Aintree Grand National might just be one race where the Paul Townend and Willie Mullins combination are not well supported. That is owing to the fact that Mullins has won the prestigious race just once in his remarkable training career, and Paul Townend has yet to cross the line in front despite numerous attempts. 

Despite this, Mullins and Townend have a few aces up their sleeves this season, as the classy trio of Stattler, Capodanno and Monkfish could all be involved. Last season’s National Hunt Chase winner, Stattler, is probably the pick of the three after his easy eight-length win at Cheltenham over 3m6f showed that his stamina is not lacking. A marathon trip could bring about improvement from Capodanno, while Monkfish is a very talented individual on his day and also showed his liking for a stamina test when easily winning the Brown Advisory Novices’ Chase in 2021, despite a bad blunder at the last.

All three horses have the option of the Gold Cup at Cheltenham beforehand, but if they were all to line up at Aintree, Townend may favour the proven stayer, Stattler.

Who will Paul Townend ride in the Champion Hurdle?

Cheltenham’s Champion Hurdle is one race yet to grace the CV of Paul Townend. As number two jockey for Willie Mullins at the time, he was forced to watch number one, Ruby Walsh, ride the winner four times in six years. Whoever Townend decides to ride in this season’s Champion Hurdle, he will face the unenviable task of trying to stop the wonder-mare Honeysuckle from completing a hat-trick of wins in the race. 

Paul Townend’s options will probably come down to two horses. Both Vauban and State Man have the perfect profile for a Champion Hurdle horse, and both showed their liking for Cheltenham last season by winning the Triumph Hurdle and County Hurdle, respectively. Of the two, it may be the speedy Vauban that holds the best chance of lowering the colours of Honeysuckle.

Who will Paul Townend ride in the Champion Chase?

There can surely be only one horse that Paul Townend will ride in this season’s Champion Chase - last year’s impressive winner, Energumene. Beaten in just one of his eight chasing starts, Energumene, looked like an absolute machine in last season’s race, jumping for fun at high speed and powering up the infamous Cheltenham hill to win by an easy eight-and-a-half lengths. The only danger to Townend and Energumene retaining their title will be if the brilliant Shishkin can bounce back to form after pulling up in last season’s renewal.

Who will Paul Townend ride in the Gold Cup?

I mentioned Grand National chances Stattler, Capodanno and Monkfish earlier, and these three talented horses could potentially all line up in this season’s Gold Cup. It is unlikely that they will have the assistance of Paul Townend in the saddle, however, because there is another Willie Mullins beast going to try to give his trainer a third win in the race. 

It was Paul Townend who provided Mullins with his two Gold Cup wins to date, steering Al Boum Photo to two consecutive wins in 2019 and 2020. This year, the horse on everyone’s lips is Galopin Des Champs – and for good reason. The imposing six-year-old was miles clear coming to the last in the Turners Novices’ Chase at Cheltenham last season, but he and Paul Townend ultimately came crashing back down to earth with a bang. If he stands up against his older rivals in this season’s Gold Cup, he should take the world of beating.

Who will Paul Townend ride in the King George?

With Galopin Des Champs not likely to head to Kempton for the King George VI Chase on Boxing Day, it is another Willie Mullins monster that Paul Townend is going to get the leg up on. Allaho was equally as visually impressive as Galopin Des Champs at Cheltenham last season, the difference being that he remained standing at the last and romped home in the Ryanair. Another thumping victory in the Punchestown Gold Cup the following month showed that Allaho is equally at home over three miles, so going that trip at Kempton’s sharp track should be right up his street.

Paul Townend Biography

When both of your grandfathers and your father are racehorse trainers, it is pretty much inevitable that you are going to follow the same road paved before you. That was certainly the case for Paul Townend. Born on 15th September 1990 in Midleton, Co. Cork, Townend was surrounded by horses since he was born, and he hasn’t left their sides ever since.

As with most youngsters with aspirations of becoming a professional jockey, the pony racing circuit was the first port of call for a young Paul Townend, and he quickly made a name for himself as a talented rider with bags full of potential. 

Townend would start off as a flat apprentice, and at the tender age of 16, he rode his first winner aboard The Chip Chopman at Limerick for Seamus O’Donnell. Four days later he recorded his second victory on the same horse at Sligo. It was a rip-roaring start to his career, and a sign of things to come, as he finished his first season with a brilliant tally of 35 winners.

By the time he had turned 18, Paul Townend had moved over to the National Hunt sphere, having joined up with the all-conquering trainer, Willie Mullins. He quickly moved up through the ranks of Willie Mullins’ stable jockeys, eventually becoming second choice behind the legendary Ruby Walsh. 

Despite playing second fiddle to Walsh, Townend was still riding some of racing’s top jumpers and had tasted Grade 1 successes before he even reached his 19th birthday. In the 2010-11 season, Townend was named Irish champion jockey for the first time, mainly thanks to stepping in for Walsh, who suffered an injury during the season.

Fast forward to the year 2019, where Townend would provide Willie Mullins with his long-awaited first Cheltenham Gold Cup win. With Ruby Walsh deciding to ride Bellshill, Townend got the leg up on Al Boum Photo, and the pair caused a major shock with punters and horse racing betting sites alike by bounding up the hill to win by two-and-a-half lengths. 

At the end of that season, Paul Townend finally stepped out of the shadows and into the limelight – with Walsh announcing his surprise retirement from riding. Now was Townend’s time to shine, and shine he definitely did.

Since then, the new number one jockey for Mullins has recorded 13 Cheltenham Festival wins, including a successful defence of Al Boum Photo’s Gold Cup crown in 2020. He has twice been leading rider at the festival and continues to ride at the top of his game in Britain and Ireland’s biggest races. At the age of 32, the sky really is still the limit for the Corkman.