ANNIE POWER’S final flight fall saved the bookmakers a fortune – but Irish trainer Willie Mullins was still smiling after pulling off a 62-1 four-timer as the Cheltenham Festival got under way.

The 1-2 favourite in the OLBG Mares’ Hurdle was the last leg of a Mullins’ trained quartet layers had dubbed the ‘Four Horses of the Apocalypse’.

Douvan, Un De Sceaux and Faugheen all obliged in impressive fashion and Annie Power also had the race at her mercy as she and jockey Ruby Walsh approached the final flight.

But the seven-year-old pitched on landing, tumbled out of the contest to huge gasps from the packed stands and reprieved bookies from an estimated £100 million pay-out - although they were still left licking their wounds.

Even that fall - and Annie Power returned safely to the paddock - could not spoil Mullins’ day, though, as his second string Glens Melody (6-1), ridden by Paul Townend, pipped Polly Peachum in a photo-finish.

He said: “It’s rare to have four runners on a day like this, let alone four winners. I keep saying to myself ‘enjoy it while it lasts’.

“You couldn’t write a script like that, but I knew the horses were doing everything right. We had no sickness, no virus, no bad weather – it was going scarily well, and I thought coming here it was either going to be a great success or a blow-out.”

Mullins saddled an incredible 1-2-3 in the Stan James Champion Hurdle as Faugheen (4-5 fav) maintained his unbeaten record.

The choice of Walsh, who stepped off Hurricane Fly to ride the favourite, the seven-year-old lived up to his nickname of ‘The Machine’ and made every yard of the two mile and half a furlong contest in a commanding display.

Always travelling well under Walsh, he flew up the hill to beat his fast-finishing stablemate Arctic Fire by a length and a half with the dual Champion Hurdle victor Hurricane Fly back in third.

“I wasn’t concerned at any stage,” said Mullins. “I thought he was well in control all the time. He is young, he’s improving, he’s coming on and what can I say?

“He’s got a long way to go to be as good as Hurricane Fly.”

Walsh added: “It was a massive decision not to ride Hurricane Fly. He (Faugheen) is a wonderful horse. He has jumped better – he missed the second last. This is an incredible little horse, a fine horse.”

On Mullins, he added: “It’s some training performance to have the 1-2-3 and a 1-2 in the Supreme. It’s a great place to work and the man’s a genius. He has a great team of staff around him and it’s brilliant to be part of it.”

Mullins’ wonderful afternoon began when Douvan (2-1 fav) swept away from stablemate Shaneshill to win the Sky Bet Supreme Novices’ Hurdle and the double arrived shortly afterwards as Un De Sceaux (4-6 fav) showed guts to take the Racing Post Arkle from God’s Own by six lengths.

He said: “I thought they were getting to him before the last, but he just seemed to prick his ears going into the fence and pulled clear again. He was good at the water and brilliant at the open ditch and I thought ‘Wow, if he can just keep him jumping from here’.

“I thought he might be beaten going to the last but when the other horse came to him he picked up and went away again.”