Willie Mullins admits he has never watched I Am Maximus' Grand National victory back as champion trainer looks to make history once more

The answer to why Willie Mullins will never settle for second best comes at the end of a discussion about high-achieving and history.

Mullins has opened the doors to his Closutton home and, on a crisp autumn morning, he is ebullient. He and wife Jackie welcomed their first granddaughter earlier this month and are ready to embrace a whole new part of life.

It is, he says, 'going to be fun' and his jovial nature is never more apparent than when he lifts the lid off the British Trainers' Championship trophy he won in April to show it is currently home to an inviting amount of Lindt chocolate balls.

That success owed so much to I Am Maximus, who has just paraded around the yard. The winner of the Randox Grand National has swagger and his big aim for the season is repeating the trick at Aintree next April. It's early days, of course, but on this evidence it will take a good one to beat him.

You only need watch how I Am Maximus thundered away from the final fence six months ago to be reminded of his authority but Mullins has no interest in spending time viewing replays. Living in the past isn't possible when you have no frontiers to conquer in the future.

'I don't think I've ever watched the race back,' he says. 'It's like watching a film I've seen before – I know the ending. It's always disappointing getting to the last quarter of a film and you think; "Ah, jeez, I've seen it already!" It's not a thing I do.

'Some guys go back and watch races inside out, I can't do it. It's like radio. I listen to the news. I've got all these recordings on my phone that I've bought. I put one on the other day but I switched it off as I wanted to hear what was happening. I don't like playlists when I know what's coming. It's boring.'

Plenty will try to tell you that Mullins mopping up race after race in the spring was boring but nothing could be further from the truth. Those incredible days from Cheltenham to Aintree and beyond were a moment in time, a rewriting of the record books that enabled to emulate Dr Vincent O'Brien.

Do not underestimate the kick Mullins got from becoming the first Irish National Hunt trainer to conquer England since O'Brien in 1954, the building block to the triumph coming when I Am Maximus secured £561,300 at Aintree, his pride evident as he looks at the names on the trophy.

This isn't a time to talk about whether he will target it again, as he wants to ensure I Am Maximus and the Grand National get the focus they deserve, but the way the stars aligned through those dramatic six weeks is something he discusses with unmistakable fondness.

'To be able to win the English Championship, along with the Irish Championship, in the same year was extraordinary,' Mullins smiles. 'We got every bounce of the ball last spring. It was unbelievable the way things happened in those big handicaps. Photo finishes, we won every one of them.

'Winning the National then going on to the Scottish Grand National at Ayr (which his horse McDermott won) and Sandown, it couldn't have gone better. Put it this way: if you'd said to me the scenario would happen to a trainer at the end of a season, I'd have said to you it was Disneyland.

'That doesn't happen. It shouldn't have happened. It was stranger than fiction. It was a once in a lifetime thing, 70 years after Vincent O'Brien. Winning the National (with Hedgehunter in 2005), was a life's achievement. I still think of it that way.'

I Am Maximus, who carries the green-and-gold silks of JP McManus, was every bit as commanding as Hedgehunter had been 19 years earlier and Mullins had to work magic to ensure a plan came together for a horse who presents challenges on a daily basis.

'There is so much going on in his mind at the time,' Mullins explains. 'We thought going to Aintree would grab his attention. That's exactly what happened. He loved it. If there is nothing going on around the place, he will skedaddle. He's just up to mischief all the time.

'I was so happy with how he behaved here for you. He's in a good place and we are delighted with him. We'll go back to Aintree and see what happens. We have such a nice team of staying chasers. So if I Am Maximus doesn't do it, one of the others might step forward.'

Again, Mullins had started to think ahead. It's the only way he knows.