Richard Edmondson in The Independent wrote that he was "no oil painting, rather something a child might produce on the kitchen table with crayon", while the horse's owner described him as "a great orange thing".
Mr Mulligan's absence following his failure at Newbury meant that he began the 1995/1996 season as a novice, never having won a race under National Hunt rules.
[8] A month later he won a similar event at Wetherby, leading from the start and coming home thirteen lengths clear of Rye Crossing.
[10] In January, Mr Mulligan was promoted to Grade II class for the Towton Novices' Chase at Wetherby, in which he was matched against the David Nicholson-trained Call It A Day, who started favourite.
[11] In the Reynoldstown Novices' Chase a month later, Mr Mulligan faced St Mellion Fairway, another Nicholson runner who had won his last three races, and the Jenny Pitman-trained Nahthen Lad.
A new jockey, David Bridgwater, was unable to improve his jumping as Mr Mulligan made two serious errors and finished fourth of the seven runners behind Belmont King.
Tony McCoy took over the ride in the King George VI Chase at Kempton Park on Boxing Day, but after running well for much of the way, the gelding fell when in second place at the last fence.
Mr Mulligan returned from the race with a grapefruit-sized hematoma on his back which was slow to heal and put the rest of his season in doubt.
[3] The horse spent three weeks in the care of Mary Bromiley, an equine physiotherapist,[15] before returning to Chance to be prepared for the Cheltenham Gold Cup.
The field appeared to be a strong one, with the 1996 winner Imperial Call starting favourite ahead of One Man, Dorans Pride, Danoli, Nahthen Lad and Barton Bank.
Mr Mulligan made a mistake at the fourth-last fence, but went clear of the field at the next and ran on strongly to win by nine lengths from Barton Bank and Dorans Pride.
[16] Mr Mulligan made his first appearance since his Gold Cup win when he ran in the Desert Orchid Chase at Wincanton Racecourse in October.