VAUBAN CAN BE CHAMPION
WILLIE MULLINS believes Vauban “might be the exception to the rule” that five-year-olds don’t win the Champion Hurdle.
Since See You Then registered the first of his three victories in the Tuesday feature in
1985, only Katchit (2008) and Espoir D’Allen (2019) have captured the race as five-year-olds.
But Mullins and his team believe last season’s Triumph Hurdle hero – Vauban followed up in the Grade 1 Champion Four Year Old Hurdle at Punchestown – is capable of bucking the trend.
Rich Ricci (above), whose chestnut reappears in the Grade 1 Morgiana Hurdle at Punchestown on Sunday – Mullins has six of the eight entries in the Unibet-sponsored Grade 1 test – said: “The yard love him, I love him and hopefully he’s got what it takes.
“We’ve had two in the last 10 or so years, but Willie and [assistants] David Casey and Ruby [Walsh] – they think he might be the exception to the rule that five-year-olds can’t win the Champion.
“I was watching the highlights of day four of last year’s Festival again today, and he quickened up that hill twice.
“It can happen.” Ladbrokes quote Vauban at 8-1 third favourite for the Champion Hurdle, behind 5-4 favourite Constitution Hill and dual winner Honeysuckle, a 7-2 chance to become the first mare to land Cheltenham’s Tuesday feature three times.
“You’ve got Constitution Hill, who’s wonderful, and Honeysuckle, who’s magic,” added Ricci.
“If he runs well, or wins, we’ve got a Champion Hurdle horse. That’s got to be the plan if he comes out and shows what we think he can do.”