State Man stays the course to help Mullins extend his dominance
First, let’s hear it for State Man, winner of yesterday’s Champion Hurdle.
He’s a magnificent horse and, in the unfortunate absence of Constitution Hill, fully deserving of a Cheltenham Festival crown jewel. He can only beat what’s in front of him and did so with aplomb, Paul Townend pressing his buttons at the right moments to win as comfortably as his odds-on status suggested he would.
It was a trudge in the mud – the winning time was a lot slower than in any Champion Hurdle since Celtic Shot in 1988 – but it was less of a trek than it was for the rest, headed by second favourite Irish Point and Luccia, who way outran her 33-1 odds.
“It went very smoothly,” said a satisfied Willie Mullins, winning the race for a fifth time. “Paul rode him with such confidence. He was a little far back if he made a mistake, but he had Irish Point where he wanted him and that was the main thing.
“There’s no wow factor with State Man and you don’t go wow when you look at him either, but he does what it says on the tin.”
State Man has won 11 of his last 12 starts over hurdles, nine of them Grade Ones. His only defeat came in last year’s Champion Hurdle when the extraordinary Constitution Hill ate him for lunch.
Which brings us back to the ghost in the room. We will never know how yesterday’s race would have unfolded had Nicky Henderson’s hurdler been able to compete, but we can be pretty certain that it would have had a far more exciting complexion.
Constitution Hill’s owner Michael Buckley was too polite to claim his horse of a lifetime would have given State Man another drubbing, but it was frustrating for him and Henderson to miss out on the chance to try.
Henderson delivered an upbeat bulletin on Constitution Hill’s health in the morning, but as Buckley said, there is clearly a bug going around the trainer’s Berkshire stable, judged on the dismal performances of some (Luccia was a bright exception) of his runners in recent weeks.
And many will wonder how State Man would have fared if stablemate Lossiemouth had taken up the cudgels instead of settling on the easier pickings of the Mares’ Hurdle 40 minutes later.
The introduction of the Mares’ Hurdle to the Festival in 1988 may have been well-intentioned, but how much more interesting the Champion Hurdle has been when the top equine females (Annie Power, Honeysuckle) are given a go. Their 7lb allowance seems a good incentive.
Maybe we will see Lossiemouth in the Champion Hurdle next year. Honeysuckle landed the 2020 Mares’ Hurdle and then the next two Champion Hurdles before going back for the Mares’ Hurdle last year when Constitution Hill arrived on the scene.