State Man and Paul Townend win the Unibet Champion Hurdle from Irish Point and Luccia. (Breandán Ó hUallacháin Photo)
• Lossiemouth is “brilliant” in Mares’ Hurdle
• De Bromhead and Blackmore take opening Grade 1
Willie Mullins and Paul Townend Grade 1 Treble On Opening Day of Cheltenham 2024
By Breandán Ó hUallacháin
The opening day of the 2024 Cheltenham Festival provided three winners for the Festival’s all-time leading handler, Willie Mullins, and his stable jockey, Paul Townend, with Irish-based handlers winning six of the seven races.
State Man, winner of the Chanelle Pharma Irish Champion Hurdle during the Dublin Racing Festival at the beginning of February, added the Unibet Champion Hurdle to his Grade 1 honours, as he and Townend led home an Irish-trained 1-2 in the two-mile hurdling championship contest.
The race favourite following last week’s announcenemt that the reigning champion hurdler, Constitution Hill, would not compete this year due to sickness, State Man was shaken up before the final hurdle before going away for a one and a quarter length success over the Gordon Elliott-trained Irish Point, in the hands of jockey Jack Kennedy, while Luccia was a further two and a quarter lengths back in third for Constitution Hill’s trainer Nicky Henderson, with James Bowen in the saddle.
Following his fifth Unibet Champion Hurdle success, Willie Mullins told reporters:
“It went very smoothly – Paul (Townend) rode him with such confidence. I was surprised he rode him so deep in the race but he was happy that he had all the opposition that he was afraid of where he wanted them. He’s riding with such confidence, and he was very confident in the horse. It just shows that when jockeys are riding in the zone, they can make other things happen that they want to happen.”
Pressure off as Townend delivers
The Unibet Champion Hurdle was the second part of the Mullins-Townend Grade 1 treble, having earlier won the two mile Arkle Challenge Trophy Novices’ Chase with Gaelic Warrior. Owned by American Rich Ricci, the son of Maxios was a comfortable eight and a half-length victor over the Jack Kennedy-ridden Gordon Elliott-handled Found A Fifty, with another Mullins horse, Il Etait Temps, claiming third place under his nephew and regular National Steeplechase Association (NSA) visiting rider, Danny Mullins.
Speaking to host broadcaster ITV Racing post-race, the winning jockey Paul Townend admitted: “That’s the best ride I’ve got off Gaelic Warrior in a long time. He was very manageable once we got out on to the track. He was busy in the parade ring and busy in the chute but behaved himself in the race.”
“His jumping was brilliant, and quite straight too. He shifted right at one or two to kind of correct himself, but I didn’t have to do much on him to be honest. He was very good.
“The rain came and turned it into a stamina test. Willie’s done an unbelievable job on him. It’s a pressure week, there’s no ducking that. The monkey is off the back now and hopefully we can keep going.”
Lossiemouth is “brilliant” in Mares’ Hurdle
The Closutton Team of Mullins and Townend completed their first day treble with the easy win of Lossiemouth in the Mares’ Hurdle. Considered a possible runner in the Unibet Champion Hurdle following the defection last week of Constitution Hill, connections maintained their original plan in targeting the mares’ only contest. It was a double for popular owner Rich Ricci as his mare defeated the Henry de Bromhead-conditioned trio of Temlesomethinggirl (Rachael Blackmore, jockey), Hispanic Moon (Darragh O’Keeffe, jockey) and Lantry Lady (Jack Kennedy, jockey) in second, third and fourth places respectively.
A delighted Paul Townend was high in his praise of the winning mare, Lossiemouth, stating: “She’s brilliant. It’s well documented, the route she’s come. They’ve given her time, been patient with her and they are getting paid off for that now. She was very good here last year.”
“I suppose with the rain coming, there was a question mark about her stamina, but I never really doubted it. It is pretty simple when you’re riding very good horses. It’s a funny place, this. It is very easy to ride when you’re on a good one, and it’s very difficult when you’re not going well. I’m privileged to be riding these horses. And the privilege is definitely not lost, I know how privileged I am.”
De Bromhead and Blackmore take opening Grade 1
Henry de Bromhead and his main stable jockey Rachael Blackmore had earlier won the Grade 1 Sky Bet Novies’ Hurdle with Slade Steel, ahead of the Willie Mullins-prepared Mystical Power with Mark Walsh riding, and the Gordon Elliott-handled Firefox, the mount of Jack Kennedy.
In the other contests on the seven-race card, Lark In The Morning won the Boodles Juvenile Handicap Hurdle for Breeders’ Cup-winning trainer Joseph O’Brien and his jockey cousin, J.J. Slevin.
Corbetts Cross gave the Cheltenham Festival’s all-time leading owner J.P. McManus a win in the Maureen Mullins National Hunt Challenge Cup Amateur Jockeys’ Novice Chase. Ridden by Derek O’Connor, the winner is trained by Emmet Mullins, a nephew of Willie Mullins, and grandson of Maureen Mullins, in whose honour the race is named.
With six of the races going to Irish-trained horses, the only British trained victor was Chianti Classico in the Ultima Handicap Chase for handler Kim Bailey and rider David Bass.
