State Man, ultimate season’s County Handicap Hurdle winner at Cheltenham, persevered his development in opposition to a imaginable assembly with the unbeaten Constitution Hill on the Festival in March with a powerful luck within the Grade One Matheson Hurdle at Leopardstown on Thursday.
Constitution Hill stays lengthy odds-on for the Champion Hurdle on 14 March after his newest easy luck within the Christmas Hurdle at Kempton Park on Boxing Day. The State Man, on the other hand, did sufficient in Thursday’s race to indicate that he’ll emerge as the largest risk to the favourite subsequent yr, with Paul Townend, his jockey, insisting afterwards that “every day he runs, he seems to build on the day before “.
Townend took a lead from She Is Electric, the outsider of the five runners, for much of the two-mile trip before sending State Man to the front on the turn for home.
Vauban, last season’s Triumph Hurdle winner and a stable companion at the Willie Mullins yard, was still traveling well in his wake, but State Man opened up in the straight to pull four-and-a-quarter lengths clear at the line. Sharjah, who was attempting to win the race for the fifth year running, completed a one-two-three for the Mullins stable having been fortunate to survive a bad mistake at the second flight.
State Man may now line up against Honeysuckle, the Champion Hurdle winner for the past two seasons, in the Irish Champion Hurdle at Leopardstown in early February before Mullins decides whether to pitch him in against Constitution Hill a few weeks later.
“State Man just keeps improving and I think there is more improvement again after today,” Mullins said. “The Dublin Racing Festival looks like the plan now, we’ll look forward to that and then maybe going over to Cheltenham in March.”
Vauban also did enough to persuade Mullins that he remains in the mix for the Festival. “It was a cracker of a run from Vauban, having his first run back [since April]the trainer said. “He’s only a four-year-old and people tend to forget that. He’ll probably have another run and then we’ll see if he’s good enough to go to Cheltenham. He traveled very sweetly [and] For his first run in championship company against older horses, I thought it was excellent. He’s way ahead of where I thought he was.”
State Man is now top-priced at 5-1 for the Champion Hurdle, whilst Honeysuckle, who misplaced her unbeaten profession file within the Hatton’s Grace Hurdle ultimate day trip, is a 9-1 probability to finish her hat-trick in March with Vauban some degree larger within the making a bet at 10-1.
The State Man finished a Grade One double for Mullins, Townend and Joe Donnelly, his proprietor, after Gaillard Du Mesnil’s seven-and-a-half duration luck within the three-mile Neville Hotels Novice Chase.
The race was once marred, on the other hand, via deadly accidents to 2 of the seven runners, Unexpected Depth and Three Stripe Life, a Grade One winner over hurdles ultimate season.
The victory was once Gaillard Du Mesnil’s first over fences on the 7th try, even if he had in the past been positioned thrice at Grade One degree.
“He was still a maiden but we had kept him in good class company all the time,” Mullins stated. “He simply glided into the race down the out of doors, saved out of bother and avoided the free horse [Amirite] the most productive he may. All that have counts for an afternoon like lately.
Gaillard Du Mesnil was once reduce to 6-4 favourite (from 9-4) via Paddy Power for the National Hunt Chase at Cheltenham in March, and to 6-1 (from 10-1) for his selection goal, the Grade One Brown Advisory To set up Novice Chase.