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2026 Champion Hurdle

Benjy23 said:
Golden Ace being the current Champion makes this a tough argument imo.

Fully expect she'll go Mares again though, as long as State Man holds his form or Anzadam stays in one piece.
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By luck....
 

STATE MAN​

I'd imagine all roads will lead to Cheltenham with State Man, starting out in the Morgiana. Well work our way towards the Champion Hurdle following the same plan we have over the years.
 
Patric Mullins.......


Lossiemouth, as elusive and enchanting as Capote’s Holly Golightly. After her Hatton’s Grace victory, she twice took on the big boys last season and twice she came up short.

A comprehensive Kempton defeat by Constitution Hill was followed by a purler of a Leopardstown fall when going toe to toe with State Man. Seagulls and trawlers.

An easy Cheltenham win against the mares added fuel to the fire but a lacklustre Aintree triumph against the ‘boys’ muddied the waters once again.

Expect her to have her chance to prove herself once more at some stage this season. She is coming into her prime and sometimes good things come to those who wait.
 
The New Lion.....


“I’m really happy with him. He’s a big name and I don’t want to talk him up any more than his name has already got him, but everything is going smoothly to go to the Fighting Fifth,” said Skelton.

“You won’t hear me with him or any of the others over-inflate and tell you that they’re going to win three Champion Hurdles and all that nonsense, that’s not what the horses need in their life.

“We’ll prepare him the best we can and hopefully he’s a contender come March, but we’ve got some big days to go through before we get to that point and hopefully it starts at Newcastle.

“Constitution Hill could be there and there’s a few others talking about it, so fair play. Let’s go and give it our best and hopefully that’s good enough.”

DS
 
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Barry Connell is already dreaming of a tilt at Champion Hurdle glory with William Munny, who is set to kick off his campaign at Punchestown next month.

The dual bumper winner filled the runner-up spot in his first two races over obstacles before making it third time lucky with a runaway success in Listed company at Punchestown in February.

That victory earned him a place in the Supreme Novices’ Hurdle at the Cheltenham Festival in March and he proved his class by finishing second behind the Willie Mullins-trained Kopek Des Bordes.

“He’s good and he’s going for the Morgiana Hurdle in Punchestown – we’re going down the Champion Hurdle route with him,” said Connell.

“He got very light at the end of last season. When he went to Cheltenham he was very light and we were kind of in two minds whether to run him or not as he was hard on himself early in the season – he was quite keen the first couple of times he ran – and then we had to run him a third time.

“He settled away in Punchestown on his third run. He was just a bit novicey early on, but when he got a properly-run race in the Supreme he settled lovely and jumped great and I think that will be the same in those championship two-mile races.

“He’s put on all the condition that he lost, physically he’s very well and I’m very happy with him.”

William Munny is a 14-1 shot for the Champion Hurdle with Paddy Power, who make Dan Skelton’s Ballymore Novices’ Hurdle winner The New Lion their 7-2 favourite.

Previous champions Constitution Hill, State Man and Golden Ace are others in the mix and Connell feels his charge deserves to be in the conversation at this stage.

He added: “I think he’s only rated 3lb below The New Lion on official ratings and I don’t think there was much between the two novice races at Cheltenham.

“There’s two Grade One winners come out of the Supreme subsequently, so I think he’s an ideal candidate for it (Champion Hurdle).”
 
Why no love for this top novice hurdler from last year ?………….even Willie says he may struggle to make the leap to CH grade, yet he had an interrupted season last year and won the final G1 for novices over 2m in Ireland…….

- He won three of his four 2m hurdle races last year, the one blot being the Supreme (seventh), yet hadn’t run for nearly four months beforehand, so has excuses. Clearly having a niggle/injury mid season? Most certainly wasn’t race fit.
- He showed the Supreme run was not his true form by turning the form around with the horse (Karniquet) who finished fourth in the Supreme, in his next race after the Supreme.
- He did the same thing again by turning the form around with the horse (Salvador Mundi) who finished fifth in the Supreme, in his last race of the year. This was after Salvador had beaten the horse that finished third in the Supreme (Romeo Coolio) on his previous run.
- His rating is equal to Anzadam and higher than William Munny or Salvador Mundi, yet he is twice the price of these horses
- Apart from TNL and William Munny where else are any hurdlers going to emerge on the scene from the novice ranks of last year?
- Barry O’Connell doesn’t think it’s such a leap for William Munny to get to CH class as he believes there is a gap in the CH market, so why can’t this horse do the same as he is rated higher.
- He appears to be staying hurdling this year, based upon Willies stable tour info, so with his rating so high, where else is he going apart from the CH?
- He has got to find between 7lbs and 10lbs to win this years CH…..is that insurmountable in his first year in open company?
- With a few queries around a few shorter in the market - Lossiemouth (maybe going to the Mares Hurdle), Cons Hill (regressing/they never come back), Anzadam (glass legs/can he sustain a full seasons training/racing) then on ratings who is going to challenge State Man (Guvnor)…….TNL, William Munny and maybe Irancy?

He keeps on winning races he wasn’t supposed to win, based upon price……beating Karniquet, Salvador Mundi and Kopeck Des Bordes in his last two races of last year. With the last being most impressive.

Are we sleeping on Irancy at 33/1 for the CH ?

Roll on the Morgiana, as the result could have massive ramifications on the CH market, especially if all current entries run
 
I like him, just not sure he's a champion hurdle horse, would get stuck into him in the xmas hurdle though,all that form going right handed.
 
EnvoiAlien said:
I like him, just not sure he's a champion hurdle horse, would get stuck into him in the xmas hurdle though,all that form going right handed.
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I am not either, as I have backed him for the Arkle!…….especially as he is already 7 years old, so I didn’t expect him to stay hurdling this season

It’s just Willie has said he’s staying hurdling and where else can he go with his high rating other than CH?…….and there’s a lot of water to go under the bridge soon with some of the leading CH protagonists, so I expect some big market moves, especially after the Morgiana
 
i couldn't have Irancy at all lads, barely got up the hill in March
 
TNL into 5/4 with 365 for the F 5th. CH out to 3/1
 
….P Mullins;

Don’t forget Irancy in Morgiana​

The Unibet Morgiana Hurdle (November 22) is one of the first major prizes that we’d always look to aim towards, and it has been State Man’s intended starting point all along.

State Man is State Man and Paul Townend has made clear that he's very much the number one hurdler in Closutton and it’s amazing to think that for some people he still has questions to answer all over again this year.

I think people probably see him as a touch vulnerable and maybe he is coming out of his prime now but we think he’s an exceptional Champion Hurdle winner rather than an average one.

Obviously got beaten in the Morgiana last year by Brighterdaysahead who had the advantage of a run. He got passed her and then kind of blew up on the run-in and maybe that hard race took him a while to get over because he was obviously disappointing for us over Christmas and underwhelming at DRF earlier this year too.

Maybe we’ll be facing William Munny this time but I don’t think there’s going to be anything like Brighterdaysahead, so hopefully it won't be quite as hard a race as it was last year.

Salvator Mundi is entered but we’re going to go chasing with him; Anzadam is entered but he has the option of the Fighting Fifth Hurdle too.

I think the plan is to go to Punchestown with Irancy, he’s certainly going to stay hurdling as far as I know and he's not one to overlook.

I know perhaps he picked up the pieces in Punchestown when last seen but he is a lightly-raced and rapidly-improving horse, so not one to overlook. The track and the ground will be no fear for him.
 
State Man and Anzadam won't take each other on will they ??
 
Elite hurdle at Wincanton tomorrow needs fucking off.
What a wanky waste of space of a race.
They'll rename it for next season as the Rubaud hurdle.
Bellends.
 
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