State Man, last season’s County Handicap Hurdle winner at Cheltenham, continued his progress towards a possible meeting with the unbeaten Constitution Hill at the Festival in March with a convincing success in the Grade One Matheson Hurdle at Leopardstown on Thursday.
Constitution Hill remains long odds-on for the Champion Hurdle on 14 March after his latest effortless success in the Christmas Hurdle at Kempton Park on Boxing Day. State Man, however, did enough in Thursday’s race to suggest that he will emerge as the biggest threat to the favourite next year, 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 travelling 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 travelled 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, while Honeysuckle, who lost her unbeaten career record in the Hatton’s Grace Hurdle last time out, is a 9-1 chance to complete her hat-trick in March with Vauban a point bigger in the betting at 10-1.
Haydock Park
12.30 Lily Glitters 1.00 Gold Cup Bailly 1.30 Matata 2.00 Easy As That 2.30 Stainsby Girl 3.00 All About Joe 3.30 Coniston George
Taunton
12.45 Trojan Horse 1.15 Timeforatune 1.45 Mahon Point 2.15 She’s A Saint 2.45 Apple Rock (nap) 3.15 Advantura 3.45 Fame And Fun
Wolverhampton
4.00 Percy Jones 4.30 Vitesse Du Son 5.00 Man On A Mission 5.30 Soames Forsyte 6.00 Mr Alan 6.30 Giorgio Vasari (nb) 7.00 Cicely 7.30 Desert Dream
State Man completed a Grade One double for Mullins, Townend and Joe Donnelly, his owner, after Gaillard Du Mesnil’s seven-and-a-half length success in the three-mile Neville Hotels Novice Chase.
The race was marred, however, by fatal injuries to two of the seven runners, Unexpected Depth and Three Stripe Life, a Grade One winner over hurdles last season.
The victory was Gaillard Du Mesnil’s first over fences at the seventh attempt, though he had previously been placed three times at Grade One level.
“He was still a maiden but we had kept him to good class company all the time,” Mullins said. “He just glided into the race down the outside, kept out of trouble and kept away from the loose horse [Amirite] the best he could. All that experience counts for a day like today.”
Gaillard Du Mesnil was cut to 6-4 favourite (from 9-4) by Paddy Power for the National Hunt Chase at Cheltenham in March, and to 6-1 (from 10-1) for his alternative target, the Grade One Brown Advisory Novices Chase.
