English/Ire
“She’s nearly getting into Quevega territory” - Lossiemouth crowned Champion Hurdle queen
Lossiemouth took her record to four from four at the Cheltenham Festival when putting up a destructive performance in the 2026 Unibet Champion Hurdle Challenge Trophy.
There had been plenty of speculation about Lossiemouth's Champion Hurdle participation heading into the Festival but after a shoddy start, which saw Paul Nicholls' supplemented Tutti Quanti lose a couple of lengths, it quickly became apparent that Willie Mullins' mare was well within her comfort zone.
Having always been nicely positioned on the heels of the front-running Brighterdaysahead, Lossiemouth loomed large on the approach to the second last and once asked to quicken by Townend, she readily brushed aside her Irish Champion Hurdle conqueror before striding clear for an emphatic six-and-a-half length success.
Brighterdaysahead, who had twice failed to fire when sent to Prestbury Park, emerged with credit back in second, while Dan Skelton's The New Lion rallied well to finish third, with Alexei back in fourth for the Tizzard's and defending champion Golden Ace only fifth.
"She's a star mare," said Mullins. "Just to come back four years on the trot, never mind win, puts her in a league of her own, I think. She's nearly getting into Quevega territory.
"It was an open race and when I put cheekpieces on her the other morning I thought 'Wow, that's the old Lossiemouth'.
"I had a chat with Paul after the piece of work and he thought the same, so I had a quick chat with Rich after racing on Saturday evening and that was literally the first time we'd spoken about it.
"People think we talk about nothing else, but we said we'd leave it until the last minute and that was nearly the last minute."
The Willie Mullins-trained grey, who was sent off the 7/5 market leader and carries the infamous pink and green of leading owner Rich Ricci, is now four from four at the Cheltenham Festival having landed the 2023 Triumph Hurdle before back-to-back wins in the Mares' Hurdle.
"It's unbelievable, magic, great, it's 10 years since Annie Power won, it's hard to win these races and she always tries and all credit goes to Willie," said Ricci.
"About 10 days ago Paul got off after a piece of work and said if I'm going to ride one winner at the Cheltenham Festival it's that horse in the mares' race and then he said, 'I just want to try with cheekpieces in a piece of work' and he did it and he said that did the trick.
"She's always just come alive at this track, when she gets down that hill she comes on the bridle. She loves this place. It was a long night last night, but it's brilliant, it's fantastic and it's great, the reception we got was great. People are so kind, it's wonderful and it's great for the sport.
"I've always been welcomed by the sport, you know I've got a high profile in my business dealings, not all of it necessarily popular but I've always found racing has been incredibly nice to me and kind and took me as they found me and I love it and it's been a great thing for myself and my family.
"I'd love to win the Gold Cup now, hopefully we can do the double on Friday!"
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