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Cheltenham Spotlight: Champion Hurdle

The late addition of Lossiemouth to the anticipated Champion Hurdle runner list has added intrigue to an otherwise open renewal.

LOSSIEMOUTH.
LOSSIEMOUTH. Picture: Pat Healy Photography

With nine expected runners, the standard falls below previous years. Nine of the last twelve renewals have been won by horses rated 161 or over, yet none of the candidates for the 2026 crown have achieved that rating going into the contest – Brighterdaysahead sits highest at 160.

She, alongside Lossiemouth, Poniros, Anzadam and Workahead, will represent Irish interests in the race, with seven of the last twelve winners being Irish-trained. It has been a contest which has been suited to mares in recent years – Epatante (2020) achieved the first win for the females since 2016, Honeysuckle added two further victories in 2021 and 2022 whilst the re-opposing Golden Ace took advantage of a dramatic renewal at last year's Festival to win a first Champion Hurdle for trainer Jeremy Scott.

Brighterdaysahead and Lossiemouth set the form standard after their respective one-two in the Grade 1 Irish Champion Hurdle at the Dublin Racing Festival. The two mares have traded blows multiple times over the last season or so, but their Cheltenham records differ drastically. Gordon Elliott's Brighterdaysahead has been well-supported on both her previous runs at the Festival before failing to win (both behind Golden Ace) and in contrast, the Willie Mullins-trained Lossiemouth has won all four of her previous starts at the track including a Grade 1 Triumph Hurdle and the Grade 1 Mares' Hurdle.

Dan Skelton's The New Lion heads the British contingent after securing a hard-fought win in the Grade 2 Unibet Hurdle on Cheltenham Trials Day, where he battled against the consistent Nemean Lion and recently retired Brentford Hope. Although the form of that success and his preceding fall in the Grade 1 Fighting Fifth Hurdle may not match his rivals, the talented seven-year-old was unbeaten as a novice hurdler before a victory in the Grade 1 Turners Novices' Hurdle, defying the age-old stat which had seen Grade 1 Challow Hurdle winners struggle at the Festival.

Of the remainder in the field, Joe Tizzard's Alexei and Paul Nicholls' Tutti Quanti fit in the category of last start-winners – all the last twelve Champion Hurdle heroes scored on their previous start. The pair have been impressive in handicap company this season, with Alexei earning his place in the line-up after a first open Graded victory in the Grade 2 Kingwell Hurdle whilst Tutti Quanti was a wide-margin (fifteen lengths) winner of the William Hill Hurdle.

With the market transformed by the confirmation of Lossiemouth, the value appears to lay with The New Lion – victorious on his previous run at the Festival and capable of improvement following a confidence boosting success at the track in the Unibet Hurdle.

SELECTION – THE NEW LION – 10/3


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