Willie Mullins’s star mare Lossiemouth is a new favourite for Tuesday’s Unibet Champion Hurdle after being confirmed for the opening day feature at the Cheltenham Festival.
Unlike last year, connections eschewed the easier option of the Close Bros Mares Hurdle later in the week, although Wodhooh would have been a formidable opponent in that.
It leaves owner Rich Ricci with prime contenders for the Champion Hurdle and the Gold Cup as Gaelic Warrior is now Mullins’s sole hope for Friday’s “Blue Riband” prize.
That’s after injury ruled out the dual-winner Galopin Des Champs and over the weekend Fact To File was committed to Thursday’s Ryanair Chase.
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If it’s a stretch to label the Lossiemouth call as valiant, the decision by owner JP McManus not to supplement Fact To File into the Gold Cup looked to be discretion carried to the max.
Immediately after winning last month’s Irish Gold at three miles, Fact To File was made favourite for the Cheltenham version over two furlongs further.
Mullins made it clear he had little doubt about the horse getting the trip, and after the setback to Galopin Des Champs, might reasonably be expected to appreciate another string to his Gold Cup bow.
However, with last year’s winner Inothewayurthinkin reportedly coming back to form, as well as a useful backup in Spillanes Tower, McManus has done what betting markets had suggested he would do and opted for the Ryanair.
It means Fact To File is likely to start the shortest-priced favourite at this year’s festival and was a best-priced 8-13 on Sunday to repeat his 2025 Ryanair success.
With such a depth of talent available to them and even allowing for how attractive an odds-on option is, it’s a notably timid call by the McManus team. It’s also one that hardly underpins the Gold Cup’s status as supposedly the sport’s most coveted prize.
Rather like the Epsom Derby’s increasingly shaky status as flat racing’s Blue Riband prize, billing the National Hunt game’s equivalent as the ultimate achievement has taken a knock. Should Fact To File win on Thursday, there will be an inevitable what-if element 24 hours later.
A similar scenario has at least been avoided in hurdling’s championship, with Lossiemouth one of nine declared on Sunday. She will wear cheekpieces in her attempt to win at the festival for a fourth year in a row.
“Rich and I have been in dialogue on her target and after we spoke after racing at Gowran on Saturday,” said Mullins. “With the declaration timing, she was always going to travel over to England when she has, and we’re happy to let her take her chance on Tuesday, where she’ll wear cheekpieces.”
Bookmaker reaction was for Lossiemouth to supplant The New Lion as favourite in many lists. The English star faces having to overcome a trio of top mares, all in receipt of a 7lb sex allowance. Brighterdaysahead and last year’s winner, Golden Ace, also line up.
Mullins will have a dozen runners in total on Day One of the festival, including big Arkle Trophy hope Kopes Des Bordes as well as the McManus “buzz horse” Mighty Park in the opening Supreme Novices Hurdle.
One horse absent from the Arkle is Irish Panther, with connections opting to take the brave route and take on older horses in Wednesday’s Queen Mother Champion Chase. Irish Panther is a general 12-1 shot for the two-mile crown, with the race appearing to be dominated by Majborough.
Explaining the decision, part-trainer Eddie Harty said: “In the end, [there were] three things. His age, he’s an age that he should be going for the Champion; his jumping is good enough, I mean, if it’s not good enough for the Champion Chase, then it’s not good enough for the Arkle. That’s the long and the short of it.
“Marine Nationale is out, we don’t know what else is out at this stage, but we still left it down to declaration stage, having sort of decided after casting the net wide for opinions that the Champion would either be the braver or the more stupid call, time will tell which.”
The festival is set to start on good to soft ground with a mixed weather outlook at Cheltenham for the week ahead.
“We actually look pretty dry now through to the end of racing on Tuesday, which is when we could see another band of rain come in and potentially 2-4mm overnight Tuesday into Wednesday, clearing through the morning on Wednesday and should be dry for the afternoon.
“And then Thursday itself, again, potentially later in the day, sort of through the afternoon and through the night, there looks like another band of rain again. There are differing volumes in some of the forecasts, some suggesting around the 5mm, some saying we could get up to double-digit rainfall through Thursday night and into Friday,” said clerk of the course Jon Pullin.
