Boodles Champion Hurdle (Grade 1)

NO matter the question posed of him, State Man always tends to have the answer and he came up trumps once again in face of a stern test from Irish Point in the Boodles Champion Hurdle.

A length and a quarter separated the pair when finishing first and second in the Unibet Champion Hurdle at Cheltenham, and Jack Kennedy set out to take the race to Joe and Marie Donnelly’s stalwart right from the moment the tapes lifted this time.

As the race began to truly unfold from the back of the third last, it looked as though there was the potential for the 7/2 challenger to ruffle the feathers of the 2/7 favourite. He did his level best to make a race of it with Willie Mullins’ winning machine.

However, Paul Townend was able to rely on State Man’s metronomically consistent turn of foot to exert a level of two-mile class that no senior hurdler in the business - with the exception of Constitution Hill - is capable of matching.

It got a little tight between the pair after the last and Irish Point had to take a check, meaning the margin ended up being two lengths at the line.

The numbers keep building for State Man, who has now won 10 Grade 1s in his 14 races with the champion trainer, and Mullins also entered rare statistical territory with this success. He drew level with Dermot Weld’s longstanding record of 4,377 winners to become Ireland’s joint winning-most trainer in history.

“A few of them had run a little disappointing today and we were a bit worried going out,” said Mullins.

“We were wondering what tactics Jack would use and the game went according to how we thought it would go. He just did what he normally does, pulled it out when he needed to pull it out.

Ears pricked

“Paul said there was a cameraman on the line and he stopped to have a look and prick his ears at him. That’s the sort of horse he is, he’s just got lots of talent and he keeps doing it which is huge. He’s very uncomplicated, he’s uncomplicated in his stable, he’s an old pet.”

On what lies in store for the one-time possible chaser, Mullins quipped: “Hurdling is his career now. He’s come a long way. He was a nice one in the County Hurdle and he was a nice one in a maiden hurdle at Limerick for 7lb-claiming riders!

“He’s very easy to do anything with, a lovely horse.”

Townend added: “He’s a star, isn’t he? I love riding him because he’s so simple to ride. He has plenty in there, I think. He saw the cameraman and smiled for the picture. I have a soft spot for him because you can leave the weighing room, get to the start and make it up as you go along. He’ll get you out of trouble.”

Despite his spectacular record, State Man is in fact the third favourite with some firms for next year’s Champion Hurdle at Cheltenham. The sidelined Constitution Hill tops the market at 2/1 from Lossiemouth at 3/1, with the back-to-back Boodles Champion Hurdle winner as big as 4/1 to retain his Cheltenham crown.