Fortune favours the brave

THERE were examples of where National Hunt racing both shines and excels in the space of 40 minutes on day one.

It felt somewhat hollow to see Lossiemouth outclass her rivals in the Mares’ Hurdle when there’s every chance she’d have been good enough to win the Champion Hurdle immediately after.

Surely there’s more chance than ever before now that the authorities might prevent top mares like her from running in the race going forward. We want to see the best against the best here.

On the other hand, trainer Jeremy Scott and owner Ian Gosden deserve massive credit for rolling the dice where they looked like being outclassed with Golden Ace in the Tuesday feature.

Winning with a 12,000gns buy against the biggest yards in Britain and Ireland, they gave hope to everyone that it can be done on the big stage.

In another world, the Mares’ Hurdle winner probably should have been in the Champion Hurdle, and the Champion winner ought to have been in the Mares’.

Fortune favours the brave.

So many Champion questions

AFTER weeks of talking in the build-up to the Champion Hurdle, we all hoped the contest would answer every one of the burning questions about the two-mile hurdling division. Instead, it only left us with more questions.

For a start, we still don’t know whether Constitution Hill is the force of old. He lives life on the edge in terms of his hurdling technique, and that caught him out for the first time in his career here. To my eye, at least, Brighterdaysahead never looked to be travelling with her usual zest from early in the race and simply never fired for one reason or another. Some will say Cheltenham could be a problematic track for her, but this was well below the level she ran to on the New Course last year and this was the Old Course anyway. It was way off what she’s capable of.

In a strange way, State Man might have actually earned more credit for his defeat here than he did when winning the same race last year. Paul Townend saw a stride and did what looked to be the right thing in keeping momentum. Neither the horse or rider deserved that outcome.

Golden Ace was probably a fortunate winner in the circumstances but she turned up and delivered her best; something the other three (four if you count Champion absentee Lossiemouth) couldn’t do.

Cromwell squad clicks

EVEN though Gavin Cromwell didn’t manage to get on the scoresheet on day one, he clearly came to the Festival with his team in sublime shape.

Only By Night looked as though she was about to cause a 25/1 upset in the Arkle only to be thwarted late by Jango Baie, Malina Girl posted an excellent showing to finish third in the Ultima at 14/1 and Robbie’s Rock seriously outran his 50/1 odds to finish second in the Fred Winter.

Total Look, Cromwell’s only disappointment of the afternoon, didn’t appear to return fully himself after the same juvenile handicap, while Now Is The Hour looked like he was at least going to give Haiti Couleurs something to think about before coming down at the second last in the National Hunt Chase. The Cromwell team performed with immense credit, despite failing to register a winner.

Crowd watch

AN attendance of 55,489 was well down on the 2024 crowd figure of 60,181.

Fastest furlong

A strong move from five furlongs out to the four-furlong marker by July Flower in the Mares’ Hurdle was the fastest of any furlong day one.

According to RaceiQ data, the eventual fifth clocked 12.29 seconds at that point - marginally faster than the second quickest furlong on the day from Lossiemouth.

From the chase races, Majborough’s sectional from five furlongs out to four furlongs out in the Arkle was by far the fastest of any furlong on day one - 12.95 seconds.

Longest stride

PAUL Townend noted that Kopek Des Bordes covers ground very easily after his Supreme success and RaceiQ’s figures very much back that impression up.

No horse running on Tuesday had a bigger maximum stride length than the novice’s 7.92 metres.

For context, his nearest pursuer in this category in the Supreme was William Munny (7.67 metres), while the second and third longest strides on the day came from Boodles fourth Wendrock (7.79 metres) and Majborough (7.74 metres).