There was a definite tremor in the voice of Rich Ricci, belying the image of the hard-nosed former banker, after his grey mare, Lossiemouth, had galloped to an authoritative success in the Champion Hurdle here on Tuesday. “It’s a privilege to have a horse like this,” Ricci said. “This game continues to excite me, to entice me and to make me spend stupid money.”
The accountant in Ricci had probably been telling him to stick to a tried-and-trusted path at the festival as he and Willie Mullins, Lossiemouth’s trainer, were deciding last week whether to attempt a third straight win in the Mares’ Hurdle on Thursday, or roll the dice in the main event two days earlier.
The gambler prevailed, however, putting a hugely popular seal on the festival’s opening day as Lossiemouth, the 7-5 favourite came home six and a half lengths clear of Brighterdaysahead (7-2), with The New Lion, at 3-1, another half-length away in third.
There had already been one bloodcurdling roar earlier in the afternoon, rolling down from the stands as Old Park Star, the 15-8 favourite, surged into the lead halfway up the hill in the opening Supreme Novice Hurdle. The acclaim for Lossiemouth was louder still, as doubles were landed and the favourite obliged in the feature event at the biggest betting meeting of the year.
This was the 18th run of Lossiemouth’s career, her 14th win, and also her fourth win at the festival, a winning streak here that began in the Triumph Hurdle in 2023. It followed a slightly limp defeat behind Brighterdaysahead in the Irish Champion Hurdle at Leopardstown last month, but back at the course she adores, with cheekpieces applied and on much better ground, there was simply no stopping her.
“She has that mare’s pedigree which gives her that bit of speed and the cheekpieces, I think, just made a huge difference,” Mullins said. “It made her concentrate that bit more. As horses get older they probably, like the rest of us, start looking for ways out of doing hard work, and this really invigorated her.
“I saw her working in them the other morning, and when she pulled up, I spoke to Paul [Townend, her jockey] and we both had the same feeling that this was the way to go. We were all anxious until the third-last and then I saw her hitting that spot on, and I looked back at JP’s [McManus’s] colours [on The New Lion] and I thought, right, he’s starting to come under pressure and he was the one I was worried about.
“To win the Champion Hurdle definitely outranks everything else she’s done, but to come back here four years in a row is an achievement in itself and to win four years … it’s been superb.”
Townend suffered the agony of falling at the last aboard State Man 12 months ago, with the race at his mercy. “I was just happy to land running at the back of the last this year,” Townend said. “You probably couldn’t ride her to go any better than it did. She was much more like herself today than the last day. I knew very early that day that we weren’t going, and I knew very early today that we were.”
Susannah and Rich Ricci, meanwhile, have now seen their familiar pink colours take a total of 24 festival races and while Annie Power, the last mare to win the Champion in the silks back in 2016, was retired to stud after just one more race, Lossiemouth is a year younger and could yet return to the festival next year.
She is priced up at around 3-1 for a repeat success in 2027, and while Old Park Star is around 8-1 for next year’s Champion, Nicky Henderson’s latest stable star – following Altior, Shishkin and Constitution Hill as a winner of this race since 2016 – seems more likely to be aimed at the Arkle Trophy earlier on the card.
“It’s sad that Constitution Hill isn’t coming here, but it’s nice to come up with another youngster who has got his life in front of him,” Henderson said. “This is only the beginning. It’s his first year hurdling and he’s done nothing wrong all season.
“I’ll be surprised if he doesn’t go chasing next season. He’s very talented, and he’s a quick horse too. Two miles is probably perfect for him at the moment, but he’ll get further in time. Constitution Hill was very quick but he never went chasing. Altior and Shishkin jumped fences and were Champion Chasers. You’d like to think this fellow can follow along those lines.”
Henderson was denied a swift double when Kargese, the second string from the Mullins stable, finished two-and-a-quarter lengths ahead of Kopek Des Bordes and Henderson’s Lulamba in the Arkle Trophy.
“Kargese jumped superbly and had far more experience than Kopek, which has stood to her at the finish,” Mullins said. “She’s a really tough nut and she looks like a Champion Chase horse [next year].”
There was a sad postscript to the race, however, as Gary and Josh Moore’s Hansard was pulled up mid-race and found to have a fatal injury.
“He was quickly dismounted and attended to by a team of expert veterinary professionals,” Cheltenham racecourse said in a statement. “It was concluded that the best course of action for the horse’s welfare was for him to be put down and our heartfelt condolences are with his connections.”
