CHAMPION HURDLE RESULT: The grey claimed her biggest success at Cheltenham where she had already won the Mares’ Hurdle twice and the Triumph Hurdle in 2023
Willie Mullins’ star mare Lossiemouth sealed her place in the history books when she landed the Unibet Champion Hurdle to record her fourth win at the Cheltenham Festival.
The grey was undefeated at the fixture, landing the Mares’ Hurdle two years running after victory in the Triumph Hurdle in 2023 and had appeared to be headed for a Mares’ Hurdle hat-trick until connections made their minds up at the weekend to take a different path.
One of three Mullins-trained runners and the choice of stable jockey Paul Townend she never looked in any sort of trouble, in first-time cheekpieces, as she inflicted a six-and-a-half-length defeat on Brighterdaysahead as The New Lion came home in third.
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A year ago in the same race Townend had approached the last hurdle with the Champion Hurdle apparently in the bag on State Man only for that horse to take a dramatic fall and hand victory to Golden Ace.
“Lossiemouth deserves it,” said Townend. “She travelled much better, sweeter and kinder today. She tries so hard that you know very early in the race whether she’s going or not.
Mullins said: “She’s a star mare to come back four years on the trot, never mind win. That puts her in a league of her own. She’s nearly getting into Quevega territory.
“It was an open race, and when I put cheekpieces on the other morning, I thought, Wow, that’s the old Lossiemouth and Paul felt the same.
“How quick was she to flip her front feet out and get away from the hurdle with so much momentum, and then quicken up the hill as well. I mean, she is just so good, and we’ve all sort of worried two miles is really too sharp for her, but her jumping today was as quick as we’ve ever seen it.
“To win the Champion Hurdle definitely outranks everything else she’s done. But to come back here with four years in a row is an achievement in itself but then to win four years is, she’s gone Triumph, Mares’ twice and then this and it’s been superb.
“Just 12 months ago State Man would have left her for dead.”

