Lossiemouth maintained her perfect Cheltenham record in successfully defending her Close Brothers Mares’ Hurdle crown.
The six-year-old claimed the two-and-a-half-mile Grade One contest by three lengths 12 months ago and more than justified 4-6 favouritism for another impressive victory under the guidance of Paul Townend.
The Rich Ricci-owned grey sat in second for much of the race, sitting on the shoulder of her Willie Mullins-trained stablemate Jade De Grugy before making her move ahead of the final fence.
Jade De Grugy tried to push the tempo, but Lossiemouth cruised past the leader before flying over the last and kicking on to seal a seven-and-a-half-length triumph and win at the Festival for the third time. Take No Chances came in third for Dan Skelton.
Plenty of the build-up to Cheltenham had surrounded whether Lossiemouth would go for the Champion Hurdle over the Mares’ Hurdle, and while two defeats this season had raised question marks, that still appeared it would be the case before a late change of heart.
Willie Mullins
Mullins said: “As a trainer and as a professional I didn’t see the work (the other day) to run her in the Champion Hurdle, which disappointed me on the day, but we had the alternative to come here and that worked.
“You have to look at Rich Ricci’s team – he hasn’t had a great year this year and we all sort of gauge ourselves by Cheltenham. I’m not sure he has another live chance of a winner this week and she was a live chance of a winner in this race.
“It was disappointing to change our minds from a two-year plan, but it was the correct decision for the connections, I think.
“For these owners that we have, it’s all about coming here and having a winner, and Paul wasn’t going to ride this mare in the Champion Hurdle. When Paul said he wasn’t going to ride her in the Champion Hurdle, that was enough of a pointer for most people.
“I was happy with where our horses were placed in the race. Danny (Mullins) said he was going to make the running on Jade De Grugy, she ran a cracker as well and there’s more big days in her, too.”
On whether Lossiemouth will be aimed at the Champion Hurdle next season, Mullins added: “I’m not going to open my mouth again!
“This is her third win in Cheltenham, which puts her in a different league from a lot of other horses, and if we want to see that battle (with the geldings) they can come to Ireland and take her on, or we might go to Liverpool for the Aintree Hurdle. It doesn’t have to be all about one day here, there are other opportunities to meet those type of horses.
“She is a mare with a nice pedigree. At the moment Rich probably has mares for racing rather than breeding. If a breeder owned her she’d probably be retired to stud, but I’d say the fact that she’s in the pink and green spots means she’ll probably race for another season at least.”
Dan Skelton
Dan Skelton was proud of Take No Chances, who fared best of the British back in third.
“I’m very very happy with her and I have been all season to be honest, she’s run brilliantly,” said Skelton.
“You run that race a million times and the best we could be was second and we nearly were, Lossiemouth is just in a different league but we’re very proud.
“She could run again, we’ll consider Sandown and we may even enter for the mares’ race at Punchestown.”
Skelton admitted that had he trained Lossiemouth, a Champion Hurdle bid would not have been on his radar.
He said: “As controversial as it is that Lossiemouth didn’t run in the Champion Hurdle, she’s run in the race she’s most likely to win so from a professional perspective you can’t knock it. If she were mine, to be honest I’d probably have never considered the Champion Hurdle!
“I always knew we’d outrun our odds and two weeks ago when it looked like Lossiemouth wasn’t running, I even had it in my head she could go off second favourite and have a squeak of winning and it has worked out like that.
“This was my first Grade One winner at the Festival, this race, and I have a strong opinion that this race should stay.
“Saying it should go is definitely not the way forward, it has to stay, maybe in a different guise but it would be a big step backwards for the industry and the breed to lose the mares’ races.”
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