The 2025 Champion Hurdle is set to be a box office contest on Tuesday. With three superstars potentially clashing at their very best, it should be a race to thoroughly savour. Joe Napier previews the race below, and gives his verdict…
In a depleted field last year, State Man gained a deserved success as the 2/5 favourite a year ago.
CONSTITUTION HILL
(Nicky Henderson/Nico De Boinville)
Is he the same horse? That is the sole question which applies to the previously incomparable Constitution Hill as his date with destiny approaches. Absolutely invincible at his best two seasons ago, he won the 2023 Champion Hurdle without breaking a sweat before injury and ill health threatened to permanently disrupt his racing career.
Back on track this campaign, he defeated Lossiemouth at Kempton over Christmas before a penalty kick success here on Trials Day. However, the Christmas Hurdle saw him come genuinely off the bridle for the first time, while we learned nothing in the International Hurdle given his opposition. He is still rated 175 and until he is beaten, believers will keep the faith that his generational talent will shine through. Even with some serious rivals in opposition here, a 90% version may still be enough.
BRIGHTERDAYSAHEAD
(Gordon Elliott/Jack Kennedy)
In a complete about turn compared to the Lossiemouth situation, Gordon Elliott and Gigginstown are going for gold with Brighterdaysahead in the showpiece contest. The six-year-old was astonishing at Leopardstown, winning by 30 lengths in the Grade 1 Neville Hotels Hurdle, with a sorry State Man even passed for second in the distant background.
Unlike with Constitution Hill, there are two questions posed to the mare here. One is whether that form can be trusted on face value, and the other is how she overcomes a shock defeat to Golden Ace at the Festival last year. That race was run at a dawdle, but she should still have been good enough to win anyway. She is clearly a superior model again this term and the statement of intent to run here is worth heeding; but is she good enough to beat the best hurdler in at least 20 years? Vibes from the yard suggest she is.
STATE MAN
(Willie Mullins/Paul Townend)
Without Lossiemouth, State Man again takes up the mantle for the Mullins team in the Champion Hurdle. That alone speaks volumes to the continued faith the yard have in the eight-year-old, who is somewhat of a forgotten defending champion in here after striking in the mud 12 months ago with Constitution Hill watching from his box and Brighterdaysahead still a novice.
He looked like beating the mare in the Morgiana Hurdle at Punchestown in November, but was annihilated at Leopardstown, even being passed by 11-year-old stablemate Winter Fog that day. How much of his 31-length deficit was down to fitness is debatable, though he was 15 lengths clear of Winter Fog in the Irish Champion Hurdle on the bridle most recently. He is still talented, and Paul Townend and Willie Mullins insist there is more in his locker at Cheltenham, but there will certainly need to be.
THE FIELD
Brighterdaysahead has the perfect pacemaker in King Of Kingsfield based on what his front-running achieved at Leopardstown. He may also set the race up ideally for Constitution Hill though, and as far as his own chances are concerned, they are very limited.
The same is true for Winter Fog, who will surely be ridden to pick up any pieces, while Burdett Road and Golden Ace are the only other two plausible angles for competition. The pair’s respective biggest victories have come through front-running, which they surely will be unable to achieve with King Of Kingsfield in attendance, so both will need to find alternate methods of racing, but have enough ability to at least stay in the mix for much of the journey.
VERDICT
The unanswerables should be answered soon enough. With his unbeaten record intact and the possibility that he is progressing back to his best, CONSTITUTION HILL can regain his Champion Hurdle crown, although he might have to knuckle down. Brighterdaysahead looked frighteningly good at Leopardstown, but the trustworthiness of the form, coupled with her disappointment at the Festival last season leave her as the second choice for now. A bold bid is not entirely discounted from State Man, but his step up is the biggest required of the three protagonists.
PREDICTED CHAMPION HURDLE 1-2-3
- Constitution Hill
- Brighterdaysahead
- State Man
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