If pressure is a privilege, then Paul Townend exercised his advantage with the surest of touches as State Man secured Unibet Champion Hurdle glory at Cheltenham on Tuesday.
Ireland’s champion jockey’s big whip-hand is to be number one rider to the all-dominant Willie Mullins who once again dominated jump racing’s greatest stage.
Mullins is now just three winners away from a once scarcely credible century of festival victories after a Grade One hat-trick that lived up to expectations about much of this week’s action promising to be his show.
The Rich Ricci-owned pair Gaelic Warrior (Arkle) and Lossiemouth (Mares’ Hurdle) also justified favouritism to complete the hat-trick at cramped odds of less than 6-1.
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It underlined how their rider is in the most enviable, but also most pressurised, hot seat in the business. Win on the hotpots and it’s presumed: lose and the rider is always the easiest target in any blame game.
Even Mullins has been known to play it, most notably at last year’s Dublin Racing Festival. But if success has characterised Townend’s career, so has resilience.
From that infamous run-out gaffe on Al Boum Photo at Punchestown in 2018, to bouncing back from a final fence tumble on Galopin Des Champs here a couple of years ago, the 33-year-old rider’s capacity for cool calculation has always come up trumps.
Never was it more apparent than a vintage effort on Galopin Des Champs in last year’s Gold Cup. State Man wasn’t so obvious in style, but the substance was similar.
The 2-5 favourite to take advantage of Constitution Hill’s absence was many people’s banker of the week but testing ground underlined how little is a given at championship level.
Even Mullins was surprised at his jockey’s daring patience, jumping off to the fore but easing back to have more in front than behind at one point. If the stamina-laden Irish Point was sure to thrive in the conditions, logic dictated using State Man’s proven two-mile speed when it counted.
Hindsight made it an inspired move as State Man took the verdict by just over a length: but everything’s easy in hindsight.
“He’s a very simple horse to ride. On the ground, I probably could have waited a bit longer, but I didn’t doubt his stamina either. He’s an old favourite of mine and he deserves a big day like this,” Townend said.
It completed his collection of Cheltenham’s championship races and leaves only Thursday’s Turners as the sole festival Grade One he has yet to win.
Mullins was winning the championship for a fifth time and was quick to credit his jockey.
“I was amazed the way Paul rode him, I thought he would be much more forward. I didn’t dream that he was going to be fifth or sixth jumping the fourth last. He just rode him with supreme confidence,” he said.
“I thought he would be making more use of his stamina, but Paul seemed to ride him for speed today. He probably felt there was enough in the ground that was going to take it out of the other horse in front of him at the pace they were going.
“He’s a fantastic jockey. He goes out, does his own thing and that ride today was superb,” Mullins added.
Not many would have predicted Gaelic Warrior might prove an easier steering job but that’s how it unfolded.
Various quirks about a penchant for going right-handed, a combustible temperament, and fears over trip were banished as the 2-1 favourite, once described as a nut job by his owner, proved much too good for Found A Fifty.
“He was very manageable once we got out on to the track. He was busy in the parade ring and busy in the chute but behaved himself in the race. His jumping was brilliant, and quite straight too. He shifted right at one or two to kind of correct himself, but I didn’t have to do much on him to be honest,” Townend said.
He had even less to do on Lossiemouth it seemed. The 8-13 favourite travelled like a dream to lead before the last in what he called a “push button” performance.
With a 75 per cent strike rate on day one, Townend added: “It’s a funny place, this. It is very easy to ride when you’re on a good one, and it’s very difficult when you’re not going well. I’m privileged to be riding these horses. And the privilege is definitely not lost; I know how privileged I am.”
How fickle and unforgiving a game it can be wasn’t lost on him either, though. “It’s brilliant to get today over but tomorrow is another day. Nobody cares about today tomorrow.”
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