Punchestown is billing this weekend’s Grade One action as a “premier” fixture and the label could be apt should Anzadam line up for Saturday’s Unibet Morgiana Hurdle.
With 2022 and 2023 winner State Man ruled out for the season through injury, the scene could be set for another Willie Mullins star to push their claims for ultimate Champion Hurdle glory at Cheltenham in March.
Mullins has left in a handful of entries for a race he has dominated like few others, but even a star turn like Lossiemouth may wind up conceding the spotlight to the unbeaten Anzadam.
It will be the first time the gelding steps into the Grade One spotlight and the horse who sports the same Mrs Joe Donnelly colours as State Man is very much a could-be-anything prospect in the Champion Hurdle picture.
RM Block
Impressive in two starts for Mullins, on the back of two victories in his native France, the son of Authorized is already a general 7-1 shot to secure championship glory at Cheltenham.
Much of that is due to Mullins’s unmistakable high opinion of the horse, which hasn’t been seen in action since winning at a canter at Naas in January, after which he picked up a slight problem.
Even with proven Grade One-winning stable companions such as Lossiemouth, Irancy and Kargese also in the Morgiana mix, initial bookmaker reaction at Tuesday’s latest acceptance stage was to quickly make Anzadam a hot favourite for this weekend.
Originally set to be placed around State Man’s schedule, the latter’s absence makes waiting for the following weekend’s Fighting Fifth at Newcastle, and a likely clash with Constitution Hill and The New Lion, look unlikely as Mullins’s stranglehold on the Morgiana appears set to continue.
A record 12 wins have come in the last 14 years with only Gordon Elliott interrupting through Abacadabras in 2020 and Brighterdaysahead last season. Elliott has left in Galway Hurdle winner Ndaawi and Casheldale Lad this time.
William Munny, who had been ruled out of the race last week, also features among the nine entries. Glen Kiln, sporting the Bowe family colours carried to Morgiana success three times by Limestone Lad, is a potential starter.
Galopin Des Champs is another Punchestown stalwart absent this weekend, missing Sunday’s John Durkan Chase for the first time in four years, due to a recent hold-up.
However, his successor as reigning Cheltenham Gold Cup champion, Inothewayurthinkin, is on course to return to action in the 2½ mile feature. Only Sizing John in 2017 has come on from success in steeplechasing’s blue riband event to win the following season’s Durkan.
Owner JP McManus also has last year’s winner Fact To File to call on and he leads an ultra-strong squad of seven entries that Willie Mullins can call on as he pursues an 11th win in the race.
Also in the Mullins team are the last two Grand National heroes, Nick Rockett and I Am Maximus, as well as Lecky Watson, winner of last season’s Brown Advisory at the Cheltenham festival.
Last Spring’s Punchestown festival was the nadir of Constitution Hill’s slide from supremacy when the English star beat only one home behind State Man.
Evidence of a significant summer overhaul on the outstanding 2023 Champion Hurdle winner was at Newbury on Tuesday when Nicky Henderson’s star impressed in a workout in advance of a trip to Newcastle next week. The trainer is confident that those bad days are behind him.
“That was a brutal day at Punchestown. To be fair, the whole thing was just a chapter of disaster, and he should never have gone there.
“It was over when the tapes went up when he turned and faced the other way. It was as if he was turning to the stands looking at me saying, ‘Dad, I can’t do this again’. He has never turned his head at anything as he wouldn’t know how to, yet that day, that is what he said,” Henderson said.
“The remodelling of the whole thing started straight after Punchestown when we realised we had to do something.
“We have done a lot of things and we literally did take him to pieces, literally every nut and every bolt and put the whole thing back together again with loads of people’s advice, and more,” he added.
Separately, Gordon Elliott has a single runner on Wednesday’s Dundalk programme, and Someone’s Wish could be one to reckon with in a 10-furlong handicap.
