LAST UPDATE | 18 Mar 2022
WILLIE MULLINS SEALED the top trainer’s title as he kicked off the final day of the Cheltenham Festival with a 177/1 treble.
There was a clean sweep for the Irish in the JCB Triumph Hurdle, with Vauban powering to victory at Cheltenham and leading home four of his compatriots in the Grade One that turned into a speed test.
Paul Townend was always well placed, hunting the relatively sedate pace set by Porticello and Fil Dor before being produced wide off the final bend.
The Willie Mullins-trained Vauban was still on the bridle as he eased a length clear approaching the last and while he made a hash of it, landing on all fours, he soon regained his momentum.
Townend always had plenty up his sleeve and the 6-4 favourite drew readily clear up the stands rail to score by two and a half lengths from Fil Dor, trained by Gordon Elliott, whose Pied Piper ran on a further neck back third.
State Man continued the dominance of trainer Willie Mullins and piled on the misery for bookmakers at Cheltenham when powering up the hill to land a competitive renewal of the McCoy Contractors County Handicap Hurdle.
The inexperienced five-year-old, who fell in a maiden hurdle at Christmas and gained his first success in a Limerick maiden last month, was sent off the 11-4 favourite under Paul Townend.
His rider was cool under pressure, making stealthy headway down the hill and being produced between the last two flights of hurdles.
There was still work to do to wear down Eclair De Beaufeu, who was always up with the pace, and Colonel Mustard, who approached the last in front.
Yet State Man grabbed the stands rail, as Townend had done in the opening JCB Triumph Hurdle with Vauban, and jumped the last flight on a good stride.
He soon forged a length and a quarter clear and held that advantage to the line, defying the staying-on First Street, and Colonel Mustard who was a length and three-quarters back in third.
The first three, all novices, had West Cork, who also stayed on nicely up the hill, a further two and a quarter-lengths behind in fourth.
In an eventful Albert Bartlett Novices’ Hurdle, The Nice Guy made it two from two over hurdles and gave Mullins another one-two as well as a first Grade One winner for Sean O’Keeffe.
With 2-1 favourite Hillcrest never travelling and pulled up after the fourth-last in the Grade One three-mile event, the race seemed at the mercy of second-favourite Ginto with Jack Kennedy’s mount tanking approaching the final bend.
Yet as he attempted to ease between rivals, he appeared to take a false step and suffered what sadly proved to be a fatal injury.
That left the free-going Minella Cocooner to fight it out with stablemate The Nice Guy, who had been produced with a timely run approaching the second-last.
Carrying the colours made famous by Monsignor, the Malcolm Denmark-owned seven-year-old outstayed his rival up the hill to score by five lengths, denying Paul Townend a treble. Minella Cocooner had four and a quarter lengths to spare over Bardenstown Lad.
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