State Man justified short-priced favouritism to take the Unibet Champion Hurdle at the Cheltenham Festival. Ridden by Paul Townend, the Willie Mullins-trained chestnut started as the 2/5 market leader in the absence of reigning champion Constitution Hill, who had run out such a convincing winner 12 months ago.
The seven-year-old enjoyed an untroubled passage through the race on the inside rail and when he kicked for home only Gordon Elliott's Irish Point could go with him, but it was State Man who held the upper hand to go one better than last year by a length and a quarter. Luccia ran a fine race in third for Constitution Hill's trainer, Nicky Henderson. Mullins said: 'I was amazed with the way Paul rode him, I thought he'd be much more forward, I didn't dream that he'd only be fifth or sixth jumping the fourth-last. But he just rode him with supreme confidence