Ridden by Danny Mullins, the Kenny Alexander-owned mare, brought up a 1-2 to Closutton handler Willie Mullins, as she beat her stable companion, Kopek Des Bordes (11/8).

Billed as a clash between the Cork-owned pair of Lulamba (11/10 favourite), owned by Joe Donnelly, and last year’s SkyBet Supreme Novices’ Hurdle victor, Kopek Des Bordes, Kargese, second in the Irish Arkle, was seen as next best in the market.

Jumping is the name of the game and both Lulamba, in the hands of Nico de Boinville, and Kopek Des Bordes, with Paul Townend in the saddle, both made mistakes which ultimately provided crucial.

The latter’s final error of three over the two-mile Grade 1 contest came at the final fence, when he looked as though he might defeat the mare.

Without enough time to regain momentum, Danny Mullins drove clear aboard Kargese as she ran out a two and a half length winner.

The Charles McCarthy-owned Kopek Des Bordes had two and a half lengths in hand on Lulamba at the line.

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Leader D’Allier out of Supreme Novices’

The seven-race card gets underway with the Grade 1 SkyBet Supreme Novices’ Hurdle. There are now 11 runners in the race with Willie Mullins’ Leader D’Allier withdrawn this morning having been found lame.

Nicky Henderson bids to win his sixth Supreme Novices’ Hurdle 40 years after River Ceirog gave him his first victory in the race. He is represented by Old Park Star, the mount of Nico de Boinville.

There is, as usual, a string Irish challenge in the race, with Mighty Park [Mark Walsh], Tale The Talk [J.J. Slevin] and El Cairos [Jack Kennedy] the market leaders among the seven Irish-trained runners.

Kopek Des Bordes bids for Arkle Chase

Last year’s SkyBet Supreme Novices’ Hurdle winner, Kopek Des Bordes, bids to land the Singer Arkle Challenge Trophy Novices’ Chase at 2.00pm.

The Charles McCarthy-owned French-bred faces a field of six, with Nicky Henderson’s Lulamba, and Kargese, the likely main challengers.

Unibet Champion Hurdle

The Unibet Champion Hurdle, the opening day feature race, has a field of 9 runners.

The Champion Hurdle was first run almost a century ago, but only seven mares have won it: African Star (1939), Dawn Run (1984), Flakey Dove (1994), Annie Power (2016), Epatante (2020), Honeysuckle (2021 & 2022) and Golden Ace (2025).

Three mares in field of nine

This afternoon, there are three mares in the starting line-up: Brighterdaysahead from the Gordon Elliott yard, last year’s winner, Golden Ace, and Lossiemouth from the Mullins yard.

Five of the past ten renewals of the race have been scooped by mares, including achieving a 1-2 in 2022.

No horse in this year’s Unibet Champion Hurdle line-up has had a blemish-free campaign, which is highly unusual.

Thirty-one of the past 35 winners of the race won on their most recent start. Only The New Lion and Brighterdaysahead qualify on that count this year.

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Owned by Tony Bloom, the son of Golden Horn previously ran on the flat for Ralph Beckett in England.

One of 11 representatives from Closutton in the 18-runner race, Poniros was only in sixth position as they approached the last hurdle in the straight.

East India Dock (5/4 favourite) took the lead into the final flight and was challenged by the Joe Donnelly-owned Lulamba, trained by Nicky Henderson.

Just as the James Owen-handled favourite looked to be heading for success, Poniros came with a strong drive from Jonjo O’Neill Jr to burst through for a neck win at the line.

Lulamba claimed the runner-up spot by three-quarters of a length from East India Dock under Sam Twiston-Davies, with Lady Vega Allen (14/1) and Paul Townend fourth, another length and three-quarters back.

The surprised winning handled, who had just trained the longest-priced winner in the history of the Triumph Hurdle, said:

“He’s by Golden Horn, who I think is going to make a very good sire over jumps. He’s the sort of horse you’re looking for. I didn’t expect that. Did Tony Bloom back him? If he did, it wasn’t on my advice! We were hoping he would run well and be a nice horse for next year, so he’s ahead of schedule.”

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