State Man claims easy victory in Matheson Hurdle

Willie Mullins saddles first three in Leopardstown contest.

State Man continued his march towards a likely clash with Constitution Hill at the Cheltenham Festival in March with a comprehensive victory in the Matheson Hurdle at Leopardstown.

Nicky Henderson’s Constitution Hill is long odds-on to lift the Champion Hurdle crown in March following his latest demolition job in the Christmas Hurdle at Kempton on Boxing Day.

And while connections of the unbeaten five-year-old are unlikely to be quaking in their boots, State Man gave further evidence he may well prove his biggest threat with an authoritative display.

A well-backed winner of the County Hurdle in the Cotswolds last season and successful on his reappearance in last month’s Morgiana Hurdle at Punchestown, State Man lined up as one of three runners for Willie Mullins in the feature event on day four of Leopardstown’s Christmas Festival.

Sharjah, ridden by the champion trainer’s son Patrick, was bidding to better hurdling legends Istabraq and Hurricane Fly by winning a remarkable fifth successive Matheson Hurdle, and yet he was only third in the betting at 6-1 behind State Man at 4-6 and his Triumph Hurdle-winning stablemate Vauban at 11-4.

Rank outsider She Is Electric took the field along for much of the two-mile journey, but predictably folded before the home turn, at which stage Paul Townend allowed State Man to stride into the lead.

The strong-travelling Vauban travelled into his slipstream at the top of the straight, but State Man soon found another gear to pull four and a quarter lengths clear.

Connections of Vauban will doubtless take plenty of encouragement from what was his first outing of the season and first start outside of juvenile company, while Sharjah was not disgraced in third.

State Man is unchanged at 4-1 with Coral for the Champion Hurdle, who make Constitution Hill their 2-7 favourite. Vauban, meanwhile, is a 10-1 shot.

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