Hot favourite State Man well beaten at LeopardstownOwner Michael O’Leary still to decide on next target
A significant potential rival for Constitution Hill in the Champion Hurdle at Cheltenham emerged on the final day of Leopardstown’s Christmas meeting on Sunday, as Brighterdaysahead, a five-year-old mare trained by Gordon Elliott, came home 30 lengths clear of her rivals in the Grade One Neville Hotels Hurdle, with State Man, the reigning champion over timber, only third in a race that he had won for the past two seasons.
State Man set off as the 4-9 favourite for the race on Sunday, despite having had his first defeat in a completed start in Ireland when finishing a close second behind Brighterdaysahead at Punchestown in November. While Brighterdaysahead had made her own running there, however, she had a pacemaker for the rematch in her stable companion, King Of Kingsfield, and the pair steadily built a lead of about a dozen lengths by halfway.
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