The most significant news after the Irish Champion Hurdle on Sunday was that Lossiemouth got up. Willie Mullins’s mare, the odds-on favourite, took a crashing fall four out in the day’s feature race, all but bringing down State Man, her stable companion and the winner for the last two seasons, in the process. State Man was effectively left to come home alone, but at that moment, the sight of Lossiemouth bouncing back to her feet, seemingly unscathed, was all that anyone wanted to see.
Until the favourite’s dramatic departure, Sunday’s race had been a private duel between Lossiemouth and State Man, with both horses hurdling fluently and a long way clear of their three, outclassed rivals.
