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Willie Mullins labelled State Man as ‘fitter and stronger’ as his charge bids to turn the tables on Nicky Henderson’s Constitution Hill in this year’s Unibet Champion Hurdle rematch.
The Willie Mullins-trained dual Irish Champion Hurdle winner has nine lengths to find after being defeated by superstar Constitution Hill in last year's Champion Hurdle, but the master of Closutton is confident his contender is better than ever heading into the Prestbury Park rematch.
State Man has added four Grade 1 victories to his CV since last year's clash with Constitution Hill, including when successfully beating stablemate Impaire Et Passe in the Matheson Hurdle at Leopardstown in December, a performance Mullins described as "huge".
State Man went on to produce a facile success over Bob Olinger in the Irish Champion Hurdle at the Dublin Racing Festival earlier in the month, with Impaire Et Passe seemingly not at his best back in third this time around.
Speaking at a media morning at Closutton stables on Monday, Mullins said: "State Man will go for the Champion, and I think he's in great order,"
"I didn't talk to any of the time men after Leopardstown because I thought his performance at Christmas was huge against Impaire Et Passe who was much more competitive than he was the other day. Tactics were changed on Impaire but he was nearly a non-runner as far as I'm concerned, you could see after two hurdles.
Although on the formbook State Man has nine lengths to find with Henderson's stable star in last year's Champion Hurdle, Mullins is expecting the two to throw up a race for the ages at Jumps Racings' HQ next month.
"We hope it will be a hell of a race, Nicky probably doesn't, and Constitution Hill fans probably don't but we are stronger this year, I don't know if better but stronger. I will leave tactics to Paul (Townend) but we're happy to have him in the order which he is."
State Man will not be arriving at Prestbury Park lacking fitness with Mullins' seven-year-old son of Doctor Dino already having completed a Grade 1 treble this season.
Mullins added: "I don't know if State Man was at his best in last year's Champion, we'll find out this year. He's very good, he'll be very race-fit, but Nicky Henderson does have a habit of having his horses very right on the day when people think they haven't raced enough, Nicky gets everything right for Cheltenham.
One thing's for certain, Mullins certainly knows what it takes to win the Tuesday feature having landed the prize on four separate occasions courtesy of Hurricane Fly (2011 and 2013), Faugheen (2015) and Annie Power (2016) and while clearly a high-class horse in his own right, the Closutton-based magician believes this year's main flagbearer possesses a different set of qualities.
He added: "He hasn't won a Champion Hurdle yet, so he has a bit to catch up with those that have. He doesn't have the pizzazz of Faugheen or the speed of Hurricane Fly, but he has other things, he jumps well, he's so consistent. Hopefully, we can turn the tables this year."
State Man is 5/2 with race sponsor Unibet to turn the tables on old rival Constitution Hill, with last year's champion 1/3 to maintain his unbeaten record under Rules.
