Is Galway Hero Aramon Really Champion Hurdle Material? Judging Aramon on his final two outings of 2019 when beaten by an aggregate of 67 lengths, it would be madness to talk of him as a Champion Hurdle contender. Trailing in last of six at the Punchestown Festival and a weakening fourth of five on his first start in open company over hurdles are not the stuff that Cheltenham horses are made of. However, in 2020 the Monsun gelding has made progress under the careful handling of Willie Mullins. For one thing, Aramon has not been over-raced. He made nine starts in a busy novice campaign after joining the Closutton master trainer from the German stable of Marcus Klug. In his former life on the Flat, the seven-year-old was only managed two wins at Cologne from his eleven races. A 10-length victory in the Grade 1 Future Champions Novice Hurdle at Leopardstown over Christmas 2018 may not have been a fluke after all. Aramon could only finish sixth in the 2019 Supreme at Cheltenham off an official rating of 154, yet landed the Galway Hurdle off 1lb higher carrying top-weight this year. That effort takes his mark to new heights. Champion Hurdle heights potentially with his rating now a lofty 163. It was all Patrick Mullins was talking about after landing the big Galway Festival handicap hurdle. As the Cheltenham betting guide by M Bet highlights in its results section, Aramon was second off a big weight in a similarly competitive race, the Grade 3 County Handicap Hurdle, at that Festival in March. Their sportsbook has odds of 22/1 about him in the ante post market on the 2021 Champion Hurdle. On closer inspection, his effort when fifth in the Irish equivalent before dropping in grade and into handicap company doesn’t read as badly as it first appears. Although 8½ lengths behind subsequent Mares’ Hurdle heroine Honeysuckle, Aarmon finished in front of Champion Hurdle runner-up and previous Galway Hurdle scorer Sharjah. The runner-up at Leopardstown, Darver Star, also placed at Cheltenham in the Champion, while it is clear on his last two runs that Aramon has progressed past popular Gigginstown House Stud grey Petit Mouchoir. He gave Henry De Bromhead’s charge 11lb and a two-length beating in the Grade 3 Grimes Hurdle at Tipperary. It is all too easy to scoff at Galway Festival winners and label them as nothing more than summer jumpers. The Hurdle and Plate are valuable prizes in their own right, however, and the standard of opposition in these Grade A handicap fields are high. As Balko Des Flos showed when adding to his 2017 victory in the Plate with Ryanair Chase glory the following spring, landing the spoils at Cheltenham can be done. Mullins has enjoyed Champion Hurdle successes over the last decade courtesy of Hurricane Fly, Faugheen and Annie Power, even saddling the first three home in 2015, and has trained the runner-up in each of the last three years. It is now up to Aramon to prove he can contribute to the formidable record of the yard in hurdling’s most valuable prize. He will be eight when the next Cheltenham Festival comes around and recent trends suggest the Champion Hurdle winner is a younger horse, but Irish raiders like Annie Power, Brave Inca, Hardy Eustace and Istabraq found that age to be no barrier to success.
