Which race will Lossiemouth be aimed at for next year's Cheltenham Festival? We are 11 months out from the Cheltenham Festival, but this already feels like an argument that should be redundant. The Champion Hurdle. No messing around, no will she-won't she debates, no worries about her form or ability to mix it with the very best. Lossiemouth's career trajectory can only point her squarely at the Champion Hurdle in 2026, it's no more complicated than that now. Of course, that's not to say there won't be a debate between now and next March, but it does seem an overwhelmingly strong case for the two-mile Championship race. Lessons have been learned Willie Mullins and Rich Ricci aren't noted for looking backwards and wondering what might have been. They've dined at the top table of jumps racing for long enough to know it's a foolish pastime. That said, even this great duo had to be permitted just the merest hint of a 'what if' after the opening day at the 2025 Cheltenham Festival. Lossiemouth was unconvincing in her prep, beaten by Constitution Hill at Christmas and then left on the ground as State Man won the Irish Champion Hurdle. Her homework wasn't of a level that allowed Mullins to believe she was ready for a Champion Hurdle and, so, the Mares' race was the target. She toyed with those rivals and won as she pleased and, half an hour later, her connections watched as Constitution Hill and State Man both fell in the Champion Hurdle and Brighterdaysahead capitulated. The crown landed on the head of another mare, Golden Ace, but surely Lossiemouth would have come home in front, granted the same situation playing out? No one will ever have a definitive answer to that question, of course, but both Mullins and Ricci must be left wondering. No worlds left to conquer? One of the most famed one-liners from the late great Sid Waddell, the voice of darts, suggested that: "When Alexander of Macedonia was 33, he cried salt tears because there were no more worlds to conquer…(Eric) Bristow's only 27." Lossiemouth is still just a six-year-old mare and there's only one world left for her to conquer. She ends this season with a 4-4 record at Cheltenham, with a Triumph Hurdle and two Mares' Hurdles on her CV. She'll be seven next March, the same age as three of the last five Champion Hurdle winners. The first of that trio was Honeysuckle in 2021. Henry de Bromhead's star turn had won her own Mares' Hurdle in 2020 and connections opted to step into the big league a year later. Following the Honey trail looks wise They were rewarded with back-to-back wins in the Championship race under Rachael Blackmore, before Honeysuckle dodged a clash with Constitution Hill in 2023 and instead won a second Mares' Hurdle. By then, she was at the end of her career and not the force of old, connections surmising she wouldn't be good enough to defeat the rising star of the game. It was a wise choice, granted those circumstances. Come March 2026, Lossiemouth will have nowhere to run, nowhere to hide. Completing a hat-trick of Mares' Hurdle wins cannot enhance her legacy now. Her recent Aintree Hurdle win showed she belongs amongst the very best. She will probably have the chance to showcase that in Ireland next season, or maybe at Cheltenham en route to the Festival. Whatever happens to Constitution Hill between here and there, Lossiemouth is the most viable challenger for the Champion Hurdle crown in 2026 and she'll be just about at her peak, all being well. The debate is not needed, not anymore. A Free Bet Offer To Back Lossiemouth in the 2026 Champion Hurdle Lossiemouth Champion Hurdle 2026 Betting Odds Lossiemouth to win the Champion Hurdle @ 5/1 with William Hill Odds courtesy of William Hill and correct at the time of publishing
