Our man at the track Adam Houghton considers what next for State Man and Impaire Et Passe after their Grade One victories on day four of the Punchestown Festival.
20 horses for 20 Premier League teams was the theme of the day three piece from the Punchestown Festival, though the eagle-eyed among you will have spotted that 7/20 all came from one team, that of Willie Mullins which enjoyed four winners on the card.
It might be a bit hyperbolic to suggest that Mullins is the equivalent of Pep Guardiola, Jurgen Klopp and co all rolled into one, but there is certainly no doubting the genius of the man on a week like this.
Already guaranteed his seventeenth Irish trainers’ championship before the week had even begun, Mullins is now up to 14 winners for the meeting, with one day of action and his record haul of 19 winners in 2021 still in his sights.
One thing that differentiates a good manager from a truly great one is the ability to keep all your star players happy, especially when you’re dealing with a big squad. It’s also important to figure out their best position and the area of the game where they can have the biggest impact.
Put simply, it’s all about getting the big decisions right and there will be plenty of those for Mullins to work around his head at Closutton throughout the summer.
How and where does he campaign a squad of horses – the like of which we’ve never seen before – to make sure he’s getting the best out of each and every one of them?
That’s the big question, but it’s the small ones I’m interested in, so I’ve had a go at answering a couple of them, specifically those related to the two big winners for Mullins on today’s card at Punchestown.
Should State Man stay hurdling or go chasing next season?
Mullins seemed intent on another season over hurdles in the immediate aftermath of State Man’s stroll to victory in the Paddy Power Champion Hurdle, but for me the answer to this question is very simple: go wherever Constitution Hill doesn’t.
You only need to watch a replay of the Champion Hurdle at Cheltenham to reach the straightforward conclusion that State Man is never going to beat Constitution Hill as long as that horse stays in one piece, with nine lengths separating them at the line despite the fact Nico de Boinville never got remotely serious on the winner.
True, there are plenty of good two-mile hurdle races to be won on Irish soil and State Man has demonstrated that to very good effect this season with four Grade One wins, culminating with another routine defeat of stable companion Vauban at Punchestown (watch the replay below).
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It’s not hard to see him following the same route with great success next season, either, but we all know that Mullins craves Cheltenham winners above everything else and State Man is unlikely to be adding to his tally at that meeting in 2024 if the destination is another Champion Hurdle clash with Constitution Hill.
Of course, if Constitution Hill goes novice chasing next season, then it’s happy days as State Man has already shown a top-class level of form which would be good enough to win most average runnings of the Champion Hurdle.
There doesn’t appear to be an absolutely outstanding candidate among this season’s novices, either, with the likes of Marine Nationale and stablemate Impaire Et Passe – more on whom shortly – both needing to improve to get to his level.
As for the other scenario where Constitution Hill stays over hurdles, then I see no reason why State Man couldn’t develop into a Grade One-quality novice chaser next season. He’s certainly a fluent jumper of hurdles and there is nothing in his physique to suggest he wouldn’t take to jumping fences.
In short, get this schooling session out of the way Nicky and make your mind up, because it would certainly make the decision with regards State Man's future much easier if he were mine.
Should Impaire Et Passe stay hurdling or go chasing next season?
Same question, different horse.
This time it’s another exciting young hurdler from Closutton in the shape of Impaire Et Passe, who made it four from four over hurdles with a seven-and-a-half-length victory in today’s Alanna Homes Champion Novice Hurdle, though the performance was a bit more workmanlike than the official winning margin might suggest.
“He didn’t impress me at all,” Mullins agreed afterwards. “I was delighted he won, but throughout the race he wasn’t impressing me.”
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Discover Sporting Life Plus BenefitsEither way, Impaire Et Passe deserves credit for getting the job done when seemingly not quite at his best, something many horses have failed to do when getting to Punchestown at the end of a long season – just look at stablemate and Gold Cup winner Galopin des Champs earlier in the week.
Impaire Et Passe certainly heads into next season with his potential still firmly intact and it’s worth remembering how impressive he was when previously winning the Ballymore Novices’ Hurdle at the Cheltenham Festival, quickening right away in the straight to land the spoils by six and a half lengths from Gaelic Warrior, who gave the form a boost when winning a Grade One on Wednesday.
The manner of that victory suggests Impaire Et Passe would cope just fine with a drop back to two miles and the Ballymore has thrown up plenty of Champion Hurdle winners over the years, including two of the best in recent times, namely Istabraq and Faugheen.
Of course, there could be another brilliant Champion Hurdle winner standing in his way next season in the shape of Constitution Hill and it goes without saying that this horse still has loads to find to get to the level of that horse.
In fact, with a Timeform rating of 162p before today, Impaire Et Passe isn’t even on a par with State Man (167) – and there’s no guarantee that he ever will be – so Sky Bet’s ante-post quotes of 10/3 Impaire Et Passe and 6/1 State Man for next year’s Champion Hurdle are factoring in plenty of improvement from the novice.
However, the exciting thing with him is that it's possible, with the small 'p' attached to his rating denoting that he is likely to have an even bigger effort in the locker when the situation demands it.
‘How much bigger?’ is the question that Mullins must consider. It's one I already have and if I were Mullins I'd be thinking two things: A) what an amazing week I'm having; and B) I'd rather take on Constitution Hill in the Champion Hurdle with a horse I think can't beat him, rather than one I know definitely can't.
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