State Man justified short-priced favouritism with a ready success over stablemate Impaire Et Passe in the Matheson Hurdle at Leopardstown.
The Willie Mullins-trained six-year-old was completing the same Morgiana Hurdle-Matheson double he landed last year and did so with the minimum of fuss in the hands of Paul Townend, who together with the trainer was rounding off a Grade 1 double on the day after Grangeclare West's success.
State Man sat in second for much of the two-mile trip, some way off the tearaway front-runner Fils D'oudairies under Jack Kennedy, but had predictably reeled in the outsider before the turn for home.
Impaire Et Passe, last year's Ballymore winner but narrowly denied on his comeback in the Hatton's Grace, made his challenge under Daryl Jacob coming to the last but could never bridge the gap and was ultimately outclassed by his stablemate, three and a quarter lengths the distance between the pair at the line.
Echoes In Rain (18/1, Danny Mullins), another for the all-conquering Closutton team, was a further eight lengths back in third, with Fils D'oudairies last of the four runners.
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Paddy Power and Betfair clipped State Man's Unibet Champion Hurdle odds a point to 4/1, with Constitution Hill their 1/3 market leader for Cheltenham in March. Sky Bet went 7/2 (from 5/1) about State Man, with Impaire Et Passe eased out to 10/1 for the Champion.
Mullins said: “State Man showed tremendous gears today. Daryl came in on Impaire Et Passe and he said ‘we quickened twice and then Paul quickened away again a third time’.
“Daryl thought he maybe had Paul where he wanted him at the second-last and he said he quickened twice between the last two and Paul went away again.
“Testing conditions might really suit him (State Man), so we will be praying for rain over Cheltenham!
“State Man ran a great race last March, finishing second to Constitution Hill. Hopefully will be around to keep Constitution Hill straight, but I don’t think Nicky Henderson and Michael Buckley are going to be worried.
“We are delighted to win and will probably come back here for the Dublin Racing Festival (Irish Champion Hurdle), and hopefully go on to March then.”
What the rest of the season has in store for Impaire Et Passe remains to be seen, with Mullins suggesting he could seek an alternative route having proved no match for State Man over two miles.
He added: “I’ll have to have a word with his owners Isaac (Souede) and Simon (Munir), but he is worth a Champion Hurdle entry. Maybe we will go out in trip.”
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