Triumph Hurdle 2023 Tips - Mullins to kick off Gold Cup day in style

Here's our free guide and tips for the 2023 Triumph Hurdle.

Willie Mullins was odds-on to win the 2023 Triumph after welcoming an influx of talented French imports through his gates at the start of the season and Ireland's Champion Trainer looks set to saddle the top three contenders at this year's meeting.

Leading the way is Lossiemouth, who began her career in Ireland with back-to-back victories at Fairyhouse and Leopardstown, before a luckless runner-up finish in the Spring Juvenile Hurdle at the Dublin Racing Festival.

Gala Marceau built on a promising runner-up finish behind Lossiemouth at Leopardstown over Christmas by winning the Spring Juvenile, where Danny Mullins' mount managed to hold Lossiemouth at bay, after the favourite met traffic problems at a crucial stage.

Splitting Mullins' fillies in the market is Blood Destiny. A runner-up to Bo Zenith on his sole French start, Blood Destiny has galloped his rivals into submission on both of his Irish starts, winning at Cork and Fairyhouse by a combined distance of 23 lengths. 

Since the Boodles Handicap Hurdle was introduced to the Cheltenham Festival schedule, the field size for the Triumph Hurdle has got smaller and smaller. Given the strength of Willie Mullins' trio at the head of the market, we could see 2021's record low of just eight runners matched, or even beaten later this month.

Gordon Elliott, Nicky Henderson and Henry De Bromhead - who've won five of the last nine Triumph Hurdles between them - won't be represented. Joseph O'Brien, who saddled Ivanovich Gorbatov prior to his victory in 2016, will run Comfort Zone, but the form of his two Grade Two victories on British soil has hardly been boosted. 

There's then a huge gap in the market until we reach Bo Zenith, who will more than likely run in the Boodles. Rightsotom sits seventh in the betting, despite that fact he was beaten ten-length by Zarak The Brave on his only outing of the season back in November.

Scriptwriter could make an appearance, despite that shocking performance in the Adonis Hurdle at Kempton. French imports Selwan and Bad could make their debuts for Alan King and Ben Pauling respectively, but it would be a huge shock if they, or any outside of the top three in the market, found their way into the places.

Blood Destiny looks like an excellent prospect and his powerful style of running could really suit Cheltenham racecourse. There's no doubt, however, that his form is much weaker than the two fillies.

Yes, Blood Destiny did hand Boodles contender Sir Allen a sound thrashing on debut at Cork, but that race was run at a crawl, which suited the front-running winner much better than Sir Allen, who was held up off the pace. At Fairyhouse, Blood Destiny was allowed to establish a lengthy early lead and didn't see another rival, as the rest of the field seemed content simply to place from a very early stage. Mullins gelding will also have to give his stablemates seven pounds at the weights - a big ask for such a lightly-raced horse.

Despite being the most experienced runner in the field, having run six times in France before joining Willie Mullins, Gala Marceau remains a keen-going sort. Danny Mullins' mount pulled very hard when second on her stable debut, and couldn't make any inroads in the closing stages. Gala Marceau was very keen again in the Spring Juvenile, but managed to hold on to claim a surprise Grade One win. Her current price of 5/1 is appealing, but those juvenile antics could prove costly on the climb to the line at Cheltenham.

LOSSIEMOUTH, on the other hand, has looked like the consummate professional. Mullins' mare saw off many more experienced rivals to win the Grade Three at Fairyhouse on her first start on Irish soil, and proved far too strong for Gala Marceau when the two met in the Knight Frank over Christmas.

Paul Townend's mount travelled and jumped nicely at the rear of the leading pack in the Spring Juvenile. Approaching the third-last, Jourdefete - who had been employed to make the running by Mullins - came tumbling back through the pack. Lossiemouth jumped into the back of her flagging stablemate and the favourite suddenly had an eight-length deficit to make up as the field began to turn for home. To her credit, Lossiemouth finished off her race well, closing the gap between herself and Gala Marceau down to just two-and-a-half lengths by the time the winner crossed the line.

Paul Townend will have the pick of Willie Mullins' trio when he decides who to ride in the opener on Gold Cup day and there's no doubt in my mind that he will opt to ride Lossiemouth. When Townend is confirmed in the saddle, I expect Mullins' filly will start to move back towards that even-money mark in the betting, so I'm going to snap up a bit of the 7/4 that's currently on offer.