"Punchestown is always a very good trip" - Golden Ace team ready for Champion Hurdle rematch

The 2025 Champion Hurdle will go down as one of the most dramatic races in National Hunt racing history. Constitution Hill was sent off as the odds-on favourite, but crashed out at the midway point, ending his winning run. Defending champion State Man sprinted into the lead rounding the final bend, only to take a crashing fall at the final flight with the race at his mercy.

Gordon Elliott's mare, Brighterdaysahead rivalled Constitution Hill for favouritism and should have been there to pick up the pieces. Yet, as Jack Kennedy's mount began to flounder, it was another mare, Golden Ace who came home best to claim an incredible victory.

The Cheltenham faithful serenaded trainer, Jeremy Scott as Golden Ace lapped up the applause in the parade ring. Speaking to the press this week, Scott was under no illusions as to the fortuitous nature of that victory, but was looking forward to another clash with the sport's top hurdlers at the Punchestown Festival.

"She seems very well, absolutely fine, although she's taken a while to process it. She was probably as stunned as we were. It's a big thing for them, all that crowd noise."

"We fully appreciate that we were probably very lucky to win at Cheltenham, but Punchestown is always a very good trip, not to be sniffed at if we are able to go."

"Aintree will come too soon for her, given that she raced at Wincanton three weeks earlier, so that's pretty much our only option left, if the ground behaves and the horse is okay."

After such a big victory, the team must have been tempted to retire Golden Ace to stud, as she would now command a sizable broodmare fee. Yet, Scott revealed that not only would Golden Ace stay in training next year, but we could even see her tackle the larger obstacles.

"The Champion Hurdle shows you that horses can get a little bit blase jumping hurdles, so maybe to make them think a bit more, jumping a fence every now and again wouldn't hurt to keep them a bit more focused about self-preservation."

"At the moment the owner Mr Gosden (Owner) is thinking we'll have another season. We'll see how the rest of this season goes, but we're not ruling out jumping a fence. We'll probably explore that, if nothing else, just to help improve her jumping, even if it is over hurdles."

"If we felt we'd reached the limit of her potential hurdling, it might be quite a nice thing to run in a novice chase. We did it with a mare who was a bit lackadaisical sometimes hurdling, and jumping a fence brought about a huge amount of improvement. It's worth exploring anyway."

Just one firm have priced up the 2025 Punchestown Champion Hurdle. Constitution Hill is the even-money favourite, with State Man and dual Mares' Hurdle winner, Lossiemouth sitting second and third in the market. Golden Ace is available at 14/1.