Cheltenham Festival: Triumph favourite Lulamba cruises to impressive British debut at Ascot for Nicky Henderson
Lulamba (4/5 favourite) beat Mondo Man in impressive British racecourse debut at Ascot to strengthen case as Triumph Hurdle favourite; Nicky Henderson's four-year-old now as short as 11/8 for the Cheltenham Festival
Saturday 18 January 2025 15:15, UK
Lulamba lived up to the hype when comfortably accounting for fellow French import Mondo Man in the BetMGM Juvenile Hurdle at Ascot.
Nicky Henderson's charge scored by five lengths in a 16-runner contest at Auteuil on his racecourse debut after being the subject of glowing reports since arriving at Seven Barrows.
Mondo Man was bought for €520,000 after showing plenty of ability on the Flat, notably finishing fifth in the French Derby and fourth behind Calandagan in the King Edward VII Stakes at Royal Ascot.
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Gary and Josh Moore's runner raced too freely in the rear early on, while Nico de Boinville took up a handy position on Lulamba tracking Viyanni.
Caoilin Quinn allowed Mondo Man to make a forward move three out, but Lulamba was always travelling well and the 4/5 favourite went to the front smoothly in the home straight before scoring by three and a half lengths.
The winner was cut to 6/4 for Triumph Hurdle glory at Cheltenham by Betfair, Coral and Paddy Power.
Take No Chances kept on strongly to turn over hot favourite Kargese in the Grade Two BetMGM Mares' Hurdle.
The Willie Mullins-trained Kargese was having her first outing since capping off a superb juvenile campaign by securing a second Grade One success at the Punchestown Festival last May.
However, the 2/5 market leader travelled sweetly under Paul Townend and looked all set to prevail when cruising up to challenge Ooh Betty at the second last.
Take No Chances (13/2) had not read the script, though, and she produced a determined surge to jump to the front at the final flight before battling on gamely to beat Kargese by three-quarters of a length.
The Dan Skelton-trained winner was posting the best performance of her career in victory and winning jockey Kielan Woods praised her consistency, with her 15-race career having yielded four prior wins, as well as a string of places.
