Golden Ace delivers huge upset in Champion Hurdle after Constitution Hill falls

Amid falling crowds, increasing numbers of odds-on shots and a relentless stream of winners from the Willie Mullins yard, it has been a popular theory in recent years that the Cheltenham festival was becoming a little too predictable.

- Greg Wood

But it was debunked yesterday in the space of four chaotic minutes of extraordinary drama.

Jeremy Scott's mare Golden Ace, at 25-1, emerged as one of the most unexpected of all Champion Hurdle winners, at the end of a race in which both Constitution Hill and State Man - the champions in 2023 and 2024 respectively - were fallers.

A much-anticipated renewal of hurdling's championship event, with Constitution Hill's 10-race unbeaten record on the line as he attempted to seize back his crown, followed a predictable script to the fifth flight, with Constitution Hill, the odds-on favourite, settled in third behind his main market rival, Brighterdaysahead. But his proud, perfect record was gone in an instant a few seconds later, as the favourite clipped the top of the hurdle and tipped over.

His exit left Brighterdaysahead as the hot favourite in running, but she was already being ridden by Jack Kennedy as State Man, the defending champion, loomed up on her outside around the home turn.