A strong field of four-year-olds will assemble for the 2025 Triumph Hurdle on day four of the Cheltenham Festival on Friday 14th March and all eyes will be on the epic clash between Lulamba and East India Dock in the juvenile showpiece of the week. Our in-house tipster Steve Chambers previews the action and picks out his 1-2-3 for the final day curtain-raiser.
LULAMBA
(Nico De Boinville/Nicky Henderson)
A five-length winner at Auteuil back in October, Lulamba was touted as a future star by the Seven Barrows yard and Nicky Henderson’s youngster showed the praise was merited when he stormed to an emphatic victory over Mondo Man in a decent juvenile hurdle at Ascot. Pulling comfortably clear of his market rival that day, he quickened in very taking fashion to propel to the head of the Triumph Hurdle betting in the aftermath of that contest and he’s certainly a very exciting prospect.
EAST INDIA DOCK
(Sam Twiston-Davies/James Owen)
Rated in the mid-80s on the Flat, East India Dock has been a revelation since switching to the hurdling sphere and moving from James Fanshawe’s yard to the base of James Owen. An eye-catching win on hurdling debut at Wincanton was followed by two very likeable successes at Cheltenham, with the latter of the two coming in the Triumph Hurdle Trial January. He beat Stencil by ten lengths that day, but that form did take a hit with that rival failing to figure in the Fred Winter on Tuesday, but East India Dock is a classy performer and he is one that should relish the ground and has to be considered.
HELLO NEIGHBOUR
(Keith Donoghue/Gavin Cromwell)
Gavin Cromwell’s Hello Neighbour will be the main flagbearer for the Irish in this event and he showed when winning the Grade 1 Juvenile Hurdle at Leopardstown’s Dublin Racing Festival that he’s a really top notch four-year-old. Beating Galileo Dame and Lady Vega Allen that day in eye-catching fashion, the unbeaten contender will need to improve to down the aforementioned duo, but he has the raw ability to keep on progressing.
THE FIELD
Lady Vega Allen has been beaten by Hello Neighbour on her last two starts, so the Willie Mullins-trained filly will be eager to turn that form around here. She has shown she is a very smart performer and is entitled to take her chance here, but she will need to improve again to play a prominent role in the closing stages. Another former Flat performer is Gibbs Island, who was another rated in the 80s on the level, but two wins from two for Tom Lacey has seen him earn the right to line up here. A comfortable six-length winner at Haydock Park last time out, the talented Iffraaj gelding will need to keep improving to feature.
Mondo Man was beaten comfortably by Lulamba and has been struggling to live up to the early season hype, but could be one for Gary and Josh Moore that outruns his odds, while the likes of Sainte Lucie and Willy De Houelle could be another Mullins-trained duo that look to push themselves into the places, in a race that looks like it could be dominated by those at the head of the betting.
VERDICT
A real ding-dong battle is expected here with LULAMBA and East India Dock likely to fight it out for Triumph Hurdle glory. The former is the one that can prevail, as he looked a real top notch juvenile when cruising to victory at Ascot and he can get the better of the more experienced East India Dock, with Mondo Man grabbing some decent prize money in third.
2025 Triumph Hurdle 1-2-3
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