Triumph favourite Lulamba sparkles on Ascot bow

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 and had been 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.

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.

Henderson said: “Nico said he was very classy, very good. He jumps, travels, has pace and is just a very good all-round horse.

“He’s a gorgeous looking horse and you see him stood in there and looking out with that great look of a horse.

“He’s just a very sound horse with an enormous future. Look at the size of him and he’s only had one run in France – and I think if he had been beaten in this race, we may have even put him away for next year.

“I felt we were facing a brick wall there when you consider the weight we were trying to give away to some very high-class horses, it looked an impossible task.

“I was prepared to get beaten today because of all the hype and the weight we were giving away but I’ve got to eat humble pie here and say the hype appears to be correct.

“I have read things about him doing a piece of work with Jonbon and he left him standing still, but they have never worked together and it just goes to show these hype things – it doesn’t bother us.

“You don’t really want these horses being hyped up, as it just puts pressure on the horse and ourselves and everyone wants to knock you down.

“He’s a bit in the Sir Gino bracket, as he had won his only start in France and we had to go on with him and he’s just a beautiful horse. I think we have a lot to look forward to.”

It looks like Lulamba could now head straight to Cheltenham, with the caveat of a racecourse gallop at Kempton – something Henderson has done with many of his Festival hopefuls down the years.

“You’d have to say he will perhaps go straight to Cheltenham now,” continued Henderson. “He’s had his one run in France and it didn’t look like he had an awful lot to learn.

“Gary Moore’s horse was far too keen and was hard-pushed to get home whatever weight we were giving him, he’s got some practice to do, whereas we don’t look like we have to.

“I would have thought he could be on the team for the gallops morning at Kempton, we could do that. He’s got to keep working and he’s been fit to run for a week, as he was due to run last weekend, we will just have to see.

“Palladium is about to come into play and we have got him in our pocket and he could have a few entries this week – that could be pressure.

“We would never work them together, not at this stage – and they are at two different stages. Lulamba will be a chaser, but the idea is Palladium will be a stallion while this fella is jumping fences.”

Lucy Wadham has her eye on the Mares’ Chase at the Cheltenham Festival for Terresita after the game eight-year-old claimed the bet365 Handicap Chase.

Third here behind Venetia Williams’ Gemirande in November, Wadham revealed she has since had to recover from a broken jaw suffered in a freak accident at home.

“That was fantastic because she actually broke her jaw the day after she last ran here at Ascot, that happened at home and she has had to have it wired up,” explained Wadham.

“The vets have done a great job and so have the staff. It happened in her box and she must have got it caught somehow on some bars. It was very windy and there was leaves flying along outside, but we don’t really know how it happened. It’s the first time I’ve seen it happen.

“Because she is not very big, we were thrilled to get into the race off a low weight and every pound off her back makes a big difference.

“I think Gavin (Sheehan, jockey) held onto her a bit longer today – last time, he tried to make his ground while they were all still running well. Once she passed one horse today, she just locked on and off she went.

“We always thought she was very right-handed, but we will have to look at the mares’ race at Cheltenham now I would guess, because we are going to get a bit of a hike now.”

Jax Junior (13-2) gave Wadham a double when romping home by 17 lengths in the concluding BetMGM EBF ‘National Hunt’ Novices’ Hurdle under Tom Cannon.