Japanese Contender Features Among 16 Champion Hurdle Entries

[Wandering Eyes]

There could be a surprise Japanese-trained runner at this year's Cheltenham Festival after All The World (Jpn) appeared among 16 entries for the feature contest on the opening day of the meeting, the £450,000 G1 Unibet Champion Hurdle.

Trained by Kazuya Nakatake, the eight-year-old All The World is a three-time winner over jumps in the Far East and his most recent start resulted in a creditable third-place finish in the Tokyo High-Jump, one of the most prestigious races run over obstacles in Japan.

A three-time winner on the Flat as well, he is certainly bred to excel in that sphere as a son of Kizuna (Jpn), who was recently crowned champion sire of Japan for the first time in his career, and the Dansili (GB) mare Epic Love (Ire), who won the G3 Prix Vanteaux and was runner-up in the G1 Prix Saint-Alary when trained in France by Pascal Bary. Bred in Ireland by Round Hill Stud, Epic Love is also the dam of the G1 Hopeful Stakes winner and sire Danon The Kid (Jpn).

All The World's potential rivals in the Champion Hurdle include the last two winners of the race, headed by the unbeaten 2023 hero Constitution Hill (GB) (Blue Bresil {Fr}), who was ruled out of last year's renewal won by State Man (Fr) (Doctor Dino {Fr}) due to ill health. The high-class mares Brighterdaysahead (Fr) (Kapgarde {Fr}) and Lossiemouth (Fr) (Great Pretender {Ire}) also featured in the entries for the Grade 1 which is scheduled to take place on Tuesday, March 11.

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