He was initially trained in France but now represents Champion Hurdle-winning owners Joe and Marie Donnelly and is in the more than capable hands of Nicky Henderson.

It appears that the sky's the limit for Lulamba so we're going to take a closer look at his profile.

Early days

Lulamba is by Haras de la Hetraie's Nirvana Du Berlais, a Grade 1 winner over hurdles, and out of Ejlam, who was lightly raced but useful during her short racing career. She had one start in a French bumper and three starts over hurdles, two of which she managed to win.

The Henderson-trained gelding is his dam's second foal and his half-sibling Kayo Coco is a winner over fences too, albeit nowhere near the level of Lulamba.

Starting his career with Arnaud Chaille-Chaille, he ran in a 2m2f hurdle at Auteuil on debut and, although his jumping was a little sketchy at times, he quickened clear impressively to score by five lengths. Le Divin Enfant was fourth and he has won for Willie Mullins since.

Grade 1-winning juvenile

Lulamba's first run in Britain came at Ascot in January 2025 and he won that four-year-old contest impressively. It's also worth noting that a couple of subsequent winners have come out of the race, including Listed scorer St Pancras.

A trip to Cheltenham was next on the agenda and he contested the Grade 1 Triumph Hurdle, where he only just failed. A better leap at the third-last and a clearer run may have pushed the pendulum in his favour that day and we had a shock 100/1 winner.

Grade 1 glory was soon on the horizon though, as Lulamba launched a successful raid at Punchestown when winning the Champion Four Year Old Hurdle in May and he gained his revenge on Cheltenham-scorer Poniros.

Further progress over fences

Switching to fences this season, he started off at Exeter in November and impressed with his athletic and accurate jumping. Salver was back in third that day and he has since won a couple of Grade 2s over longer trips, providing a strong boost to the form.

Lulamba then went back into Grade 1 company at Sandown next time and won the Henry VIII Novices' Chase by just shy of 10 lengths. Only the second four-year-old to win in that race in the last decade, there should be loads more to come still.

The Arkle will provide a much sterner test, but the five-year-old looks more than up to the challenge. Last year's Supreme winner Kopek Des Bordes was an impressive winner over fences in November and Romeo Coolio is a Grade 1 winner too.

That being said, Lulamba doesn't appear to have many weaknesses and his Arkle rivals will have to reach another level in order to come out on top.

Symbols Explained

ts² Tongue Strap vs² Visor hd² Hood es² Eye Shield ec² Eye Cover cp² Cheekpiece bl² Blinkers tt² Tongue Tie bf Beaten Favourite on Last Run srMentioned in Stewards Report in Results bbvBroke Blood Vessel

The superscript number on headgear bl² indicates number of times worn. A plus bl⁺ indicates more than 10 times where as red background bl¹indicates first time.