The 2001 Cheltenham Festival was postponed and then cancelled owing to an outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease. Landing Light reappeared at the Grand National meeting at Aintree Racecourse in April but ran very poorly and was pulled up before the second last in the Aintree Hurdle which was won by Barton. At the end of April Sandown Racecourse staged a series of races intended as substitutes for the major races lost as a result Cheltenham's cancellation including the Grade I Championship Hurdle, a substitute for the Champion Hurdle. As Mick Fitzgerald opted to ride Geos, Richard Johnson took the ride on Landing Light, who started a 12/1 outsider in a field of nine which also included Barton, Valiramix, Hors La Loi III and the French-trained favourite Bilboa. The race's status as a championship event was undermined by the lack of Irish challengers, notably Istabraq who had won the last three Champion Hurdles. In a change of tactics, Landing Light raced in second place behind Teaatral before taking the lead approaching the second last hurdle. He went clear of his rivals at the last and won by three lengths from Geos.