Epatante a huge price at 16/1 to regain her crown
1st Epatante
2nd Honeysuckle
3rd Appreciate It
ASK MOST racing fans what their dream result would be on the opening day of this year’s Cheltenham Festival, and it will surely be HONEYSUCKLE making it 15 wins from 15 career starts in the Unibet Champion Hurdle.
Absolutely breathtaking in last year’s opening day highlight when pulverising her rivals by her six and a half lengths, it was such a shame the crowds weren’t there to welcome her and her pilot, Rachael Blackmore, back into that glorious winners’ enclosure.
Make no mistake, if this dynamic duo manage to win this afternoon the whole place will erupt – and so it should.
When Frankel was beating up his opposition left, right and centre, the three certainties in life were described as ‘death, taxes and Frankel’. For National Hunt afficionados, it has now become ‘death, taxes and Honeysuckle’.
Henry de Bromhead’s superstar mare has answered every question posed to her, yet there is a nagging doubt in my mind that she is a small level below where she was this time last year.
Yes, she was impressive in the Irish Champion Hurdle last time, but she was 1/5 that day and taking on fairly moderate opposition.
The seven-pound mares’ allowance she gets is absolute gold dust and will always make her incredibly tough to beat.
However, there is another mare in here who I think has been completely ignored, and unjustifiably so.
When EPATANTE won the 2020 Champion Hurdle, giving her trainer Nicky Henderson a record eighth win in the race, many thought she would dominate this division for years to come.
And that looked quite likely when she ran away with the Fighting Fifth Hurdle later that year before the wheels came off at Kempton in the Christmas Hurdle.
She then came into the Festival undoubtedly below par and probably on ground that was too soft for her.
The fact she was able to finish third in a Champion Hurdle despite her troubled preparation and a far from smooth passage in the race itself was testament to both her quality and her guts.
A dead-heat back at Newcastle in the Fighting Fifth wasn’t the most auspicious of starts to the campaign, but she won well at Kempton on Boxing Day and seems to be coming into the big one in far better fettle than 12 months ago.
Of course, I’m not saying she will definitely beat Honeysuckle, but if the unbeaten reigning champion is a few pounds below her best form and Epatante is three or four pounds higher than last year, there shouldn’t be too much between them and one is 8/13 and the other is 16/1 with Fitzdares.
Don’t forget that Henderson is an absolute master at producing a horse for the Festival, particularly the Champion Hurdle, and the vibes from the yard are that Epatante is back. Regardless, she looks too big at 16/1 each-way.
APPRECIATE IT is a fascinating contender for Willie Mullins.
He hasn’t been seen since winning last year’s Supreme Novices’ Hurdle by an incredible 24 lengths, after which Mullins nominated the Arkle as his big target this year.
Some small setbacks meant a novice chasing campaign was scrapped this season and instead the eight-year-old would stay over hurdles.
All the trends people will tell you it’s practically impossible to win the Champion Hurdle on your seasonal reappearance, but we’re dealing with Willie Mullins here – a man who has ripped up the rule book page-by-page.
He did it time and time again with Quevega and although this is obviously a deeper race, the Mullins camp seem very happy with where their horse is at.
Many would argue that 4/1 is far too short for a horse having his first start out of novice company and taking on one of the greatest mares of all time but write off Mullins at your peril.
Of the others, Teahupoo has been outstanding this season, especially last time in the Red Mills Trial Hurdle at Gowran Park.
He is going to be a threat but he’s still just a five-year-old and apart from 2019 winner Espoir D’Allen, this race has been a bridge too far for many from that age group.
The same comments apply to both Zanahiyr and Adagio who have both run well this season but come to the top table needing to take a major step up.
It promises to be a very interesting race and while my heart says this will be a sweet 15th success for Honeysuckle, my head is pushing me to oppose her.