Our Unibet Champion Hurdle Prediction
The Cheltenham Festival starts on the 16th of March 2021, and it’s considered one of the most significant annual horse-racing events of the year. The four-day festival attracts millions of punters and spectators across the globe, especially here in Ireland. Having a flutter on horse-racing is one of the nation’s favourite pastimes. Particular attention is always paid to the Champion Hurdle due to past, and hopefully future, Irish success.
Considering how all Irish punters focus on this Grade 1 competition, we’ll show you our predictions for this year’s race. We’ll also have a quick look at last year’s winner. You’re sure to gain the confidence you need to pick a winner from a host of fancied runners from the most popular betting sites in Ireland.
The Unibet Championship Hurdle Past Winners
The Unibet Champion Hurdle at Cheltenham is the championship race for the best 2-mile hurdlers around. Previous winners include Hurricane Fly x2, Faugheen, and Hardy Eustace x2. We can’t forget about Istabraq, who won the race three times and is owned by J.P McManus.
Epatante rode to victory with jockey Barry Geraghty in the Championship Hurdle last year, again owned by McManus. Cruising around on the bridle like a dream with a quick shake-up, but never looked in trouble, winning by three comfortable lengths from the Willie Mullins trained Sharjah.
Irish trainers and owners have enjoyed copious victories in this event in the last ten years. J.P McManus is the proud owner of six winning horses, while trainers Willie Mullins, Jessica Harrington and Gavin Cromwell have enjoyed success at the Championship Hurdle. We’ll now have a look at the odds-on favourites to determine why punters are flocking to place their bets on these possible next champions.
Unibet Championship Hurdle 2021 Top Three Predictions
Honeysuckle: Ireland’s wonder mare is currently unbeaten in 10 starts. She’s a two-time Irish hurdle winner and last year’s Cheltlenham mare’s hurdle winner. Trained by Henry De Bromhead and ridden by Rachel Blackmore, Honeysuckle will get the mares allowance of 7lbs and is one of the current favourites to win the title this year.
She’s a slick jumper who stays well, with a tactical genius on board, as she showed when beating Bernie Des Dieux at last year’s festival. Honeysuckle is the favourite selection to Henry De Bromhead in what could be a memorable festival for him.
Epatante: She was last year’s Championship Hurdle winner. This exciting mare thrilled spectators with a steady run, never faltering. Epatante has the 7lb mare allowance, which she will most likely need as she faces much stiffer opposition this year.
The mare is currently the second favourite on bookie sites. She’s predicted to pull off a memorable win if she maintains the same performance as last year. Will trainer Nicky Henderson taste success for the second year in a row?
Goshen: He looked like he had the win in the bag last year, but he clipped his heels after jumping the final hurdle and falling. Goshen came back earlier this season and failed to fire by never settling and missing his trademark bursts of speed that we observed last March.
He came back at Wincanton this February by beating Song For Someone by a staggering 22 lengths, proving that his power and speed are now back. Goshen is now returning to Cheltenham with favourable odds for his biggest ever task.