Will Honeysuckle ride again in Champion Hurdle?
Honeysuckle won the Champion Hurdle by a dominant margin at 2021 Cheltenham Festival. Henry de Bromhead’s charge was the leading contender for the crown, but delivered on expectations with a brilliant performance, defeating the 2020 champion Epatante in the process. The thoroughbred has been imperious in her career to date, winning all 11 of her races.
The question now looms will she be able to retain his crown at the 2022 Cheltenham Festival. You can already find horse racing bets that have established De Bromhead’s charge as the favourite for the 2022 Champion Hurdle.
However, Honeysuckle not only has to remain at the peak of her powers over the next year, but the bay mare must also fend off challenges from rising starlets. Appreciate It was marked in the Cheltenham race card as a winner in the first event of the 2021 Festival in the Supreme Novices’ Hurdle. It was an impressive run by Willie Mullins’ charge and the odds are already in place for Appreciate It to challenge Honeysuckle for the Champion Hurdle in 2022.
It’s clear to see why Honeysuckle has already been earmarked for successive triumphs, although similar musings came about last season when Epatante cruised to victory at Cheltenham. Nicky Henderson’s charge won by three lengths in the event ahead of Sharjah. However, in the three races since, the French thoroughbred has mustered only one triumph. At Newcastle, the seven-year-old was on form to win the Fighting Fifth Hurdle.
However, Epatante took a dramatic step back at the Christmas Hurdle when she was beaten by her old adversary Silver Streak at Kempton Park, finishing behind her rival by six-and-a-half lengths. Therefore, she lacked momentum to take into the Festival and it was evident that Honeysuckle was the superior horse on the day, easing down the stretch to canter over the line.
Epatante had to settle for third place as Sharjah claimed second place for the second year in a row in the Champion Hurdle. The decline of Epatante is a warning for Honeysuckle and highlights the difficulty in securing back-to-back crowns at Cheltenham, Buveur d’Air was the last horse to achieve the feat in the Champion Hurdle in 2017 and 2018.
Appreciate It streaks away to win the Sky Bet Supreme Novices’ Hurdle Race and in some style #ITVRacing #CheltenhamFestival pic.twitter.com/0uzKLgvLtX
— ITV Racing (@itvracing) March 16, 2021
What Does the Future hold for Appreciate It?
There’s no guarantee that Appreciate It will take the road into the Champion Hurdle as there are many avenues that he could travel, including the Arkle Chase, Marsh Novices’ Chase, Stayers’ Hurdle and Triumph Hurdle. The 2020 winner of the Supreme Novices’ Hurdle, Shishkin made a seamless transition to become a chase horse, winning the 2021 Arkle in the process. Should Appreciate It take that road, it would lead him out of the potential pathway of Honeysuckle. However, there could be other challengers that are more than capable of winning the event.
When the National Hunt season resumes in the autumn it will be curious to see how De Bromhead deploys Honeysuckle during the early stages of the campaign. Honeysuckle herself could be shifted away from hurdling. It would be unlikely and considering her dominance in the Champion Hurdle, De Bromhead will be keen to maintain his hold on the event considering that Honeysuckle’s victory was his first in the prestigious race.