Champion Hurdle

The Favourite (s):

Epatante and Honeysuckle (both generally 9/4 shots)

IN spite of her first defeat since the 2019 Cheltenham Festival at the hands of Silver Streak in the Christmas Hurdle, Epatante held onto her position as market leader until last weekend when Honeysuckle more or less stamped her ticket for the premier two-mile contest on day one of the Festival.

The two mares are each rated on a mark of 161 by their respective jurisdiction’s handicappers but significantly, they receive a 7lb sex allowance in the race which has the pair of them comfortably clear of their rivals on paper.

Given their respective campaigns – Honeysuckle coming into this off arguably a career best and Epatante off an odds-on defeat – the Irish mare should move to clear favourite. Perhaps that will be the case once connections decide for sure the Champion Hurdle is the target.

Main opposition:

There is a gap in the market back to Silver Streak (11/1) who bookmakers suggest is just about the best of the rest at the moment. He wouldn’t be your usual Champion Hurdle winner given it will be his 26th start over hurdles at Cheltenham but he produced a clear career best last time beating Epatante. That performance was prompted by a change to front-running tactics which gives logical hope that could be the key to him but it’s probably too simplistic to be definite about it.

Irish horses Abacadabras, Sharjah and Aspire Tower come next. The first mentioned has 10 lengths to find with Honeysuckle but there was encouragement with his run behind that mare last Saturday, a much better effort than he managed at Christmas.

The Cheltenham angle could be the key to him – he came clear with Shishkin in last season’s Supreme. Sharjah disappointed again on Saturday but he did similar last season and it would be just his style to run another big race, and no surprise either with a likely bigger field and faster pace playing to his strengths.

Aspire Tower beat Abacadabras on his first run of the season at Down Royal and confirmed that run when second to Sharjah in the Matheson. He will go to the race fresh and with scope to improve given his age so there are reasons to be optimistic, despite the poor record of five-year-olds in the race.

Outsiders to note:

Song For Someone, a 20/1 shot, is an interesting contender having held off Silver Streak to win an International Hurdle that wasn’t run to suit him (slow pace and most of the hurdles taken out).

He is a slick-jumping six-year-old going in the right direction, however next week’s Kingwell Hurdle is last-chance-saloon territory to get a run in before the Festival after all the abandonments in Britain have so far rid him of that opportunity.

Mares’ Hurdle candidate Concertista would be very interesting if given her chance here, given the style of her win in the Mares’ Novices’ Hurdle last season.

Verdict:

The 7lb allowance will make the two mares difficult to beat. HONEYSUCKLE would have gone close to winning this last season but evidently looks a better mare this time around and significantly her jumping looks up to two-mile championship pace. She is proven at the Festival and will go into the race off a top-class performance, in contrast to Epatante. Song For Someone looks the most interesting outsider. (RG)