Honeysuckle and the Champion Hurdle - more questions than answers?

There were lots of pertinent questions before the PCI Irish Champion Hurdle and most of them concerned Honeysuckle.

Can she win a Grade 1 going left-handed? Can she win a Grade 1 over two miles? Can she beat Sharjah at Leopardstown?

She answered ‘yes’ to all of the above yet, immediately after the race, her participation in the Champion Hurdle seemed no more certain than before. That comes down to two things from the race itself - a couple of poor jumps late on and the general level of form. In a Champion Hurdle, even the potentially weak renewal we may have this season, it would be difficult for her to make the same mistake she did at the last in Leopardstown and still win. You also have to question the overall level of form, given the proximity of Darver Star, who was having his first run out of novice company and went awfully close to winning.

Then, on Sunday, Rich Ricci threw another spanner in the works by suggesting Benie Des Dieux could be supplemented for the Champion Hurdle, á la Annie Power. With regard to Honeysuckle, Benie Des Dieux running in the Champion Hurdle is significant for two reasons - it makes the two-mile race more difficult to win and the Mares’ Hurdle easier. It could sway connections to go for the latter.

You hope that won’t be the case, that if Benie Des Dieux does go for the Champion Hurdle, Honeysuckle will as well. After all, the Champion Hurdle is the Champion Hurdle. And you should never be afraid of one horse.

Honeysuckle is unbeaten and is still open to further progress, especially taking her jumping into account. She always looked to be holding both Darver Star and Petit Mouchoir in the Irish Champion Hurdle, and the extra stamina test of Cheltenham should suit her better.

There are still a lot of pieces left in this puzzle.

Ground - great wins but at what cost?

For the second year in a row, the condition of the ground was a big talking point at the Dublin Racing Festival. There was a scattering of light showers at the course on Saturday but for the most part it was dry and warm, and a strong wind helped to change the going description to yielding all over on the first day.

On Sunday the race times suggested the ground was slower but after racing on Saturday both Gordon Elliott and Noel Meade pubically criticised the state of the ground. The question you’d have to ask is will this affect some of the winners and placers going forward?

The question is even more prevalent with the way some races were run. Notebook’s win in the ERSG Irish Arkle was a no-holes-barred battle with the tearaway Cash Back. Good horses like Melon and Bapaume simply couldn’t live with the pace and it was left to the patiently ridden Gallant John Joe to pick up the pieces in third.

If you think that was a tough race - Chacun Pour Soi and Min’s clash in the Dublin Chase was just under four seconds faster. Watching from the stands, the pair looked very tired coming up the straight.

The Irish Gold Cup and Flogas Novice Chase were both hard-fought contests as well. Couple this with the tougher going and it could become a factor at Cheltenham. In the first year of the Dublin Racing Festival, there were eight subsequent Cheltenham Festival winners but last year’s meeting, racing on similar ground, only produced two.

Fabulous Faugheen - can he do it at Cheltenham?

Faugheen’s win in the Grade 1 Flogas Novice Chase was THE moment on a momentous weekend in Dublin. The big question is now, having raised roofs at Limerick and Leopardstown, can he return to the scene of his most prestigious achievement to raise the biggest roof of them all?

There are two ways of looking at him. The first is to sum him up by saying he is 12, that time will catch him up and that he is vulnerable to a younger up-and-coming horse. The second way is to say he is an unbeaten dual Grade 1-winning chaser, who has won twice at the Cheltenham Festival and who would set the standard in his more likely target - the two-and-a-half mile Marsh Novices’ Chase.

The second way is the right way. With the first way, your analysis is anticipating something that hasn’t happened yet and surely it is a more solid framework to only judge what has actually gone before. If Faugheen’s win at Limerick was all style, his Leopardstown success was all substance as he overcame a few sloppy jumps and toughed it out from stablemate Easy Game, a course-and-distance winner last time, when he beat the same stable’s much touted Allaho. It was six lengths back to Tornado Flyer and Battleoverdoyen, unbeaten over fences coming into the race, was well held when falling at the last.

Faugheen absolutely can win at Cheltenham. Age is only a number, after all.

Asterion Forlonge and Shishkin - Supreme conundrum

Asterion Forlonge could hardly have been any more impressive in the Chanelle Pharma (Brave Inca) Novice Hurdle. Always prominent, he set off at what looked a rock-solid gallop and simply ran his rivals ragged. It was over nine lengths back to Easywork, sent off 5/4 favourite on the back of two very impressive wins over hurdles, and then further back to Mt Leinster, an impressive course-and-distance winner on his run before. The son of Coastal Path clocked a good time in the process and he did all this on just his second run over hurdles. You’d imagine there is plenty more improvement in him.

What’s more, in winning this race, he was securing a key trial for the Supreme Novices’ Hurdle. Even more significant is his trainer’s record in this race with regard to the Festival curtain-raiser. Willie Mullins has now won the Chanelle Pharma Novice Hurdle on eight of the previous nine renewals and three of those winners - Vautour, Champagne Fever and Klassical Dream - went on to win the Supreme.

His work rider Dermot Keeling thinks he is very similar to Champagne Fever, so just about everything looks in place for a Supreme bid, right? Well, it’s not that simple as his owner Joe Donnelly is building up a significant team of horses and one of that team is Shishkin, trained by Nicky Henderson and already favourite for the Supreme.

When you compare what Shishkin has done to Asterion Forlonge’s CV, there shouldn’t even be a discussion about who should be number one but the Henderson horse is highly touted, scored very impressively in a novice hurdle and will get the chance to make another good impression between the time of writing and the Festival.

Willie, Nicky and Joe might have to sit down and chat about this one.

Three beaten horses in Dublin who could win at Cheltenham

Supasundae (fourth, Irish Champion Hurdle)

Jessica Harrington’s 10-year-old was off the bridle before the turn out of the back straight in the PCI Irish Champion Hurdle but as is his wont, he kept on stoutly to finish fourth on this his seasonal debut. His trainer has always said it takes an age to get him fit, so this was an encouraging effort and one he can improve on.

He’d be an interesting contender in the Champion Hurdle, a target Harrington identified earlier in the season. The presumption, given his laboured running style, is that he needs further than two miles but his record doesn’t suggest that, given he has won two Grade 1s over that distance. I’ve long thought he’d be worth chancing in a Champion Hurdle with the extra emphasis on stamina over that trip likely to suit. Maybe at the age of 10 it is too late for him but, in an open year, he definitely looks worth chancing.

Eglantine Du Seuil (fourth, Ladbrokes Hurdle)

This Willie Mullins-trained mare ran a big race to finish fourth in the Ladbrokes Hurdle. Held up towards the rear of this big field, she was forced very wide around the turn into the straight after the omitted second last, yet still came with a strong-looking challenge before getting run out of it late on. It was a good run from the six-year-old and the County Hurdle looks the race for her now. She won the Mares’ Novice Hurdle over that course and distance last season and, provided she isn’t murdered by the British handicapper, she looks sure to go well back at Cheltenham, where she’ll be able to come off an even stronger pace.

Any Second Now (third, Leopardstown Handicap Chase)

Ted Walsh’s eight-year-old put up another big run to finish third to Glamorgan Duke over a possibly inadequate test of two miles and five furlongs in the Leopardstown Chase. Last year’s Kim Muir winner showed here he can be competitive off his new mark and, on his penultimate start in the Paddy Power Chase, he looked to be going well until getting hampered and unseating his rider.

He clearly handles Cheltenham very well and something like the Ultima Handicap Chase could be right up his street.