THERE can’t be too many Grade 1s in the British National Hunt calendar that Irish-trained horses have yet to conquer, but the Howden Long Walk Hurdle (2.25) is one of them - and trainers Gordon Elliott and Lorna Fowler are responsible for leading the green charge in today’s Ascot highlight.

Honesty Policy, a rapidly-progressive Grade 1-winning novice hurdler last season for Elliott, is one of two J.P. McManus-owned contenders at the head of the betting for the 2025 renewal, while Fowler’s stable star Colonel Mustard - an admirable veteran turning 11 in the coming fortnight - is among the lively outsiders. Having gone 1,462 days without a win, the latter now seeks his third victory on the bounce, following wins at Sligo and in the Grade 2 Lismullen Hurdle at Navan.

This will be Honesty Policy’s first start since being narrowly denied by dual Cheltenham Festival winner Jasmin De Vaux in a Punchestown Festival Grade 1 back in April, though Frank Berry, racing manager to the McManus team, does not expect the layoff to necessarily be an issue.

“Honesty Policy is in good form,” said Berry. “Gordon is very happy with him. He runs well fresh, so we’re hoping for the best.”

A field of 11 go to post for the £125,000 contest, including the 1-2 from a recent Newbury Grade 2, Impose Toi and Strong Leader, while Crambo is chasing a hat-trick in the race while needing to overcome a poor reappearance over an inadequate trip here last time.

Fowler isn’t put off by being a relative outsider in the line-up, having been the fourth longest-priced runner in a field of five at 12/1 when winning last time.

‘He feels fantastic’

“I couldn’t be happier with Colonel Mustard,” said Fowler, when speaking to The Irish Field’s The Racing Edge podcast this week.

“He feels fantastic and there’s nothing like a bit of confidence. Despite the fact he always brings a good standard to the table, winning has been hard found in the last four years. And yet he’s won his last two starts now and I think it does so much for their confidence. It has to. From that point of view, he’s never been in better form.”

Given she saddles the oldest runner in the field, what is Fowler realistically expecting at the Berkshire track this weekend?

“It’s a bit like going to into the Lismullen last time,” she said. “He wasn’t fancied at all for that and there are horses rated higher than him; I see in the UK they have given him a rating of 151, and that 100% puts him right in the mix here. The question mark is if he stays.

“Now, I ran him over three miles at Punchestown at the end of the season and he ran well [when fifth to Teahupoo] but it was the end of the season and I’m not sure we got a true reading of that. Our view before the Lismullen was that if he ran well over two miles and four furlongs on soft to heavy ground at Navan, that would test his stamina and this was the plan if it did work out.

“It might be a little bit ambitious when he’s 16/1 or more, but he does have experience on his side, and if he stays there’s absolutely no reason why he can’t run a good race. Johnny [Shinnick] is very adamant that he does stay.”