THE lack a dominant hurdler ahead of the 2020 Champion Hurdle saw an increased first entry of 36 compared to recent years.

With no reigning champion hurdler, on current markets, it looks close to a match between two of the top trainers of hurdlers in recent season, Willie Mullins and Nicky Henderson – each responsible for four winners since 2009. Henderson has five entries, Mullins four.

Mullins appeared to have the upper hand at the beginning of the season and that strengthened with Buveur D’Air’s season ending injury in Newcastle.

Henderson still won three of the early season ‘trials’ for the Champion Hurdle but neither with what were his most fancied contender in the pre-season markets - the former Champion Hurdle winner and last year’s Triumph Hurdle winner Buveur d’Air and Pentland Hills were seen as his main hopes. But three months on and after wins in the Elite Hurdle for Fusil Raffles, the International Hurdle for Call Me Lord and Christmas Hurdle for Epatante, it was all change at the top of Henderson’s tree.

Now with Buveur out, Pentland Hills needs to build on his Cheltenham December run with this weekend. He was weak in the market for the Cheltenham International Hurdle after Henderson seemed keen on Call Me Lord but the five-year-old ran much better than it looks on the bare finishing position. He travelled like the best horse, if too keen, to the last and jumped well for a horse of little hurdle experience.

The new flag bearer in the green and gold is the mare Epatante, the 3/1 market leader with Unibet, who started her campaign with a smooth success in a limited handicap hurdle at Newbury in November and followed that up with an impressive victory in the Grade 1 Christmas Hurdle at Kempton.

Nicky Henderson is the most successful handler in Unibet Champion Hurdle history with seven wins, while her owner J P McManus has won the race a record eight times. The money was down at Kempton and she was impressive and the mares’ 7lb allowance is another plus.

But flat track Kempton form often bares little relevance to the final uphill furlongs in Cheltenham – ask Harchibald - so the impressive turn of foot she showed at Christmas may not be as potent. It was a strange race with all the field closed up before turning in but Fusil Raffles cut out and it was too soft for Verdana Blue. Despite their good runs, it’s hard to see Silver Streak or Ballyandy as improving or real Champion Hurdle-winning contenders.

Epatante and Barry Geraghty wins the Ladbrokes Christmas Hurdle at Kempton

And her disappointing run in last year’s Mares Novice Hurdle (it would be one for the books it that race threw up the Champion Hurdle winner!) is another thing to take into consideration. Despite the open nature of the race, she is very short at those based on one run at a very different track.

Klassical Dream’s triple Grade 1-winning novice season made him a deserved favourite but his two runs this season were characterised by unorthodox jumping and he needs to step up to the mark and get it all together at the Dublin Racing Festival. Not that you put it past Willie to have him perfectly tuned to produce in March. You have to go back to 2004 to find a Supreme Novices winner who won the Champion in Brave Inca, and it was two years after his novice win.

Saldier was always the dark horse from the yard on most lists, his fall when upside eventual Champion Hurdle winner Espoir D’Allen at Naas last year giving him a serious injury. His Morgiana win was impressive in November but he was the outsider of the three and the other Mullins runners Klassical Dream and Sharjah under-performed. It’s hard to get a handle on how you rate Petit Mouchoir as a yardstick.

Saldier’s been absent since, which doesn’t bode that well for going straight to the Festival and he is also inexperienced, with only six hurdle runs in three years.

Sharjah is the third Mullins Grade 1 winner in the line-up and the one usually overlooked. He was very impressive on good ground with his turn of foot at Christmas but again, how good is sprinting away from Petit Mouchoir? It was soft when he won his Galway Hurdle so ground should not matter.

Challengers

The main challengers to the big two yards appear to be Honeysuckle, Coeur Sublime and the dark horse in Not So Sleepy.

There are question marks over the three, the big one is will Honeysuckle run? The DRF Champion Hurdle over the sharp two miles will reveal all though the Mares Hurdle must be very tempting for a mare just out of novice and having her first trip to the Festival.

The five-year-old Coeur Sublime is supposed to be one of the best in the Elliott yard in his homework but after an impressive Down Royal comeback he reportedly had a wind issue when beaten at Leopardstown in Christmas. He also has three lengths to make up on Pentland Hills from last year’s triumph. On the plus side, he is a bigger individual and could make more improvement than the winner who raced on the flat.

Pentlamd Hills and Nico De Boinville (right) jump the last to win the JCB Triumph Hurdle from Coeur Sublime and Davy Russell (left).

Not So Sleepy did a good impression of the 1997 winner Make A Stand when whizzing in in the former Ladbroke now Betfair Hurdle in Ascot. It was heavy ground, he had a light weight but galloped on strongly and he is by a sire who gets good hurdlers (Cinders And Ashes and Wicklow Brave). He was fourth in the Cesarewitch so he should keep running and there is a lot to like about him, he got a 17lb for the rise and he will have another run at Newbury in the Betfair Hurdle to see if he is good enough.

So who wins? And who is the ante-post value? I can leave Epatante alone at the current odds – she still has question marks and could well not go off favourite if the DRF Irish Champion Hurdle throws up an impressive winner.

Is it worth taking a chance on Mullins pulling the pieces of Klassical Dream together for the big day? The 10/1 does look big for an impressive Supreme winner if he comes up trumps next month. The 25/1 for Coeur Sublime is also tempting if we take a valid excuse for his last run.

RECOMMEMDED SHORT LIST: Klassical Dream 10//1, Coeur Sublime, Not So Sleepy 25/1

Unibet Champion Hurdle - Unibet prices:

3/1 Epatante, 7/1 Saldier, 8/1 Pentland Hills, 9/1 Sharjah, 10/1 Honeysuckle, Klassical Dream, 12/1 Envoi Allen, 16/1 Call Me Lord, 25/1 Abacadabras, Coeur Sublime, Fusil Raffles, Not So Sleepy, Silver Streak, 33/1 Thomas Darby, Verdana Blue, 40/1 Apple's Jade, Ballyandy, Cornerstone Lad, Darasso, Petit Mouchoir, 50/1 Eldorado Allen, Samcro, 66/1 Felix Desjy, Quick Grabim, Thebannerkingrebel, 100/1 Aramon, Darver Star, Elgin, Gumball, Le Patriote, Mengli Khan, Monsieur Lecoq, Pacify, Mohaayed, Nelson River