AFTER the heights of Cheltenham and Aintree, Rachael Blackmore and Henry De Bromhead were enduring a below-par Festival before Honeysuckle (167) went to post to contest the Paddy Power Champion Hurdle.

They need not have worried as although their superstar mare may not have been at her best visually, scrambling home after slowing into the last hurdle, she rated higher on the clock than at either Leopardstown or Cheltenham.