Honeysuckle wins Irish Champion Hurdle to raise Cheltenham hopes

Honeysuckle, now unbeaten in 10 starts over hurdles, joined Epatante, last year’s winner, at the top of the betting for next month’s Champion Hurdle after running away with the Irish equivalent on the first afternoon of the Dublin Racing Festival at Leopardstown on Saturday.

Henry de Bromhead’s mare took the Mares’ Hurdle at last year’s Cheltenham Festival but seems likely to head to the feature event on the first day of the meeting after accelerating away from the field on the run to the second-last flight. Rachael Blackmore steadied her mount at the last before galloping on strongly to the line for a 10-length success.

“That was deadly, what we hoped she’d do,” de Bromhead said. “We’ll see [about her Cheltenham target], but you’d have to feel that we will be leaning that way [the Champion Hurdle].”

Blackmore felt that Honeysuckle was “electric down the back, bringing me forward everywhere,” adding: “She’s incredibly straightforward to ride, you can put her anywhere. She really picked up down to the second-last and quickened all the way to the line. I just get to steer her around, so it’s a dream for me.”

Sharjah, Willie Mullins’ leading contender for the Champion Hurdle, could finish only third behind Honeysuckle but Ireland’s champion trainer was in dominant form in the day’s other Grade One events.

The novice hurdler Gaillard Du Mesnil (13-8), the brilliant two-mile chaser Chacun Pour Soi (2-5) and the up-and-coming two-mile novice Energumene (5-6) all justified favouritism in the first three races, and all are now either favourite or second-favourite to follow up at the Festival.

At Sandown, Native River confirmed Colin Tizzard’s recent return to form with a bold, front-running victory in the Cotswold Chase, a performance that stirred memories of his win in the 2018 Cheltenham Gold Cup.

Native River is now top-priced at 16-1 for a repeat win at Cheltenham next month, while Sporting John, who took the Grade One Scilly Isles Novice Chase on the same card having looked more likely to tail off in the early stages, is 8-1 from 33-1 for the Marsh Novice Chase on 18 March.

Philip Hobbs’s gelding crept into contention on the second circuit having raced with little enthusiasm through the first mile, and drew alongside Shan Blue, the 2-1 favourite, at the final fence. He lost some momentum with a slow jump but still had more than enough in reserve to power past Shan Blue on the run to the line.