THERE IS A consistency about Honeysuckle. And a brilliance. Flawless. When she runs, she wins. That’s just the way it is, the way it always has been.
Winner of her only point-to-point, Henry de Bromhead’s mare has run 13 times on the track, 13 times over hurdles, and she has won 13 times. She has been ridden in all her races over hurdles, in all those victories, by Rachael Blackmore, and that only adds to the Honeysuckle story. Together they are dynamite.
Among those 13 wins are nine Grade 1 races, including a Champion Hurdle at Cheltenham, three Hatton’s Grace Hurdles at Fairyhouse and two Chanelle Pharma Irish Champion Hurdles at Leopardstown. On Sunday, Kenny Alexander’s mare will bid to win the Leopardstown feature for the third time in a row.
You fear for Honeysuckle every time she races, that her unbeaten run will come to an end, but that fear has no basis in logic. The form book says that she is the best two-mile hurdler around, that she is head and shoulders above her peers, her superiority only accentuated by the 7lb mares’ allowance. And because she has never been beaten, it is probable that we haven’t got to the bottom of her reserves yet, that we still don’t know how good she truly is.
There will be crowds at Leopardstown on Sunday, and that will be different. Honeysuckle hasn’t had crowds since they cheered her back into Cheltenham’s winner’s enclosure after she won the Mares’ Hurdle there in March 2020. The people have been missed too. A smattered clapping of hands from the lucky few who were there last year smacked of lacking. You know that they will pack deep to see her on Sunday and, should she make it three out of three, 14 out of 14, that they will give her the reception that she deserves when she returns.
This afternoon’s Paddy Power Irish Gold Cup is different, in that the formlines are not straightforward. Minella Indo had Frodon over 30 lengths behind him in fifth place when he won the Cheltenham Gold Cup in March, yet could only finish third, five lengths behind the same Frodon, in the Champion Chase at Down Royal in October, and they both under-performed in the King George at Kempton in December.
Asterion Forlonge would have finished in front of both of them at Kempton had he not come down at the final fence, yet he could only finish third behind Janidil in the Underwriting Exchange Gold Cup at Fairyhouse last April, and Janidil could only finish fifth in the Savills Chase at Leopardstown at Christmas, seven lengths behind Kemboy, who finished ninth in the Cheltenham Gold Cup, 85 lengths behind Minella Indo.
It’s a tangled web.
You can see why Kemboy is favourite for today’s race mind you, because he is rarely at his best at Cheltenham, and he is usually at his best at Leopardstown. In seven runs at the Foxrock track, his record reads 2142213.
Winner of the Irish Gold Cup last year, Willie Mullins’ horse was only just caught by A Plus Tard in the 2020 Savills Chase over today’s course and distance, and he only went down by three parts of a length to Galvin and the same A Plus Tard in this year’s renewal of the Savills Chase. And Paul Townend has chosen to ride him in front of Asterion Forlonge.
There is no doubting Asterion Forlonge’s talent, and he is a potent force when he puts it all together, as we saw at Punchestown last April. He was travelling best of all when he departed at the third last fence on his seasonal return in the John Durkan Chase, and he probably would have finished second in the King George had he not come down at the last. If Leopardstown was right-handed instead of left-handed, he would probably be challenging his stable companion for favouritism.
It will be good to see Minella Indo again, nothing went right for him in the King George and you hope that last year’s Cheltenham Gold Cup hero can bounce back. Also, it is great that Paul Nicholls is sending Frodon over.
Paul Nicholls rode Playschool to win the Irish Gold Cup in 1988, just the second renewal of the race, and he won it as a trainer with Neptune Collonges in 2009. No British-trained horse has won the race since, but Frodon has a big chance of bridging that gap. If he and Bryony Frost can get into the racing and jumping rhythm that they adopted at Down Royal in October, when they got home by three parts of a length from Galvin, then they could take some catching.
There are six other Grade 1 races over the course of the weekend. Galopin Des Champs sets a sky-high standard in the Ladbrokes Novice Chase on Sunday. Winner of the Martin Pipe Hurdle at last year’s Cheltenham Festival in March, and of the Grade 1 three-mile novices’ hurdle at the Punchestown Festival in April, his jumping was superb on his chasing bow at Leopardstown over Christmas, and a similar performance would make him very difficult to beat.
Chacun Pour Soi will bid to bounce back in the Ladbrokes Dublin Chase from a disappointing run in the Tingle Creek Chase at Sandown on his seasonal debut, but he is brilliant on his day, as we saw in this race last year. The Tingle Creek first and third, Greaneteen and Captain Guinness, will line up against him again, as will his stable companion Cash Back, an impressive winner over hurdles at Clonmel last time, and Dunvegan, a game winner of the Dan & Joan Moore Memorial Handicap Chase at Fairyhouse last month.
The novice races are intriguing. Ferny Hollow’s absence leaves a gap at the top of the two-mile novice chasing division, and that is a gap that could be filled by one of Ferny Hollow’s stable companions, Blue Lord or Haut En Couleurs or Saint Sam, with the Willie Mullins triumvirate set to take each other on in the Patrick Ward & Co Solicitors Irish Arkle today. They will be truly tested by the Gordon Elliott-trained mare Riviere D’Etel, who got to within a length and a half of Ferny Hollow at Leopardstown over Christmas.
The market for the Racing TV Spring Juvenile Hurdle today is dominated by Fil Dor and Vauban, but Icare Allen could be a little under-rated against them. Willie Mullins’ horse was impressive in winning his maiden hurdle at Leopardstown over Christmas, and he could take a significant step forward from that. His stable companion Sir Gerhard, last year’s Champion Bumper hero and an impressive winner on his hurdling bow at Leopardstown over Christmas, sets a high standard in the Tattersalls Ireland Novice Hurdle.
It all gets underway this afternoon with the Grade 1 Nathaniel Lacy & Partners Solicitors Novice Hurdle, a race in which Grand Jury and Hollow Games, second and third respectively in a Grade 1 race at Naas last time, will take each other on again.
All set. All primed.
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