“IT’S HARD TO to believe, we’re not all in a dream.
“As Henry said, these things don’t always work out.”
Peter Molony is reflecting on Tuesday afternoon. The fervent hope beforehand was for a fitting finale to a glittering career.
But the pre-race mood was tempered by an awareness that Cheltenham has the capacity to crush sporting dreams.
The Honeysuckle story had already delivered supreme March highlights – the 2020 Mares’ Hurdle, the 2021 Champion Hurdle and a repeat of that feat twelve months later.
But this season the star dimmed, an unbeaten record ending at Fairyhouse last December and then a second place behind State Man at Leopardstown in February.
Uncertainty entered the narrative.
“I have to admit, I’m going to put my hands up now,” says Molony, the racing manager for Kenny Alexander, Honeysuckle’s owner.
“Everyone knows there was a little bit of a debate in the camp about whether we should retire her after Leopardstown or go to Cheltenham for one last go. I was in the retire camp but thankfully I was out-voted.
“Listen the whole thing, the most nervousness was we just wanted her home safe. I was happy that she jumped the last and was coming home safe.”
A fourth Cheltenham success on the bounce was achieved. Molony’s family links to the festival are deep-rooted. His uncle Tim won the Champion Hurdle four times as a jockey, in 1951 aboard Hatton’s Grace and then partnered Sir Ken to three victories, 1952-54.
His father Martin bought Bula, the winner of the famous opening day race in 1971 and 1972.
Honeysuckle has elevated that sense of achievement. The scenes after Tuesday’s race felt incomparable.
“The reception she got and Rachael (Blackmore) got was out of this world.
“I was talking to people on Wednesday who’d been racing for 40 years at Cheltenham and they’d never seen anything the like of it.
“With Constitution Hill winning before and the reception he got, it was an amazing 45-60 minutes.”
The human element to the explosion of emotion was undeniable. The success placed the winning trainer Henry de Bromhead in the spotlight. His son Jack had been synonymous with the Honeysuckle story, encapsulated by an interview he gave during RTÉ’s Punchestown coverage last year to presenter Brian Gleeson.
It is over six months since 13-year-old Jack died in a racing accident on Glenbeigh beach in Kerry. His tragic passing was at the forefront of minds after Tuesday’s triumph, Rachael Blackmore immediately paying tribute in the aftermath and the De Bromheads swarmed with well-wishers.
For Molony, observing the strength of character the family have demonstrated while grieving in recent months, has left him awestruck.
“I went to school with Henry but he was a few years younger than me. We knew each other but we wouldn’t have been that close.
“But in the last few years with Honeysuckle, as the saying goes great horses bring people together, and I’ve been lucky enough to spend a lot of time with Henry and his family, Heather and Jack and Mia and Georgia.
“So we became very close and it was heart-rendering for everyone, as it was for the whole country when Jack died. The whole country was in mourning.
“To be there on Tuesday was amazing, just to feel the outpouring of goodwill towards them, which they deserve.
“And listen, what incredibly strong people to keep going, Henry and the whole team.
“There must be so much swirling around in his head and to get these horses ready in peak condition for Cheltenham, is just quite incredible.”
Molony confesses to not having much prior knowledge of the jockey that took to the saddle for Honeysuckle’s maiden hurdle opener at Fairyhouse in November 2018.
Across 19 races that generated 17 wins, including 13 Grade Ones, that has changed. The racing narratives of Rachael Blackmore and Honeysuckle have become intertwined.
“Henry asked were we happy to put her name forward to ride? I’d known that Eddie O’Leary had sort of championed her cause with Henry, what was good enough for Eddie was good enough for me.
“It’s been proved right, she’s been unbelievable. I thought Johnny Burke’s ride on the second the other day, Love Envoi, was just fantastic. That made Rachael’s ride all the better. In second, stalking all the way. As Johnny slowed things up, she kept tabs on him all the way.
“It was a wonderful ride, as well as being very balanced and a great horse woman, she’s got a great tactical brain. So we’re very honoured to have her riding.”
He’s been an eyewitness to the transformative impact she has had on the sport, how her progress has caught the imagination beyond the close racing community.
“I do a bit of work for Goffs as well and going around the country, there’s a lot of talk. Mostly teenage girls, she’s got a huge following, they all want to know how Honey is and how Rachael is. It’s just amazing. She really has transcended the sport, the two of them together.”
Last summer when Honeysuckle came back to Rathmore Stud in Limerick, they invited a group of kids from the local school in Manister to visit.
Wonderful to have the kids of Manister National School to Rathmore to welcome Honeysuckle back from @HenrydeBromhead for her summer holidays!! And look who turned up to meet them all!! @rachaelblackmor 🤩 👸 👸 🏆 🌟 2 stars, 2 queens of racing @HRIOwners @HRIRacing pic.twitter.com/ODSFkMpqfe
— Peter Molony (@Pmolony1Peter) May 5, 2022
“The kids walked up the road, the school is only half a mile away, 100 of them here. Rachael must have spent hours and hours with them. I think there were parents down at the school gate waiting to pick them and no sign of the kids. She’s a wonderful ambassador for the sport and we need to cherish her for as long as we have her.”
Kenny Alexander declared on Tuesday evening it was the best day he ever had racing. De Bromhead’s own reaction was notably demonstrative. This success had a deep meaning.
“Listen he probably wouldn’t admit it publicly because every horse is special to him in the yard, but I think it’s pretty obvious that Honey is very special to him. Henry was right, he felt that Constitution Hill, he’s a beast and it was fairly evident from early on that he was a beast. Henry was really keen to get her to go out on a winning note.
“It’s been an amazing five years with her. She’s just an incredible animal. I’ve been in the game long enough to know they don’t come around very often. We have to enjoy every minute we can. We have to keep pinching ourselves that we’re actually involved in this.”
The final question is a natural one.
Is that the closing chapter for Honeysuckle?
“This is definitely it now,” says Molony.
“She’ll spend ten days, two weeks in Knockeen, just easing down. Give them all a chance to say goodbye to her and she’ll be in Rathmore hopefully in about two weeks time.
“There’s rows already about what stable she’s going into and all sorts of stuff. Great excitement for the homecoming.”
