Honeysuckle returns to action in Hatton's Grace Hurdle at Fairyhouse

This is her race, the Bar One Racing Hatton’s Grace Hurdle. She won it in 2019 and she won it in 2020 and, when she won it last year, she emulated Limestone Lad and Solerina and Apple’s Jade as a three-time winner of the race.

One more and she has won the race more often than any other. History beckons.

The crowds with be at Fairyhouse on Sunday, that’s for sure. They follow Honeysuckle around. They couldn’t be at Leopardstown when she went behind closed doors and won her second Irish Champion Hurdle in February last year, and they couldn’t be at Cheltenham a month later when she won her first Champion Hurdle.

They made up for it when they could be there, mind you. They applauded as she left Leopardstown’s parade ring last February before her bid for an Irish Champion Hurdle hat-trick, and they cheered as she and Rachael Blackmore arrived back into the winner’s enclosure, job done.

Then they erupted when Honeysuckle arrived back into Cheltenham’s winner’s enclosure last March, a second Champion Hurdle in the bag. It was like the cheer had to be doubled to make up for the 2021 absence.

They are box office, Honeysuckle and Rachael Blackmore, with the role that Henry de Bromhead plays sometimes going under the radar, and that suits the trainer just fine. But Honeysuckle has only achieved all that Honeysuckle has achieved so far because of the skill and nous of her trainer and the manner in which her career has been managed.

Sixteen runs, 16 wins, including 12 Grade 1s. No defeats. It’s an incredible record.

The market tells you that she is more likely to win again on Sunday than she is to lose, and that has been the case in 12 of her 16 races. She has been favourite in 15 of her 16 races, and she has been odds-on in 12 of them. You fear every time she leaves the parade ring, every time she leaves the ground, but history tells you that you needn't bother.

Klassical Dream will be an interesting opponent on Sunday, a Sky Bet Supreme Novices’ Hurdle winner, a dual Punchestown Champion Stayers’ Hurdle winner whom Honeysuckle has never met before, and Echoes In Rain only has three lengths to find with her on their running in the Punchestown Champion Hurdle last April but, all things being equal, it will be Honeysuckle’s day again.

It's a deep day at Fairyhouse on Sunday, three Grade 1 races, a Grade 3 juveniles’ hurdle and the Porterstown Chase, all eight races sponsored by Bar One Racing. The Drinmore has had the look and shape of a cracking contest for weeks now, and the final field hasn’t disappointed: an 11-strong field in which talent and potential runs deep.

Banbridge is a worthy favourite, though. Joseph O’Brien’s horse was a talented and progressive novice hurdler last season, who went to Cheltenham in March and won the Martin Pipe Hurdle. But the quality that he has displayed in his jumping in two runs over fences to date determines that he has the potential to go well beyond what he achieved over hurdles as a steeplechaser.

He didn’t miss a beat when he won his beginners’ chase at Gowran Park in early October over two and a half miles, and he was impressive at Cheltenham in winning the Grade 2 novices’ chase at the November meeting over two miles. The accuracy and the fluency of his jumping enabled him cope with the drop down in trip but, out of a half-sister to Devon Marathon winner and Midlands National runner-up Major Malarkey, this two-and-a-half-mile trip looks like a good trip for him for now, and he could be even better over further in time. The Martin Pipe Hurdle is usually won by a stayer.

Gordon Elliott landed the first Grade 1 win of his training career in the Drinmore Chase in 2010 when he won the race with Jessies Dream, and he has won five of the last 10 renewals of the race. From a strong initial entry, he relies on Three Stripe Life and Mighty Potter, and both are big players.

Three Stripe Life, winner of the Grade 1 Mersey Hurdle at Aintree in April, was good in winning his beginners’ chase at Naas three weeks ago, while Mighty Potter, winner of the Grade 1 Champion Novice Hurdle at Punchestown in April, also got off the mark on his first attempt over fences at Down Royal.

Thedevilscoachman stayed on well to win a good beginners’ chase at Galway in October, while Gaiilard Du Mesnil, third in last season’s Irish Grand National as a novice, as a maiden, is the choice of Paul Townend and the shortest-priced contender of a Willie Mullins quintet. This is a true Grade 1 novices' chase.

Willie Mullins is responsible for the favourite for the Royal Bond Hurdle in Champ Kiely. An impressive winner of his maiden hurdle at the Galway Festival in July, when he had Sunday’s Monksfield Hurdle winner Dawn Rising behind him in third, he was again impressive in winning a Grade 3 novices’ hurdle at Tipperary in early October, when he made all the running and kept on well to beat Brazil by four lengths (replay below).

That form has also been enhanced since, with Brazil, last season’s Fred Winter Hurdle winner, coming out and winning the Grade 3 Fishery Lane Hurdle at Naas last time.

In Irish Point and Marine Nationale, however, Champ Kiely will meet two young hurdlers with significant potential. Irish Point won a Grade 1 bumper in France over a mile and a half before running out an impressive winner of his maiden hurdle at Cork two weeks ago on his first run for Gordon Elliott and Robcour, while Marine Nationale was impressive in winning his two bumpers before getting off the mark on his first attempt over hurdles at Punchestown last time.

The sedate early pace of that race would not have suited Barry Connell’s horse, but his jumping was very good for a debutant, and he impressed with the manner in which he was able to pick up on the run-in under minimal encouragement from his rider Michael O’Sullivan. His owner/trainer has his horses in tremendous form, and there is no knowing how good this fellow could be.

Last season’s Irish Grand National hero Lord Lariat is back in the Porterstown, over the Irish Grand National course and distance, and Dermot McLoughlin’s horse should step forward from his seasonal return in a Grade 3 contest at Punchestown last month, while the Grade 3 Juvenile Hurdle, won in the recent past by Our Conor, Espoir D’Allen and Zanahiyr, looks like a hot juveniles’ contest, with impressive maiden hurdle winners Zarak The Brave and Comfort Zone sure to set a high standard on what should be a cracking day’s racing.

For more from Donn, visit www.donnmcclean.com.

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