Our man at the track Ben Linfoot picks out four points of interest from the opening day of the Cheltenham Festival as Honeysuckle and Constitution Hill stole the show.
Cheltenham Festival 2022 | Day One Reports
1. Is Honeysuckle an all-time great?
After a handful of behind-closed doors Grade One successes in lockdowns, HONEYSUCKLE finally got the Cheltenham reception her awesome career deserved after she was crowned the Champion Hurdler for the second successive season.
A 15th career success from 15, a 10th consecutive Grade One, a second Champion Hurdle, the titles just keep on coming for Henry De Bromhead’s mare and she was roared home by an appreciative Cheltenham crowd who had to applaud her from their living rooms this time last year.
The stick that she keeps on being beaten with is the ‘yeah, but what has she beaten?’ stick, but the new rivals keep on coming along and the eight-year-old just keeps on swatting them away.
Wonderful scenes at @CheltenhamRaces as Honeysuckle and Rachael Blackmore are welcomed back into the winners’ enclosure by the adoring crowd
— Sporting Life Racing (@SportingLife) March 15, 2022
👏👏👏pic.twitter.com/FIrYbdDNON
Today it was Appreciate It, last year’s awesome 24-length Sky Bet Supreme winner, Adagio, Tommy’s Oscar and Teahupoo, a quartet of horses previously unscarred by Honeysuckle. The first cut is the deepest in their cases, as they finished seventh, eighth, ninth and 10th.
The next three home after Honeysuckle had all followed her home before, but she was too good, again, her two-out-to-the-last after-burners being utilised in now familiar fashion by Rachael Blackmore, who produced another ice-cool ride in the white-hot heat of a Champion Hurdle.
Blackmore and Honeysuckle are a joy to watch and with a pair of Champion Hurdles under her belt she’s approaching all-time great status. There is no doubt. A Honeysuckle bar at Cheltenham, at the very least, looks odds-on.
And as for measuring her against a horse of similar A-star ability? Well, look no further than the Supreme Novice…
2. So what did we learn in the Sky Bet Supreme?
That Nicky Henderson has found another two-mile hurdler out of the very top drawer in CONSTITUTION HILL.
This was two-mile hurdling by numbers as he tanked through the race under Nico de Boinville, outpointing stablemate Jonbon who was 22 lengths behind in second.
“To do that to Jonbon,” Henderson said in aghast fashion afterwards, “Jonbon is a seriously good horse.”
Both of the Henderson duo settled well, something you couldn’t say about Dysart Dynamo who seemed to be lit up by an aggressive ride from Aidan Coleman on Jonbon on his inside.
He did too much too soon and, although he was still going well when falling three out, it seems unlikely that he would’ve beaten Constitution Hill who lowered the course record with a devasting gun-barrel straight drive for the line.
Perhaps he can follow in the hoofprints of See You Then, Punjabi, Binocular, Buveur D’Air and Epatante, becoming Henderson’s sixth individual winner of the Champion Hurdle – he’s a best of 3/1 to do so in 2023, the same price as the hat-trick seeking Honeysuckle.
A super horse, there is no doubt. But that record time tells us the ground is riding much quicker than the advertised good to soft and talk of significant rain on Wednesday seems to have evaporated amongst the ever-changing forecasts.
Constitution Hill is better than good – and that’s exactly what we should consider the ground to be as well judging by the opening day action.
3. How good is Sporting Life Arkle winner Edwardstone?
Since Uxizandre won the 2015 Ryanair Chase Alan King had saddled 86 Festival runners without success.
This is the toughest of arenas for trainers, jockeys, horses and punters and he was a symbol of the modern Festival we have become accustomed to – a super trainer, a 15-time Festival winner, but a struggling one relative to the Irish domination.
He’d had some near misses amongst the losing streak. Yanworth, Dusky Legend and Midnight Tour were all second. Messire Des Obeaux, Who Dares Wins and Sceau Royal were placed too. But it was EDWARDSTONE who finally managed to stop the rot in the Sporting Life Arkle.
Nicky Henderson, fresh from saddling the one-two in the Sky Bet Supreme, embraced King in the winners’ enclosure after the Arkle with an emotional hug, a big ‘well done old boy, we did it’, the Prestbury Cup scoreboard glaring GB 2-0 Ireland in the background.
It will no doubt have a very different look to it come Friday evening, another pounding expected despite the good start, but the green shoots of recovery are there and in Edwardstone King has a very strong two-mile chaser to take into next season.
The time is now for Edwardstone. At eight-years-old he’s a fairly unusual novice, his trainer’s patience reaping significant reward in the shape of this important success, and he’ll be thrown straight in against Shishkin and co next season.
King’s last two Arkle winners from 2006 and 2007 had contrasting fortunes. Voy Por Ustedes went onto win the following year’s Champion Chase for the late Sir Robert Odgen, My Way De Solzen never won another race under Rules.
But Edwardstone is a low and accurate jumper with a powerful closing surge. They are two wicked attributes for a two-mile chaser and clear hope that he’s more Voy Por than My Way, even if we are still thinking ‘what if Ferny Hollow had made the line-up’…
4. What have we learnt for later in the week?
It can pay to keep an eye on collateral form during the Festival and after Corach Rambler’s devastating late surge to win the Ultima Handicap Chase I went through his form with interest.
One thing that struck me was the task that Jonjo O’Neill’s COUER SEREIN was set in a novices’ handicap chase at Cheltenham in December, when he had to give weight to Corach Rambler, Eva’s Oscar and Undersupervision.
In hindsight he acquitted himself well in fourth, especially as he was struck into, with that aforementioned trio all winning subsequently while he went and got himself qualified for the Pertemps Final.
He did so by finishing second at Exeter in February and with a couple of seconds next to his name O’Neill has gone for a headgear switcheroo, replacing cheekpieces with blinkers.
Back in 2013 he did a similar thing with Holywell in this very race, so odds as big as 40/1 and 33/1 generally put him on the radar.
And what about the inspired decision from Gavin Cromwell to supplement Gabynako for the Arkle?
That paid dividends as he ran on for second and his novice chasing form from Ireland will get a good airing when BEACON EDGE, FAROUK D’ALENE and FURY ROAD run in the Brown Advisory on Wednesday.
The Gigginstown-owned trio are playing second fiddle to a trio of British-trained hopefuls in the market, but all three should enjoy this test of stamina and are at the very least worth another look if they’re on your radar.
