Ruby Walsh thinks Honeysuckle is the most vulnerable favourite at the 2023 Cheltenham Festival and she's the one he'd be thinking he could beat if he was still riding.
Honeysuckle has won at the last three Cheltenham Festivals, twice in the Champion Hurdle and once in the Mares' Hurdle - and it's the latter race she is 2/1 favourite for this year with Paddy Power.
Walsh was speaking on Paddy Power Media’s ‘From The Horse’s Mouth’ podcast ‘Punters' Panel - Cheltenham Edition’ alongside host Patrick Kennelly, Frank Hickey and Fran Berry.
"I wouldn’t mind having a go at Honeysuckle," he said. " I think she’s on the way down and she’s the one I probably would [think that I could turnover] unfortunately, much as I and a lot of other people would like to see her win, I think she’s vulnerable."
Meanwhile, Walsh is finding it difficult to choose between El Fabiolo and Jonbon in the Sporting Life Arkle, one of the highlights of day one of this year's Festival.
He said: "I don’t think there’ll be much between Jonbon and El Fabiolo – it’ll be a jump or a mistake in one way or the other. But either there wasn’t lengths between them at Aintree last year and I don’t think there will be lengths between them at Cheltenham either."
Sporting Life Arkle Chase NRMB
Paddy Power: 6/4 El Fabiolo, Jonbon, 9/2 Dysart Dynamo, 10 Appreciate It, Banbridge, 12 Final Orders, Saint Roi, 14 bar
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