Appreciate It set to tackle Honeysuckle in Champion Hurdle without a prep run

Willie Mullins will unleash Appreciate It on Honeysuckle in the Unibet Champion Hurdle next month without having a prep run.

Appreciate It's chasing career was put on hold after suffering a setback earlier in the season and he has not been seen since his explosive 24-length victory in last year's Supreme Novices' Hurdle.

Despite that lengthy absence, the eight-year-old is just 4-1 with the sponsors to inflict a first defeat on Honeysuckle at the festival next month and Mullins is happy to go there without the benefit of a run.

Ireland's 15-time champion trainer could have taken on the superstar mare in last Sunday's Irish Champion Hurdle, or turned up in the Red Mills Hurdle on Saturday week at Gowran Park, but Appreciate It will instead return to Cheltenham on the back of a 364-day absence.

Mullins said: "I'm not looking for a race for him really. There is the Red Mills at Gowran but I'm happy to go straight to Cheltenham and I imagine that's what will happen."

Appreciate It is unbeaten over hurdles, having won all four starts as a novice last season by a combined winning distance of almost 39 lengths, and boasts a rating of 160, 5lb shy of Honeysuckle, to whom he will also have to concede a 7lb mares' allowance.

Speaking on the Racing Post's In The Know show earlier this week, Paul Townend said he was really looking forward to having a crack at Honeysuckle on Appreciate It.

Townend said: "He [Appreciate It] is the horse with all the potential. We don't know how good Honeysuckle is but I'm looking forward to having a go at her with something on a level that Appreciate It shows.

"He seems fine. I was as disappointed as anyone I wasn't on him this weekend, I'm itching to get on his back."

Mullins is chasing a fifth success in the Champion Hurdle following the victories of Hurricane Fly (2011, 2013), Faugheen (2015) and Annie Power (2016).

Appreciate It is one of only two horses he has left in the 2022 event following a setback to Sharjah, who was second for the last two years in a row. Saint Roi is his other entry.

Champion Hurdle (March 15)

Unibet: 1-2 Honeysuckle, 4 Appreciate It, 8 Epatante, 12 Zanahiyr, 20 Quilixios, 25 bar

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