The truth is out now - Honeysuckle is one of the best we have ever seen

Tuesday: Champion Hurdle, Cheltenham

This, according to some, was going to be the day Honeysuckle was found out. The secret she has been keeping to herself for the best part of four years was going to get out and expose her as a fraud. She had beaten nothing, apparently, and her most redeeming feature was the 7lb sex allowance she has been receiving along the way.

It was here, on her 15th start with the big brute Appreciate It eyeballing her, when the truth would come out.

And the truth did indeed come out, only it wasn't the news the naysayers were expecting.

It turns out she is actually one of the greatest jumps horses of the modern era, male or female. Of that there can be no debate now. This was the day the last few stubborn doubters began to believe. At last. It took them long enough.

The records are being smashed at a rapid rate and the latest addition to that particular catalogue was surpassing the mighty Frankel. The greatest Flat horse these eyes have ever clapped eyes on won all 14 of his starts. Honeysuckle has now won 15 and this latest victory was, perhaps, her best yet. She beat horses she had never beaten before.

"Where's Matt [Chapman]? I haven't managed to find him yet. I'd love to have a word with him," joked Henry de Bromhead in the immediate aftermath of this stunning success. He could laugh about it by then, the pressure that comes with completely dominating the 2021 festival could take a few hours off.

"It is pure relief, it really is, and ecstasy as well in the sense that I just really hoped she would get the welcome back that she got. I'm always preparing myself for the day she will get beaten, but I was really hoping that she would get that roar."

Honeysuckle begins to power clear of her Champion Hurdle rivalsCredit: Alan Crowhurst (Getty Images)

And, boy, did they roar. They roared, they clapped, they cheered and there was even a rendition of 'Ole, Ole, Ole' along the way. She deserved this. She is too good and too special to be greeted by silence.

"If all the good will and good lucks that came my way could win you a race she would have won by a furlong!" De Bromhead told us. "Most people here were willing her to win. The support we get with her is just mental!"

Honeysuckle is ours now and we all feel like we have a leg in her. We might not have been under the same sort of pressure as De Bromhead, but there were sweaty palms all around the grandstand when the unflappable Rachael Blackmore went the brave woman's route coming down the hill. She went through them rather than around them.

Ballsy wasn't she, Henry?

"Rachael is brilliant. She had so much horse underneath her at the second-last, they are just a dream team. She was sublime and I can't believe it. She is just amazing and we are so lucky to have her."

Unibet Champion Hurdle: full result and race replay

Blackmore, of course, deflected all the praise to Honeysuckle. She always does.

"She always finds a way, she really does," she said. "I was kind of wider than I'd like everywhere, and maybe wasn't as happy halfway round, but I just slotted in and we got our gap then. It was fantastic. I'm so happy Kenny Alexander is here as well. He's a really good man and a class owner, and I'm really glad he was getting cheered on.

"Jockeys dream of getting on good horses, but she takes that to a whole new level. She's special; she's once in a lifetime. I'm so lucky to be riding her."

Rachael Blackmore: 'She's special; she's once in a lifetime. I'm so lucky to be riding her'Credit: John Grossick (racingpost.com/photos)

Blackmore must have been nervous beforehand given what was at stake. An odds-on favourite in the Champion Hurdle with an astonishing unbeaten record on the line. There are no more notches to go up on the pressure cooker.

"You know what, part of me was thinking I should be more nervous here before the race, but I actually do have a lot of confidence in her. It would be weird if I didn't, because she's never let me down. She's incredible. Henry gets her to the races every day in the form he does, and that's an extremely tough feat – to train a horse, or a mare, to win all those races in succession. It's unbelievable."

Unbelievable indeed and, you never know, a clash with Constitution Hill could be on the cards now at Punchestown in the Paddy Power Champion Hurdle. Ladbrokes make the runaway Supreme victor 8-11 to win it, whereas the sponsors go 9-4 and are 8-13 about Honeysuckle.

'She didn't go for the safe option' – Ruby Walsh lauds Rachael Blackmore ride

The 2020 winner Epatante got closest to her here and, but for making a mess of the last, she would have got even closer again. This was, you could argue, as good a performance than when she won the race.

Aidan Coleman was left to rue that final flight error.

He said: "She just lost her footing at the last and if we'd winged it, it might have been a different story, but we didn't."

Nicky Henderson added: "She's run a fantastic race. She's been slick and sharp this season. We knew what we were taking on, but she made a race of it. Fair play to her. They're two very talented mares."

Rachael Blackmore revels in an another Honeysuckle masterclassCredit: Alan Crowhurst (Getty Images)

Two very talented mares is right, Nicky. But, in Honeysuckle, we might just have the best mare of all time. Dawn Run won a Gold Cup, but she only won one Champion Hurdle.

The truth is out now – Honeysuckle is one of the best we have ever seen.

Read these next:

Constitution Hill v Honeysuckle: who would win in a showdown?

Constitution Hill smashes course record with 'remarkable' Supreme success

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