Champion Hurdle bid pending for Honeysuckle if star retains Dublin crown

Connections of Honeysuckle have given the strongest indication yet that the unbeaten star will tackle the Unibet Champion Hurdle at Cheltenham next month provided everything goes to plan in the Irish equivalent at Leopardstown on Saturday.

Bloodstock supremo Peter Molony, racing manager to owner Kenny Alexander, told the Racing Post on Wednesday that Honeysuckle's place in the Champion Hurdle would likely be assured should she land back-to-back runnings of the Chanelle Pharma Irish Champion Hurdle.

Molony said: "Last season we more or less decided from the start that we were going for the Mares' Hurdle no matter what happened. She jumped a bit big and novicey when winning the Irish Champion last year and we didn't just trust her jumping would stand up at championship pace over two miles at Cheltenham, which is why we stuck to the plan.