'It would be very much on my mind' - Mares' Hurdle option for Honeysuckle

Honeysuckle has been slashed to a best-priced 9-4 favourite (from 5-1) for the Mares' Hurdle with William Hill and bet365 after Henry de Bromhead revealed the race is now a distinct possibility for the superstar mare, who has already won two Champion Hurdles.

She is now as big as 10-1 with Sky Bet for the Champion Hurdle, a race earlier on day one of the Cheltenham Festival, with Constitution Hill's odds contracting further into 1-3 with most firms, although race sponsors Unibet remain a standout 4-11 about the rising star of the two-mile division.

De Bromhead, who was speaking from Cork where he saddled a quickfire double courtesy of Arctic Bresil and Hiddenvalley Lake, said his job is to find the race she can win at the Cheltenham Festival and is considering a spectacular swerve of the Champion Hurdle for the race she won at the 2020 festival when getting the better of Benie Des Dieux.

If she were to win a third Champion she would join legends like Istabraq, See You Then, Persian War, Sir Ken and Hatton's Grace, but that shot at immortality is not certain to happen now.

De Bromhead said: "We can look at the Mares' Hurdle as well, that's always another option [for Honeysuckle]. It would be very much on my mind. My job is to try and find the race she can win. That's what I have to do.

"Now if connections want to do something else I'll wholeheartedly do that as well. We'll see, that's all a long way away and everybody still has to get there. The Irish Champion Hurdle will be next and let's see how we go.

"She's older now, but I thought she ran really well at Fairyhouse. I'm obviously disappointed she got beaten, but she's back in one piece. She's in mighty form and it's bonus territory now."

Henry de Bromhead: trainer of star mare HoneysuckleCredit: Edward Whitaker

Digging a little deeper into the performance, De Bromhead felt it may have been stamina that was to blame for her first defeat in 17 starts in the Hatton's Grace Hurdle at Fairyhouse last Sunday.

He said: "I'm not sure it [the Hatton's Grace run] was that much below what she's done in the race before. I thought between the second-last and the last she had it put to bed and I just wonder whether she was found out a bit stamina-wise on the softer ground.

"She's brilliant and she owes us nothing. We're in bonus territory with her, it's incredible what she's done and we've had a lot of fun with her, and I don't think it's finished yet."

Unsurprisingly, there had been big movement in the Cheltenham markets after the De Bromhead bombshell. Coral's Simon Clare said: "Henry's comments raise the possibility that she could go to the Mares' Hurdle, but a lot can happen to both horses in three months.

"She wouldn't be certain to line up in the Champion Hurdle, particularly on the back of a defeat. Constitution Hill is a monster and they might both run twice more before Cheltenham.

"She's being eased with bookmakers now and we had her at 8-1 for the Champion Hurdle – there are bigger prices elsewhere given the news. She's now 2-1 favourite for the Mares' Hurdle and is heading the market."

Paddy Power have also cut Honeysuckle into 2-1 favouritism for the Mares' Hurdle, displacing Epatante – beaten by the De Bromhead mare in the last two Champion Hurdles – at the head of the market.

Spokesman Paul Binfield said: "It makes complete sense that Henry is keeping his options open, and while it must be desperately tempting to go for the Champion Hurdle hat-trick, sometimes pragmatism must come into it and that could be the case given Constitution Hill is around and the mare's last performance."

Close Brothers Mares' Hurdle (Cheltenham, March 14)
Coral: 2 Honeysuckle, 5 Brandy Love, Epatante, 8 Love Envoi, Marie's Rock, Queens Brook, 12 Echoes In Rain, 14 bar.

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