There was a moment just after the field jumped the third-last in the Champion Hurdle on Tuesday when Honeysuckle and Rachael Blackmore’s pale blue silks were out of sight on the big screen, as Appreciate It, the second-favourite, pounded down the hill on the inside. Two strides later, with an actor’s sense of timing, they entered stage right, pulling out from Appreciate It’s slipstream to sit on his shoulder, and Blackmore heard the first rumblings of the noise that would carry them all the way back to the winners’ enclosure.
It was the perfect antidote to the sound of silence 12 months ago, when horse and rider climbed the hill in front of an official attendance of only 41 people. The roar went up another notch as they cleared the second-last, and towards a crescendo when Blackmore sent Honeysuckle bounding into the lead around the home turn. As soon as the odds-on favourite was safely over the last, the celebrations could begin.
“It was incredible, walking back down that chute,” Blackmore said. “The reception we got the whole way down, this is such a special place and we missed the crowds last year. To have them back this year is just unbelievable. We were just buzzing. Last year was fantastic, but Cheltenham is about the people and they really didn’t let us down.”
This was the 15th victory of Honeysuckle’s unbeaten career, and she is the first mare to win the Champion Hurdle twice. Some may claim that she is just the best of a moderate bunch, or complain about the 7lb mares’ allowance she receives from male horses, but she was dominant and her partnership with Blackmore is a delight to watch.
“I was kind of wider than I’d like everywhere until about halfway round but I just slotted in behind and we got our gap then,” Blackmore said. “Jockeys dream of getting on good horses but she takes that to a whole new level. She’s special, once-in-a-lifetime.
“It’s easy to ride her with so much confidence because she always finds a way to do it. It’s some feeling, jumping the last and hearing the crowd, it’s just an incredible place.”
Henry de Bromhead’s eight-year-old had little trouble seeing off two young and improving new opponents in Appreciate It and Teahupoo. Next year, however, might well be a story, as Constitution Hill dispatched his field in the opening Supreme Novice Hurdle with an extraordinary display of speed and power.
Dysart Dynamo, the main market rival to Nicky Henderson’s five-year-old, crashed out at the third-last, but Constitution Hill was already travelling like a near-certain winner at that stage and cruised into the lead soon afterwards. He came home 22 lengths in front of his stable companion, Jonbon, in a course-record time, a performance that prompted the Timeform organisation to award him a rating of 177, the highest for a novice hurdler in its history.
That puts him in front of Golden Cygnet, rated 176 in 1977-78, and Alderbrook (174), who won the Champion Hurdle as a novice in 1995, leading Martin Rigg, Timeform’s hurdles handicapper, to suggest that his “sensational” performance “would have won the Champion Hurdle later in the afternoon”.
Rigg added: “Constitution Hill was significantly faster in the closing stages than Honeysuckle, which is remarkable when you consider that his race was run at a much stronger gallop. To be honest, I’ve never seen anything like it, he really could be anything.”
Bookmakers cannot separate Honeysuckle and Constitution Hill for next year’s Champion Hurdle, with 3-1 available about both. “Jonbon is a very good horse,” Henderson said, “so for Constitution Hill to do that to him is remarkable. He’s got an enormous turn of foot, he’s always just racing in two gears below everyone else, because it’s all so easy for him, and then you press the button and the turbo works.”
Constitution Hill set the ball rolling on a good day for British stables after their 23-5 mauling by the Irish 12 months ago. Alan King’s Edwardstone was also an impressive winner in the Arkle Trophy while Henderson added another when Marie’s Rock took the Grade One Mares’ Hurdle, in which Blackmore was fortunate to escape unscathed after a fall from Telmesomethinggirl. The final score after Stattler’s win for Ireland in the concluding National Hunt Chase was 4-3 to the home team.
Huntingdon 1.15 Gentleman At Arms 1.50 Joly Maker 2.30 Hello Sunshine 3.10 Poker Master 3.50 Saligo Bay 4.30 Champ Is Real 5.05 Castle Keep
Cheltenham 1.30 Sir Gerhard 2.10 Bravemansgame 2.50 Drop The Anchor (nap) 3.30 Energumene (nb) 4.10 Tiger Roll 4.50 Before Midnight 5.30 American Mike
Newcastle 5.14 Ghostly 5.45 Broken Rifle 6.15 Diderot 6.45 Wheal Kitty 7.15 El Bello 7.45 I Know How
Kempton Park 6.00 Surrey Mist 6.30 Guilin 7.00 Graignes 7.30 Arousing 8.00 Chase The Dollar 8.30 Thapa Vc
The only cause for regret as the crowds returned to Cheltenham was a fatal injury to Shallwehaveonemore in the Supreme Novice Hurdle. Gary Moore’s five-year-old was put down after a fall at the final flight.
