Records are made to be broken, but Honeysuckle and Rachael Blackmore just keep on smashing them as they joined the true greats of Horse Racing.
I say ‘joined’, they were already assured of greatness, but immortalisation now awaits after another scintillating success.
She became the first mare to win two Champion Hurdles when tanking through this year’s renewal and showed her customary turn of foot between the final two flights to put the race to bed. Another former Champion mare, Epatante, threatened in the straight, but a mistake at the last sealed her fate however the result was rarely in any doubt.
She also surpasses the great Frankel’s unbeaten record as he stopped at fourteen and joins a list of just ten other horses who have won fifteen or more straight races. all of those are from the flat so she already holds the winning most record for a National Hunt horse, and who knows where the run will end as she shows no signs of being beaten, if anything she is extending her superiority.
She also has a fantastic partner as Racheal Blackmore had ice in her veins, travelling wide throughout and putting the mare between runners coming down the hill to three out. She told ITV upon pulling up “This is such a special place and I'm so lucky to be riding here on this mare. She decided when she was happy to go. She's an unbelievable mare and the team have done brilliantly."
Honeysuckle is now 3/1 to make it a hat-trick of Champion Hurdle successes in twelve months’ time and she looks set to have a serious rival if the first race of the day is anything to go by.
🏇 15 runs
🥇 15 wins
🏆🏆 Unibet Champion Hurdle
🏆 Three @CheltenhamRaces Festival victories
1️⃣1️⃣ G1 wins
⭐️ Rewriting the history books for @rachaelblackmor & @HenrydeBromhead
The tone was set for fantastic festival in the opener as Constitution Hill delivered a devastating performance to score by twenty-two lengths which had been billed as one of the best Supreme Novice Hurdles for years. He turned it into a procession and shattered Annie power’s two-mile course record by 0.75 seconds.
He earned a quote of 3/1 with Betfred for next year’s Champion Hurdle as owner Michael Buckley dared to dream of landing that contest and then a Gold Cup in future years with the exciting five-year-old.
Edwardstone also delivered in style in the Arkle to make it 2-0 to Britain and put favourite backers on the front foot. He tracked Riviere D’Etel into the straight and put his spectacular jumping to good effect to wing the last two and surge up the hill to earn a quote of 10/1 for the 2023 Champion Chase.
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