Cheltenham Festival 2021: Champion Hurdle Preview
The Cheltenham Festival takes centre stage during March, with the four-day meeting featuring a host of top-class horse racing action.
The Festival always attracts a massive worldwide audience, and the 2021 edition promises to be no different in that respect.
Widely recognised as a major event in British racing, the meeting always attracts the finest National Hunt horses in the business.
Read on as we look at some of the main contenders for the standout race on the opening day of the Festival – the Champion Hurdle.
Honeysuckle
The latest betting on the Champion Hurdle lists Honeysuckle as the favourite to win the race for Irish trainer Henry de Bromhead and the seven-year-old has an excellent chance.
The seven-year-old has won 10 races in a row, including an impressive success in the Mares’ Hurdle at last year’s Festival.
Honeysuckle has the ideal mix of speed and stamina needed to win the Champion Hurdle, and the 7lb mares’ allowance she receives is an added bonus.
Her latest win in the Irish Champion Hurdle in February was an exceptional performance, and it will take a good horse to beat her at Cheltenham.
Epatante
Epatante is aiming to become the 14th horse to win successive Champion Hurdles, and she holds a good chance of achieving the feat.
Trainer Nicky Henderson has won the race on eight previous occasions, while owner JP McManus has topped that tally with nine.
Epatante was beaten by Silver Streak in the Christmas Hurdle at Kempton, although a back problem did not help her cause in that race.
Henderson has confirmed that the issue has been ironed out, and the seven-year-old should give punters a good run for their money at the Festival.
Goshen
Goshen is on a recovery mission at Cheltenham, having crashed out at the final flight when well clear in last year’s Triumph Hurdle.
Gary Moore’s charge ran a shocker at Cheltenham in December, but recently bounced back style with a wide-margin victory in the Kingwell Hurdle at Wincanton.
However, that was a Grade 2 event, and the suspicion remains that Goshen lacks the quality needed to win a Champion Hurdle.
Five-year-olds have a poor record in the race, recording just three victories since 1976, and it would be a surprise if Goshen is able to improve that record.
Best of the rest
Sharjah chased home Epatante in last season’s renewal, and trainer Willie Mullins is hoping for another big run this time around.
The eight-year-old was comprehensively beaten by Honeysuckle at Leopardstown on his last outing and it will be tough to turn that form around.
Abacadabras split Honeysuckle and Sharjah in that race, but does not appeal as a likely winner of the Champion Hurdle.
Two-time winner Buveur d’Air would be a popular winner for Henderson, but the 10-year-old’s best days appear to be behind him.
Champion Hurdle prediction: Honeysuckle and Epatante are expected to fight out the finish, with the former narrowly fancied to give de Bromhead his first victory in the race.
