The Cheltenham Festival is the pinnacle of national hunt horse racing in the UK, and the 2022 edition of the festival will take place in its usual place in March. There are four days at the meeting, with one feature race on each day and the main race on day one is the Champion Hurdle.
Honeysuckle dominated the race last year when she came up the hill in fine style to win by six and a half lengths and is on track to go back to the race in 2022 and try to claim back-to-back titles. The bookmakers certainly think she can do that, and despite the race being months away from taking place, she is already the 4/5 favorite on the latest horse racing betting odds to retain her crown. Those behind her in the betting are mainly horses she has beaten in the past or ones that have multiple options at the festival and may not even turn up for the race.
She’s already come back this season and won the Hatton’s Grace Hurdle for a third time, showing that she is as good as ever before moving onto other targets on her way to the Champion Hurdle. She has both the quality advantage over her rivals that she has been in the past and the fact that nothing appears to be emerging as a genuine contender to her crown, which is why she is so strongly fancied.
Should the Mares Allowance Remain in Place if Honeysuckle Wins?
When Honeysuckle landed the 2021 Champion Hurdle, she became the second mare in two years to win the race, following up Epatante’s win in 2020. After the pair had won their respective races, talk turned to whether the mares allowance of 7lb that is currently in place should remain.
In the past, this hasn’t had too much of an impact, as racing mares struggled to compete on the big stage, and even with the allowance in their favor, they still struggled to win big races. However, now we are seeing more mares in training, and more high-quality mares racing, so the allowance is being utilized by horses that are already the best, even without the allowance.
It is fair to say that the likelihood is both Epatante in 2020 and Honeysuckle in 2021 would have won the Champion Hurdle even without an allowance in place. Both won in really good fashion and appeared to have plenty left to give at the end of the race.
Are these two horses that are incredibly special, and they are rare because they don’t need the allowance, or are they the start of what will become normal, so we need to scrap the allowance?
Should Honeysuckle win again in 2022, the same argument will be had again. The outcome probably shouldn’t be decided until the next back of good mares come through, so we can see if these two are special or not. Whatever happens, let’s hope it doesn’t overshadow a brilliant performance, should we see one from Honeysuckle.
