Architect Tips Ante-Post Preview: Champion Hurdle 2022

The opening day of the Cheltenham Festival will consist of four Grade 1 events alongside other supporting acts with the highlight of the quartet formerly-mentioned being the Champion Hurdle, which has always delivered on the initial promise of it’s expectancy. This year’s highly-exciting renewal will see the queen of the jumps and defending champion, Honeysuckle, attempt to become the first mare to win the race twice and the manner in which she dismantled a good field, as is often the case, to win her third Irish Champion Hurdle indicated that she’s just getting better with age. It’s most likely that Tuesday’s main course is her race to lose with the rest probably playing for minor honours at best, given most believe it to be one-way traffic for last year’s winner and that cannot be disputed, as she goes in search of a remarkable fifteenth straight victory with no defeat to her name in her career.

That record without question is an underrated achievement and a direct testament to both her unparalleled ability and Henry De Bromhead’s training skills. There are, of course, more attractive ante-post markets given Honeysuckle is an odds-on shot but despite her bomb-proof looking profile and contemplating the fact that she might go her whole career unbeaten, I am happy to take a punt on one of the outsiders of the party who has potentially slipped under the radar. When you reflect on Honeysuckle’s form to date, it’s hard to imagine the likes of Zanahiyr, Epatante, Glory And Fortune and Quilixios troubling the former, while Willie Mullins’ Appreciate It, last year’s Supreme winner and current second-favourite, would need to be one of the best horses of the modern era to beat the unbeatable mare on seasonal debut without any preparation outings under his belt. I can’t see that happening, though he’s clearly a top-class horse in his own right and his trainer has performed similar acts with Quevega and Douvan (fell four out when going well in the Champion Chase) in the past.

Glory And Fortune returned a game winner of the Betfair Hurdle and booked his ticket for this showpiece with that career-best performance. He provided us with an excellent day, winning at a double-figure price, and while I really like him and he’s clearly improved loads this season, I would be shocked if Tom Lacey’s charge is good enough to beat the favourite. Quilixios would have outside claims if able to reproduce his victory in last year’s Triumph Hurdle but he seems short enough considering he has been beaten by one horse in particular this term, who appeals, and we will get to him shortly. Adagio ran a blinder to finish second in last year’s Triumph and bettered that with an excellent second in the Greatwood Hurdle off top-weight but we haven’t seen him since and that has to be a slight concern going into the deepest race he’ll have encountered in his promising career.

Tommy’s Oscar could be a lively player at a big price as he’s currently on a roll. It would be quite a fairytale story if he could give the Hamilton team victory in a Champion Hurdle but is he good enough? He’s yet to face any horse who’s proven themselves at the highest level and this level might just find him out. Epatante is a former winner of the Champion Hurdle and looked good when winning the Christmas Hurdle at Kempton in which the runner-up, Glory And Fortune, boosted the form in the Betfair Hurdle last weekend. She’s very slick at her hurdles and her course form will count for plenty but she has nine-and-a-half-lengths to make up on Honeysuckle on last year's running and that’s a tall order. Zanahiyr ran well to chase home Honeysuckle last time despite a bad mistake early on and could sneak into the
frame but he didn’t exactly look at all comfortable on the undulations of Prestbury Park in last year’s Triumph Hurdle and that’s a worry now tackling even deeper opposition on return to the festival.

Shying away from the obvious, however, one horse that makes appeal and should not be underestimated in the slightest is the Gordon Elliott-trained TEAHUPOO (best price 33-1), who looks a pretty solid each-way proposition at the time of writing at double-digits with the NRNB privilege on offer. Masked Marvel's leading son enhanced his credentials for the Champion Hurdle next month when beating last year’s Triumph Hurdle winner Quilixios for the second time this season when narrowly landing a thrilling renewal of the Grade Two BoyleSports Sporting Limerick Hurdle and I can’t work out why he’s the price he is in comparison to Quilixios, who’s been beaten fair and square by this improving youngster, who's tally now reads an impressive five victories from six career starts.

Incidentally, he’s actually unbeaten in five for Gordon Elliott, as his only career defeat to date was when second to subsequent Champion Four Year Old Hurdle scorer Jeff Kidder when in the care of Denise Foster for the only time in a Fairyhouse Grade Two. Back in the hands of Gordon, however, he has looked a horse very much rising through the ranks, including his latest victory, where Jordan Gainford’s mount cut out much of the early running and while it looked as though Quilixios had the race in safekeeping jumping the last, Jordan never panicked on Teahupoo, who only asked his mount for maximum effort from the back of the last hurdle. The response was immediate, putting his head down in determination to get upsides the eventual runner-up before his customary turn of foot earned him the spoils by half a length.

Interestingly, in the aftermath of that Grade 2 success, Jordan Gainford expressed that his mount was idling and that he’d be much better off a stronger gallop, which is exactly what he would get in the Champion Hurdle at Cheltenham. It might be the case that he’s just been overshadowed in the betting at this stage due to some course-specialists, who have been to the Cotswolds and worn the T-shirt but he seems versatile and it’s highly likely that his trainer has had this race in mind for a while, hence why he’s carefully plotted this one’s campaign this term. We have to factor into a bit of degree that five-year-old’s don’t have an exceptional record in the Champion Hurdle but the Grade Two prize he won last time, was taken by the ill-fated Espoir D’Allen in 2018 en route to Champion Hurdle glory the following March at Cheltenham and who’s to say this youngster can’t do the same?

The only caveat I have with him at this stage, besides not being given the chance to test his metal at the highest level as of yet, is that he’s not raced on quicker than yielding but that could well signal further improvement. He is rated below the requisite standard at this stage (149) to cause an upset but the without 'Honeysuckle' market appears to be quite tasty and he’s a good price to legitimise the advisory angle about this event. The unoriginal play would be to enter safe mode and play your cards towards the top of the market without the favourite but I cannot see the price devaluing about Teahupoo, even on the day, and knowing that he is not entered in any other event at the Cheltenham Festival, which helps, this has presumably been the long-term plan. If you can get the available 33/1 (Betfair) or the general 16/1 with the firms that are offering the NRNB and 8/1 without Honeysuckle (Hills and 10/1, Paddy Power), he could be the dark horse in this year’s line-up with the potential to raise his game on the biggest stage next month.