No miracles after defeat signals end to mighty mare’s Champion Hurdle hopes

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THE Ted Walsh handbook of hilarious phrases had another entry yesterday. “This is Leopardstown, not Lourdes. You don’t get miracles around here.” Trust Ted to say it as it is.

The thing was, though, we didn’t think she needed a miracle. Honeysuckle was rocking up to Leopardstown in search of a fourth Irish Champion Hurdle with her hordes of followers travelling more in expectation than hope. She was 2-1 in the morning, 11-8 at the off. Had the race been delayed another few minutes she might have gone off favourite. They still believed.

Honeysuckle was cheered out of the parade ring, cheered down to the start, cheered to the first hurdle but, when they wanted to cheer most, there was no point. It would have been a waste of energy. State Man was too good. That fact was inevitable throughout the entire home straight.

Honeysuckle is no longer invincible and the big clash with Constitution Hill, which was on, then off and then back on again, is now officially off.

“We’ll definitely not be taking on Constitution Hill, that’s for sure,” was owner Kenny Alexander’s emphatic reply when I asked him what was next for his legendary mare.

“I would fear what would happen against Constitution Hill and we’ve no desire to go running around for place money. It’s up to Henry. If he wants to chuck it now, that’s okay. I’ve always said that we have to get her out safe and sound. Maybe the time has come.

“If we go for Constitution Hill, the mare is so brave and Rachael doesn’t muck about – we’d run to win and I’d dread

for anything to happen to her now. I don’t think we can beat Constitution Hill. I’m not sure anything can beat Constitution Hill.”

And with that, her

Champion Hurdle hat-trick went up in smoke.

Ted Walsh might have thought Honeysuckle needed a miracle to win, but Alexander didn’t. Far from it. He thought she would do it and put his money where his mouth was.

“Yes, I thought she would win today, 100 per cent,” he said. “I thought she was the best horse in the race and I backed her because I thought her price was crazy. Well, not crazy, I suppose. But I thought she’d win. I was confident but she hasn’t won. C’est la vie.”

FOR someone who has won a lot in life, Alexander is a superb loser and he calmly assessed Honeysuckle’s latest defeat with dignity. “Age catches up with us all,” he admitted. “The young pretenders – well, certainly one of them anyway – have overtaken her and there’s one in England as well. Is she as good as she was? No, she’s definitely not. Maybe after her first run [this season] you could argue she was but she’s had two now. She’s still very, very high-class but she’s nine now. She’s run her heart out, ran a blinder, but she didn’t win.”

She didn’t win a fourth Irish Champion Hurdle, but could she win a second Mares’ Hurdle?

Alexander replied: “I would be prepared to go for the Mares’ Hurdle, but let’s talk to Henry and Rachael. I’ll leave it to them – whatever they say we’ll go with. She doesn’t owe us anything. I’d love to win another Mares’ Hurdle with her and go out in a blaze of glory, but I don’t want anything to happen to her now.”

There is no shame in being beaten by State Man and it could turn out that Honeysuckle ran an absolute blinder if last year’s County Hurdle winner followed in the footsteps of Rooster Booster by winning a Champion Hurdle the following season.

Make no mistake about it, State Man is a worthy rival for Constitution Hill. He will make a man of him.

Honeysuckle might be out, but State Man is most definitely in.

It was a strange sort of day at Leopardstown. The certainties were beaten. Blue Lord was 1-4, Facile Vega 4-9, but neither won. Nor did they ever look like winning.

Mighty Potter stuck to the script in the Ladbrokes Novice Chase though. He might never admit it, but I have no doubt in my mind he was the main reason for Davy Russell’s dramatic retirement U-turn.

This is the sort of horse Russell has adored over the years. An imposing, impressive individual who looks like a chaser, jumps like a chaser and acts like a top-class chaser in everything he does.

“I thought we were done with all these big races,”

Russell said afterwards. Not by a longshot, Davy. You were born for days like these.

Honeysuckle was born for days like these and used to own them. All good things must come to an end, though. This was Leopardstown, not Lourdes.