Cheltenham Festival 2023: Day one talking points
Timeform’s John Ingles highlights four talking points on day one of the Cheltenham Festival.
Will Constitution Hill become the latest unbeaten Champion Hurdle winner?
He already has a rating worthy of a Champion Hurdle winner – and an outstanding one at that - the big question now is can Constitution Hill provide his trainer Nicky Henderson with a record ninth win in the race? That question has been lingering ever since he demolished his field in the Supreme Novices’ on this card a year ago when he showed an electric turn of foot off the home turn to draw 22 lengths clear of Jonbon in a time that suggested the performance was every bit as good as it looked. Two more top-notch performances which left another stablemate, the 2020 Champion Hurdle winner Epatante, toiling in his wake after some superb jumping in both the Fighting Fifth Hurdle at Newcastle and the Christmas Hurdle at Kempton, have only strengthened Constitution Hill’s Champion Hurdle claims this term.
If successful, Constitution Hill would become the third unbeaten Champion Hurdle winner within the last ten years after Faugheen in 2015 and Honeysuckle, winner of the last two editions. Honeysuckle is no longer Constitution Hill’s chief Irish rival having handed that baton to State Man, three years her junior, in the Irish Champion Hurdle last time. State Man has compiled an impressive record of his own, the winner of all six of his completed starts for Willie Mullins and a better horse now than when winning last year’s County Hurdle. He would have outstanding Champion Hurdle claims himself in an ordinary year but unfortunately for him he's up against an exceptional rival.
A fascinating rematch between Jonbon and El Fabiolo in the Sporting Life Arkle
Just under a year ago, only a neck separated Jonbon and El Fabiolo when they met in the Top Novices’ Hurdle at Aintree. The pair had very different profiles going into that race. Thanks to his breeding and price-tag, Jonbon had a big reputation from day one and it was only that outstanding performance from stablemate Constitution Hill in the Supreme on his previous start that had put paid to his unbeaten record for Nicky Henderson. In contrast, El Fabiolo was much more of a dark horse, going to Aintree after just two runs and the winner of a maiden hurdle at Tramore on his only start for Willie Mullins.
Both have taken very well to fences this term, each of them winning Grade 1 novice contests. Jonbon, whose top-class brother Douvan won the Arkle in 2016, won the Henry VIII Novices’ at Sandown in December but has only faced a total of six opponents in his three chases and didn’t impress in a match at Warwick last time. He’s an accurate jumper, though, who could well have a better performance in him if the occasion demands it. El Fabiolo, on the other hand, left more of an impression when beating a much deeper field in the Irish Arkle at Leopardstown by upwards of ten lengths, with the re-opposing Banbridge and Dysart Dynamo among those he left trailing.
Irish dominate Supreme betting
The opening Supreme Novices’ Hurdle might well set the tone for the rest of the week, with Irish horses dominating the betting. Willie Mullins has declared four, but it’s been clear for some time that Facile Vega is regarded as the stable’s number one Supreme contender and not even a shock defeat when last of five behind stablemate Il Etait Temps at the Dublin Racing Festival has done much to shake that belief. After all, it wasn’t hard to find excuses for Facile Vega who went off too hard at Leopardstown. Out of Quevega who became a standing dish on the opening day at Cheltenham when winning six editions of the David Nicholson Mares’ Hurdle, Facile Vega became a Festival winner himself last year in the Champion Bumper and looked very exciting when beating Il Etait Temps with a very slick performance at Leopardstown at Christmas.
It’s not all about Mullins, though, and Barry Connell’s unbeaten Royal Bond winner Marine Nationale, is another exciting prospect whose form entitles him to plenty of respect.
Farewell to Honeysuckle in the Mares’ Hurdle
Instead of bidding to become the first since Istabraq to win three Champion Hurdles, Honeysuckle makes the final appearance of her brilliant career 40 minutes later in the David Nicholson Mares’ Hurdle. It was in the same race three years ago that Honeysuckle’s Cheltenham story began when she took her unbeaten record to eight races with a half-length victory over odds-on favourite Benie des Dieux. Verging on a high-class effort, that performance suggested she’d have gone very close to troubling Epatante in the Champion Hurdle earlier the same afternoon.
There’s certainly been no doubt which of the two has been the better mare in the last two Champion Hurdles – Epatante was third behind Honeysuckle in 2021 and runner-up last year – and the pair will meet for the third year running because Epatante has been supplemented to join Honeysuckle in the Mares’ Hurdle rather than face the prospect of another drubbing from stablemate Constitution Hill. Having been comprehensively beaten by him at Newcastle and Kempton, Epatante dealt out similar treatment of her own to inferior rivals of her own sex at Doncaster last time. Honeysuckle, on the other hand, is in the unfamiliar position of having suffered two defeats this season, which ended her unbeaten streak at 16, but if anywhere near her best she's capable of bowing out on a winning note with a fourth Festival success.
