Honeysuckle switch would be lamentable - and tweak of the rules can stop it

We've been hit with some icy blasts in the last few days. Yet the worst hasn't been the one that has led to the cancellation of racing but the one that came with the words of Henry de Bromhead at Cork on Sunday.

Many racing fans are being kept warm in these freezing temperatures by the prospect of watching De Bromhead's superstar mare Honeysuckle go for a third successive Champion Hurdle win against Constitution Hill, the brightest and most exciting name in the sport right now, at the Cheltenham Festival in March.

Suddenly, in raising the very distinct possibility that Honeysuckle might contest the Mares' Hurdle at Cheltenham instead, De Bromhead ensured all those fans will have felt an arctic chill down their spine.