Henry de Bromhead sweet on Honeysuckle as her unbeaten winning streak continues

Henry de Bromhead's Honeysuckle enhanced her lofty reputation when getting off the mark for the season in the opening 2m4f hurdle at Fairyhouse on Tuesday under Rachael Blackmore.

The unbeaten Grade 1-winning mare made no mistake against useful novices Easy Game and Mister Blue Sky, scoring convincingly by 11 lengths as the 3-10 favourite.

De Bromhead said of the Kenny Alexander-owned five-year-old: "She was great and jumped brilliant, you couldn't have asked her to do any more. I was a bit nervous beforehand but I'm delighted and Rachael was very happy with her."

Honeysuckle: maintained her unbeaten recordCredit: Caroline Norris

The leading novice-hurdling mare was shortened to 5-1 (from 11-2) for the OLBG Mares' Hurdle at Cheltenham in March after her commanding reappearance, though the Knockeen handler wasn't making any concrete plans in the immediate aftermath of her success.

"I'm not sure what the plan is – we haven't really discussed anything bar getting her started," said De Bromhead. "She's in the Hatton's Grace Hurdle and we could think about that. Then there's the two Grade 1s at Christmas at Leopardstown."

"It wasn't a tough decision to stay over hurdles this year. Kenny has some lovely mares with us and Honeysuckle is only five, so we're happy to do what we're doing. She's achieved a hell of a lot in a very short space of time."