Honeysuckle and Blackmore deliver in pulsating Irish Champion Hurdle

Henry de Bromhead was adamant that Honeysuckle's determined triumph in a pulsating PCI Irish Champion Hurdle was something to savour rather than endorse a particular Cheltenham Festival target but there is little doubt now that there is a serious decision to be made.

In the build-up to this €200,000 Grade 1, it was the nascent potential of Honeysuckle and her formidable rider Rachael Blackmore that made the occasion such a tantalising prospect. Cometh the hour, cometh the women.

Prior to racing, no female rider had won any of the card's four Grade 1s. By the time Blackmore galvanised a second burst out of Honeysuckle to fend off the outsider Darver Star and the race's 2017 winner Petit Mouchoir by two half lengths, she had farmed two, having initiated a marquee double aboard Notebook in the Arkle Novice Chase.

Watch Honeysuckle battle back for an emotional victory

The most successful female rider in the history of jump racing continues to smash glass ceilings. This was her eighth Grade 1 in less than 12 months, and in Honeysuckle she has a blue-chip ally who could yet challenge for the sport's ultimate honours.

"She was unbelievable," beamed Blackmore of the six-year-old, who became the fourth mare to win the race in stretching her unbeaten record on the track to seven in suitably magnificent style.

"She battled back so well after the last and she is just so special and a pleasure to be involved with. She has a massive heart and a massive will to do it."

Blackmore, who is also backed by the race sponsor Mark Phelan, added of the challenge presented by the drop in trip: "I wasn't getting too wrapped up in it. Honeysuckle has always done everything I've asked her to do and today was hopefully going to be no different and she didn't let me down. She was really tough and really good."

Honeysuckle and Rachael Blackmore fend off Darver Star (left) and Petit Mouchoir in the PCI Irish Champion Hurdle at LeopardstownCredit: Alain Barr

Few jump jockeys anywhere right now are blessed with such an exalted array of emerging stars to ride as Blackmore. She had to go without A Plus Tard here after he was withdrawn from the Dublin Chase, but it is a mark of the firepower she has at her disposal that she could lose such a mount and still illuminate such an illustrious programme.

She raised the roof on her arrival into the winner's enclosure aboard Honeysuckle, and the rapturous response did not end there. As she made her way back to the weighing room, she was mobbed by a throng of well-wishers and obliged a stream of fans eager for selfies.

Blackmore had been identified as the one who could carry day one of the Dublin Racing Festival and she did not disappoint.

"It's phenomenal, absolutely magic," she said. "Every jockey wants to be coming to a meeting like this with rides like I had today."

Fresh from her dominant success in the Hatton's Grace Hurdle two months earlier, Honeysuckle was backed as if defeat was out of the question, returning an SP of 8-11 to account for a field that included the winners of nine other Grade 1s, including two previous winners of this prestigious race.

Henry de Bromhead and Rachael Blackmore have reason to be happy after winning the Irish Champion Hurdle with HoneysuckleCredit: Patrick McCann

It was her first start left-handed and the drop back to two miles for a first time in over a year was also an unknown, but little seems to faze the daughter of Sulamani.

She kept close tabs on her pace-setting stablemate Petit Mouchoir throughout and for a moment after they touched down two-out it looked like she was going to be caught flat-footed.

However, Honeysuckle quickly seized control round the final bend, only for an awkward jump at the final hurdle to give Davy Russell a sniff of a second chance on Petit Mouchoir. The grey battled bravely to get his head back in front, but Honeysuckle would not be denied.

Watching it, it felt like she had to go and win the race twice. She and her rider are utterly redoubtable, though, and they still had enough to repel the late thrust of Darver Star at the death.

“She just looked like she got a bit lonely going to the last. She's so tough and the lady on top of her is so tough. She really battled it out,” said De Bromhead.

“I had my heart in my mouth coming to the line. She probably needed it and our two went at it fairly early.

Rachael Blackmore landing her first Grade 1 of the day on NotebookCredit: Patrick McCann (racingpost.com/photos)

“Rachael is brilliant and I always say we are very lucky to have her. She's riding out of her skin and the mare is deadly.”

Honeysuckle was cut to as low as 9-2 second favourite from 6-1 by Paddy Power for the Unibet Champion Hurdle, while she is as short as 6-4 from 2-1 with Ladbrokes for the Mares' Hurdle.

"We'll enjoy today," De Bromhead insisted when asked if they would tilt at windmills. "We've just won a PCI Irish Champion Hurdle and we'll discuss the options in due course."

Having first won the race with Sizing Europe in 2008, De Bromhead earned the distinction here of becoming the first trainer to win the race with three different horses. Given Sizing Europe's capitulation in the Champion Hurdle at Cheltenham that year, there is still be a bit of unfinished business in the race for the County Waterford trainer.

Honeysuckle might yet be the one to atone for that anomaly.

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