Honeysuckle! Obviously, with a label like that, it could be no other! 

With 2 weeks to go until Cheltenham, and less than a month since her breathtaking Chanelle Pharma Irish Champion Hurdle victory at the Dublin Racing Festival, win number 14 for the unbeaten mare, 10 of which were Grade ones, there really could be no one else for this weeks article. 

I’m lucky enough to have the pleasure of working with her, not that I play much of a role in her career, that credit should really go to Colman Comerford who rides her every day and Chloe Macnamara who looks after her at home. I have the easy part, I pop her on a lorry when the work is done and take her to the races! Every person I’ve ever spoken to tells me that she is a joy to watch, I can barely look at her when she’s running, Colman leads her up and he gets very nervous altogether, he can’t even stand near other people watching his lady run! 

Chloe looks after her at home, and let me be clear, this is no easy task! She’s a Diva! She doesn’t really like people!! She’s not an affectionate mare, she wouldn’t thank you for a cuddle or a kiss, ears flat back with threats of violence are more her style! Having said that, Colman and her have a special bond, he makes a sound with his lips and she copies him, that’s about as close to affection as Honey does, anything after that is more likely to hurt than anything!   

She heads to Cheltenham to defend her unbeaten title, where she will, once again, run in the Champion Hurdle. The baby blue and white colours of Kenny Alexander will be packed in the next week and the Saturday before the meeting begins will see me head for Dublin Port, and with the Champion Hurdle always being on day one, she will be in the first load to head across the Irish Sea. 

It’s so incredible to be associated with a mare like her, even just to see her going about her daily business in the yard is special. She enjoys her time on the walker and is constantly playing whilst on there, she could slow it down or speed it up most mornings, or even totally stop it! You would quite often hear somebody let out an amused yet annoyed ‘Honey!!’ by the walker, it’s her favourite pastime and let me assure you, it is one of the most annoying things a horse can do, and she knows it! 

Attached to her stable is a woodchip paddock, she can go in and out at her leisure and the door between the 2 is never closed. A lot of the stables at Knockeen are this design, and it is one of my favourite things about it. The horse’s absolute love being able to be natural in their behaviour and be outdoors whenever they choose. Honeysuckle is no exception to the rule! She spends 90% of her time outside, totally by her own choice. She only really comes into her stable to eat, be tacked up, or have a nosey over the stable door at something going on in the yard! 

There were 2 mornings last week that I had to lorry out and was loading to go racing and Brian Scott took Honeysuckle out of her stable and walked her past the lorry to put her on the walker, both mornings she stood inside the walker looking at the lorry as though to say ‘excuse me, I want to go racing’ . We both commented both mornings on how much she loves her job! 

Little does she know, actually, she probably does! The next lorry she gets on will be heading to the Port, and onto the Cotswolds. We head there, praying, hoping and dreaming that she and all of her teammates put their best feet forward, do their best and come home safely! If some of them would like to come home safely in front, we’ll also be very happy, obviously! 

This will be my last chance before the big week to write anything, the next article I write will have the wonderful advantage of hindsight, I’ll be sure to know what we did wrong, what we did right and please God we do something right!

 Ahead of the big week, the Oscars of National Hunt racing, 4 days of gripping racing from HQ of our sport, from all at team Knockeen to anyone heading over, watching from home, having a little flutter or just placing their faith, trust, and heart and soul into any animal or team for any reason or another – Very best of luck lads! Safe Home!