Henry de Bromhead admits the excitement is really starting to build for the Cheltenham Festival as he puts the finishing touches to the preparations of defending champions Honeysuckle and Minella Indo.
The pair triumphed in the Unibet Champion Hurdle and Boodles Cheltenham Gold Cup respectively last year, and Honeysuckle is a particularly hot favourite for Tuesday’s feature event, in which she will try to extend her unbeaten run to 15.
The eight-year-old added a third Irish Champion Hurdle to her tally at Leopardstown last month – a 10th Grade One triumph overall – after connections briefly flirted with the idea of embarking over fences this term.
