Ireland will have a champion to take a crack at Constitution Hill in the Champion Hurdle next month but it will be State Man, not Honeysuckle, who carries the nation’s hopes to Cheltenham after a convincing success in the Irish equivalent here on Sunday.
Rarely has a baton passed from one generation to the next as clearly as it did just after the home turn, as Rachael Blackmore asked Honeysuckle to quicken towards the front-running State Man, around three lengths in front of her. The acceleration that had blown away Honeysuckle’s opponents in the last three renewals was suddenly missing when she needed it most, and State Man stayed on to such effect that he was nearly five lengths in front of her at the line.
