Cheltenham Festival 2021: the Champion Hurdle entries
Entries have been unveiled for the two-mile Grade 1 Unibet Champion Hurdle, the Cheltenham Festival’s day one highlight
Reigning champion trainer Nicky Henderson is the most successful handler of all time in the Champion Hurdle with eight victories – See You Then (1985, 1986, 1987), Punjabi (2009), Binocular (2010), Buveur d’Air (2017, 2018) and Epatante (2020).
The two most recent of Henderson’s winners are entered once again – last season’s hero Epatante and Buveur d’Air, who was successful in 2017 and 2018. Lambourn-based Henderson is responsible for six of the 27 entries in total, more than any other handler in 2021, with his sextet also including Buzz, Call Me Lord, Marie’s Rock and Verdana Blue.
Epatante, the 9/4 favourite with Unibet, became the fifth mare to win the Unibet Champion Hurdle in 2020 and began her season well with victory in the Grade 1 Betfair Fighting Fifth Hurdle on 28 November, defeating the Alan King-trained Sceau Royal and Ribble Valley from Nicky Richards- yard.
Reversal
The seven-year-old suffered a reversal last time out however when runner-up to Silver Streak sent out by Evan Williams in the Grade 1 Ladbrokes Christmas Hurdle at Kempton Park on Boxing Day.
Buveur d’Air, now a 10-year-old, has been off the track since sustaining an injury in the 2019 Fighting Fifth Hurdle, with Henderson mentioning the Listed Virgin Bet Contenders Hurdle at Sandown Park on 6 February as a possible comeback race. Both horses are owned by JP McManus, the most successful owner ever in the Unibet Champion Hurdle with an amazing nine wins.
Tom Symonds was once assistant trainer to Henderson but is now flying high as a trainer in his own right. His entry is Song For Someone, who has impressively won his last three starts, all of which have come in Grade 2 company.
After finishing the 2019/20 campaign with victory in the rearranged Betway Kingwell Hurdle at Kempton in February, the six-year-old began this season with success in the Coral Hurdle at Ascot in November before recording his first Cheltenham victory in the Unibet International Hurdle on 12 December, when he prevailed by a nose from Silver Streak.
In great form
Herefordshire-based Symonds reported: “Song For Someone is in great form and the plan would be to either run in the Champion Hurdle at Cheltenham or the Aintree Hurdle. We have entered him in the Champion Hurdle and we will make a decision nearer the time.
“I am absolutely thrilled with him at home. He is very well and seems to have come out of the International in great form.
“There are three races we are currently weighing up with one of them acting as his prep before one of the big spring festivals.
“He could go to Haydock for The New One Unibet Hurdle a week on Saturday, the Contenders Hurdle at Sandown Park or the Kingwell at Wincanton.
“I think the weather will play a big part as to what race he actually runs in and I am not really leaning to any of them at the moment. We will enter him in the three races as they come along and then decide where to go.
“I was absolutely delighted with his win at Cheltenham and despite the circumstances, it was great to see him prove his liking of the track.
“It was obviously nobody’s fault that they didn’t jump the hurdles in the home straight, but that would not have suited him as he is such a good jumper.
“The fact he still managed to win was great and it clearly showed that Cheltenham suits him.
“The Champion Hurdle is firmly in the picture and it would be great to have a runner in a championship race like that.
“It is great to have a horse like him.”
The Champion Hurdle has been won by Irish-trained horses on 23 occasions and there are 12 Irish-trained contenders for 2021. The pick of them at this stage looks to be Sharjah trained by Willie Mullins, who was the three-length runner-up behind Epatante in 2020 and recently confirmed his wellbeing with a comfortable victory over Henry de Bromhead’s Aspire Tower and Petit Mouchoir representing Gordon Elliott in the Grade 1 Matheson Hurdle at Leopardstown on 29 December.
Mullins’ five entries also include Saint Roi, comfortable winner of the Grade 3 Randox Health County Hurdle at the Festival in 2020 but a disappointing fourth behind Sharjah last time out at Leopardstown.
Other leading Irish-trained contenders include Abacadabras for Gordon Elliott, winner of the Grade 1 Unibet Morgiana Hurdle at Punchestown in November, and the mare Honeysuckle, another entry for Henry de Bromhead, a five-time Grade 1 winner including in the Close Brothers Mares’ Hurdle at the Festival last season.
Interesting
An interesting entry is Winston C from Keri Brion in the US. Formerly a smart performer both on the Flat for Michael Bell and over hurdles for Harry Fry in the UK, the seven-year-old won two Grade 1 contests at Saratoga, USA, in the summer of 2019 for US Hall of Fame trainer Jonathan Sheppard, earning an Eclipse Award.
Following Sheppard’s retirement at the start of this year, Winston C is now in the care of Sheppard’s former assistant Keri Brion and part of her six-strong team based at Baltimore Stable in Enniscorthy, County Wexford. His intended European debut will be at Navan in a Grade B handicap hurdle on 23 January.
♦Gold Cup entries http://wp.me/p8e3Dl-5HQ
