Cheltenham Festival 2021 Day One Preview : 11 Up for Honeysuckle?

Last Updated : 13th March, 2021 By Steve A

VENUE

Cheltenham

TIME

Tuesday 16 March 1.20pm start

BROADCAST

Live on ITV

See Stats

Cheltenham is finally with us and a great four days of racing are about to take place. Champions have titles to defend and former champions bid to regain the glory days. There will be plenty of new heroes created over the coming four days. Here we take a look at each race on day one of the festival

 For all the latest news ahead of the big meeting, make sure you keep checking our Cheltenham Festival page where we will highlight horses that are not running or have been ruled out as well as any major betting moves to report. We also have a dedicated page for day two of the meeting where you will find information about the day as well as a look back at the results from the 2020 Cheltenham Festival.

Day Two | Day Three | Day Four

For all the latest news ahead of the big meeting, make sure you keep checking our Cheltenham Festival page where we will highlight horses that are not running or have been ruled out as well as any major betting moves to report. We also look back at the results from the 2020 Cheltenham Festival for each day. That's important as many runners this year had big races here last year. Our look at Day One can be read here.

Supreme Novices' Hurdle - 1.20

Another Cheltenham begins and Willie Mullins has a great opportunity to land the opening race of the festival with Accept It. Last year this runner finished second in the Champion Bumper. That's a race in every single one of the top six has won since going over hurdles. After a 256 day break, Accept It won its maiden hurdle race at Cork last November. December saw a win in the Grade 1 Paddy Power Future Champions Novice Hurdle. Last time out, Accept It won another Grade 1 race and comes here with a great chance of getting the Irish off to a good start.

Opposition will come from the Harry Fry trained Metler who has had three wins this season. That includes winning a Grade One hurdle race at Sandown by an impressive 12 lengths. A good performance here looks on the cards.

Arkle Chase - 1.55

This is a race where we may find Gold Cup horses of the future, and last year's winner of the Supreme Novice Hurdle at Cheltenham has 12 months later become a highly impressive chaser. The horse to back in this race is the Nicky Henderson traine Shishkin. After success at the festival in 2020, Shishkin won a beginners chase by 23 lengths and followed that up with a Grade 2 win at Kempton, winning that one by 13 lengths. Another win came at Doncaster in January with success in a Grade 2 race, this time by eight lengths.

The main threat comes from Allmankind, well not all of it as that'd be a bit unfair and this is a race for horses. This runner came second in the 2020 Triumph Hurdle. This season has seen success in a Grade 1 race at Sandown in December and a Grade 2 win at Warwick, beating Sky Pirate by 14 lengths. A bold run is expected but Shishkin is the tip to win this race.

Ultima Handicap - 2.30

Good luck with this one as it's one of those handicaps you could spend a lifetime trying to work out. We fancy the Kim Bailey trained Happygolucky and you may well be if this comes first. Two out of three races have been won this season so that's good form for starters. The most recent of those two wins came in a Class 2 race. Last year our selection ran well at Cheltenham finishing fourth in the Martin Pipe Chase. That's the last race of the festival and that feels a long way off at the moment. A win could have been achieved in that race but for bumping and hampering. Hopefully there will be a much smoother way around the course this year for this runner who could yet impress in this contest.

Champion Hurdle - 3.05

Honeysuckle bids to make it two wins in a row at the Cheltenham Festival. Trained by Henry de Bromhead, last year produced a win in the Mares' Hurdle. Twelve months on, Honeysuckle is still a horse that doesn't know the meaning of the word defeat. Over hurdles, Honeysuckle has won all ten of her races. Win number 11 would be the most special of all. Three races have been won this season with the most recent one being the Irish Champion Hurdle, won by ten lengths.

 Trying to prevent an 11th straight hurdles win will be last year's winner of this race, Epatante. After winning here last March, we had to wait 263 days for the Champion hurdler to return to the track. It was at Newcastle that the return happened and Epatante won the Fighting Fifth Hurdle. Boxing Day at Kempton wasn't so successful with a second behind Silver Streak. A mistake three out contributed to that loss. A better jumping round in this race could bring a successful defence but Honeysuckle looks hard to beat.

Don't mention jumping mistakes to Goshen. Last year a win in the Triumph Hurdle looked certain but although clear of the field, Goshen unseated his jockey at the last. A return to Cheltenham may spark a revival and could be placed. February saw a 22 length win at Wincanton but twice this year Goshen has finished last which isn't totally inspiring for this race.

Mares' Hurdle - 3.40

Here's another race that could put a smile on the faces of Irish punters. Willie Mullins has the favourite for this race and Concertista is going to be hard to beat. She knows her way around this course with a win in the Mares' Novices Hurdle last year, winning by 12 lengths. There have been two more wins this season as her experience grows. Not been out since December 29 when winning the Grade 3 Mares' Hurdle at Leopardstown.

Roksana is trained by Dan Skelton and could spring a surprise. Winner of this race in 2019. Roksana finished fourth behind Honeysuckle in this race. Now she's back for another crack and has already won twice this season. The most recent win was a very promising victory at Ascot in January. The Grade 2 race was won in a canter, can she come out tops at Cheltenham? Certainly a strong contender.

Boodles Fred Winter Handicap Hurdle - 4.15

Colter is the tip in another difficult Cheltenham handicap. We say difficult, to be fair there are no easy ones. Colter is trained by D K Weld and won the Naas Maiden Hurdle last time out. The third in that race was Zoffanien who has franked the form with a win since. An each way bet on that horse is an idea here. Saint Sam is strongly fancied and is another Willie Mullins runner. However, Saint Sam has yet to win a race while being trained by Mullins with a recent second in a Grade 1 race at Leopardstown. A good run is fully expected in this contest.

National Hunt Challenge Cup - 4.50

Royale Pagaille was the favourite for this race but will now be taking part in the Cheltenham Gold Cup, good luck with that one. With that news then Galvin is the one to consider for this race. Trained by I R Ferguson, this contender won four races in a row this season but hasn't been out since October. If coping with that absence the Grade 3 winner can run a good race.

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