21 June 2024 , 16:48
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The team behind the legendary Honeysuckle and other Irish racing figures have reacted in uproar to a reported change to the Cheltenham Festival programme.
The entire race schedule has been under review since the end of the meeting in March with the races for mares rumoured to be in the crosshairs of Cheltenham's owners, the Jockey Club.
The Jockey Club insisted that no decision has been reached over how to restructure the four-day meeting, the latest of which was marred by small fields leading to a lack of competitive racing.
Yet Peter Molony, who produced Honeysuckle at his Rathmore Stud and managed the mare for owner Kenny Alexander, has fired a warning shot, claiming the entire jumps programme for mares was “under threat”.
In a post on X he said: “Reportedly, new proposal would mean no mare who won a Gd1 in the previous 13 months would be eligible to run in the Mares Hurdle at Cheltenham.
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"The wnr of the previous year’s race couldn’t run, the wnrs of Gd1 Honeysuckle Nov Hdle The Gd1 Mares Champion Hurdle etc etc. Buy a Gd1 wnr from France couldn’t run. Collapse of the mare trade we’ve all worked so hard to build!! Sledgehammer & nuts!!”
The outstanding Honeysuckle won 17 of her 19 races, including the Champion Hurdle twice, and signed off her career with an emotional second victory in the 2023 Mares’ Hurdle under Rachael Blackmore, having won it previously in 2020. Molony declared that if the change was brought in “iconic moments like this couldn’t happen”.
He drew immediate support from other leading jumps figures with David Minton, who buys many of Nicky Henderson’s jumpers, saying, “Well said, my boy.”
Syndicate operator Jack Cantillon put his reaction into a video which he posted, headlined: "The dream of the Cheltenham Festival is under threat for so many National Hunt mare owners who have invested so much in the game. @CheltenhamRaces need to stop this proposal immediately.”
A Jockey Club spokesperson said: “It has been in the public domain for some time that we are looking at a wide number of aspects of the Cheltenham Festival following this year’s fixture.
"Some possible tweaks to the race programme form one element of what is being considered, and we’re currently seeking the views of a variety of stakeholders as we weigh up our options.
"We have a set process for how these discussions are conducted and our objective will always be to listen to the wide variety of views on offer and make a decision which is in the best overall interests of the Festival and the sport of Jump racing. We should stress that we are only discussing some initial options at present and remain some way from making any final decisions.”