Can anything beat hot favourite Buveur D'Air?
BY JON LEES AND TONY O'HEHIR 6:00PM 12 MAR 2018
3.30 Cheltenham, Tuesday
Unibet Champion Hurdle (Grade 1) | 2m½f | 4yo+ | ITV1/RUK
Altior has a foot issue, Might Bite will not relish heavy ground, but there were no late worries over Nicky Henderson's other festival big shot Buveur D'Air.
Of all the horses in the powerful Seven Barrows team, Buveur D'Air is probably best equipped to cope with conditions that eased to heavy, soft in places, on Monday from soft, heavy in places when Henderson walked the track on Sunday.
He won last year's Champion Hurdle on good to soft going, followed up at Aintree on good, but has done all his racing this season on soft, as well as having won on heavy, in the course of establishing a run of nine races undefeated.
On such evidence Buveur D'Air is many experts' idea of a banker, a view not shared by a trainer seeking his seventh victory in the race with a horse aiming to become the first back-to-back winner since Hardy Eustace in 2004 and 2005.
Buveur D'Air is one of three Henderson runners in the championship in which 2015 winner Faugheen also participates. It will be no walkover for the odds-on favourite, according to Henderson.
"The one good thing is the ground doesn't worry Buveur D'Air," he said.
"He has won on heavy ground and he has been running on soft ground all winter. But there is no such thing as a banker and I don't share the view he is. We have a competitive field of top-class hurdlers. He is in good form, everything has gone well."
Buveur D'Air has not been seriously tested by another rival in three starts this term in the Fighting Fifth, Christmas and Contenders Hurdles.
Last season the horse who got closest to him at Cheltenham and Aintree was stablemate My Tent Or Yours.
He has finished out of the first three only once in 24 starts and never out of the first four. He has finished second three times in the Champion Hurdle and beat The New One in the International Hurdle at Cheltenham in December.
"Buveur D'Air handles soft ground better than Tent does but Tent loves Cheltenham and he enjoys his annual outing," Henderson added. "He missed the race one year but he has been very well and galloped well in the lead up to this."
Charli Parcs, well beaten in the Betfair Hurdle last time out, completes the Henderson team but prefers better going.
"I walked round yesterday and thought the ground was perfectly acceptable," said Henderson. "I would have been very happy for even Verdana Blue who is a non-runner and Charli Parcs but I accept that the rain last night will have an impact.
"It's a pity because walking it yesterday it was very respectable, perfectly all right. Yesterday and today are two different things. Whereas I was happy last night, I am not going to be happy tonight."
Buveur D'Air pros Defending champion has won all three starts easily this term
Buveur D'Air cons Lack of hard competition may leave him vulnerable in a stronger test
My Tent Or Yours pros Impressive Cheltenham record means he is always thereabouts
My Tent Or Yours cons Has produced his worst performances on heavy ground
Faugheen back firing?
Faugheen
Faugheen will be attempting to resurrect his career and become only the third horse after Comedy Of Errors and Hurricane Fly to regain the Champion Hurdle crown.
Winner of the event three years ago, Faugheen has been ultimately disappointing this season with an impressive comeback victory in the Morgiana Hurdle at Punchestown in November being followed by a dismal effort in the Ryanair Hurdle at Leopardstown when he was pulled up.
There was some improvement when he finished runner-up in the Irish Champion Hurdle in January, but that performance was still well below his best and the ten-year-old is fitted with first-time cheekpieces by trainer Willie Mullins in an effort to spark him back into form.
Jockey Ruby Walsh, who will be seeking a fifth win in the race, said: "Hopefully the cheekpieces might light him up and get that enthusiasm back. In his last two races, he was very lacklustre through the first mile. Those two runs weren't good enough, but his November run was and that's why I'm riding him over Willie's other runners."
They include Melon, runner-up in the Supreme a year ago who finished third in the International Hurdle in December on his only other visit to Cheltenham. The hood he wore when disappointing in the Irish Champion Hurdle is dispensed with.
Yorkhill, twice a winner at the festival, is an intriguing contender.
Winner of what is now the Ballymore Novices' Hurdle in 2016 and the JLT Novices' Chase 12 months ago, he reverts to hurdles for the first time in almost two years after two disappointing efforts over fences this season.
Patrick Mullins, who rides the stable's Wicklow Brave, will be attempting to become the first amateur rider to win the race since since Colin Magnier scored on For Auction in 1982. Wicklow Brave, a slow-starting seventh in the race a year ago, is a Group 1 winner on the Flat and beat My Tent Or Yours in a Grade 1 at last year's Punchestown festival.
Faugheen pros Brilliant performer at his peak with a proven track record
Faugheen cons Form of his last two runs well below his best and serious questions to answer
Melon pros Solid performances on his two previous visits to the track and has scope for improvement
Melon cons Needs to step up on previous efforts, especially moderate outing in Irish Champion Hurdle
Wicklow Brave pros Good enough to win a Group 1 on the Flat and beat My Tent Or Yours in Grade 1 at Punchestown last year. Won County Hurdle by eight lengths three years ago
Wicklow Brave cons Gave away a lot of ground at the start in this race a year ago and has not run over hurdles since April
Yorkhill pros Talented if quirky performer and interesting back over hurdles for first time in almost two years.
Yorkhill cons Running here after disappointing efforts over fences and trip could be on the short side
Rest of the field
Elgin
Elgin among the elite?
Not one to be put off by a so-called banker in the field, Alan King has sound reasons for persuading Elite Racing to pay £20,000 to supplement Elgin.
Since finishing seventh in last year's Supreme Novices' Hurdle, it has been all upward for Elgin who, after winning an Ascot handicap early in the season, landed the Greatwood and then Kingwell Hurdle.
"Elgin has climbed 21lb in the ratings this season and deserves to take his chance," said King who won the Champion Hurdle ten years ago with Katchit.
"His new mark of 161 puts him higher than the second, fourth and sixth last year, and it was a career-best performance last time at Wincanton, where he was in front plenty soon enough and was giving weight to horses who were rated above him.
"If you take out the favourite it looks a wide-open Champion this year, and Elgin has continued progressing right through the winter and is now much more the finished article.
"Looking back, he learned an awful lot in last year's Supreme Novices' Hurdle - he had never been so quick but I think it made a man of him."
Jazz act
Mick Jazz got little credit for winning a Ryanair Hurdle in which all the post-race focus was on the unexpected pulling up of Faugheen.
He was third next time in the Irish Champion Hurdle won by Supasundae from Faugheen, but Mick Jazz is one of the runners in the field with a Grade 1 victory to his name.
His trainer Gordon Elliott said: "The favourite stands out but our fellow is a Grade 1 winner and is very well. Apart from Buveur D'Air, it looks very open and, hopefully, we'll be in the battle for a share of the money. He won't mind the ground."
Constable in charge?
Having pitched John Constable against Buveur D'Air in the Contenders Hurdle and come off distinctly second best, Evan Williams is not predicting a turnaround this time, especially in much softer conditions.
"The worry is the ground for the little horse because he loves a bit of spring ground," the trainer said. "He has a very difficult task, whichever way you look at it, but it's a joy to have a horse good enough to run in a race like that."
Thief out to steal glory
Identity Thief finished sixth behind Annie Power two years ago but his two victories since both came over fences.
"He's an outsider but he's coming back into form and should love the ground," trainer Henry de Bromhead said.
Tie removed
The tongue-tie, fitted for the first time for the Kingwell Hurdle, is left off Ch'tibello who was beaten two and a half lengths by Elgin at Wincanton.
He has won once in two seasons but has made the frame behind My Tent Or Yours and The New One this term and has the ground he relishes.
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