Paddy Power announced as new sponsor of Punchestown Champion Hurdle

Paddy Power has been announced as the new sponsor of the Champion Hurdle at the Punchestown Festival in a three year deal.

The €250,000 Paddy Power Champion Hurdle is set be one of the highlights of this year's Punchestown Festival, with the standout fixture at the home of Irish jumps racing taking place from Tuesday 27 April to Saturday 1 May and all live on Racing TV.

Paddy Power, spokesman of Paddy Power bookmakers, said: “We are happier than Honeysuckle and giddier than Sir Gerhard to once again sponsor at the Punchestown Festival with the Paddy Power Champion Hurdle. It gets our juices going to be part of such a competitive festival, especially now in this new golden age of Irish jumps racing. We’ll plan to make it extra special for race fans too once we’re all back at the famous Co Kildare track.”

Honeysuckle could bid to join household names such as Buveur D’air, Faugheen, Hurricane Fly, Brave Inca, Hardy Eustace and Istabraq by winning the Paddy Power Champion Hurdle and kicked off a week to remember for trainer Henry de Bromhead and jockey Rachael Blackmore at last week's Cheltenham Festival.

The brilliant and unbeaten mare is yet to run at Punchestown, but the dream began for connections during the 2018 festival as owner Kenny Alexander bought Honeysuckle at the Goffs Sale which took place after racing on the third day of the meeting. Three years later, she could bid for a Cheltenham-Punchestown Champion Hurdle double.

“Honeysuckle certainly appears to be going from strength to strength and was brilliant in Cheltenham, so it would be great to be able to go to Punchestown for the Paddy Power Champion Hurdle all being well,” trainer Henry de Brohmead said on Tuesday.

“I spoke to Peter Molony (Alexander's racing manager) over the weekend and, without saying for sure, we’d certainly be leaning towards Punchestown if we get the right signals between now and then.”

Just a week on from her finest achievement to date, Honeysuckle has been earning some well deserved downtime.

“She seems good, really well and we’re delighted with her," said De Bromhead. "We’ll just let her settle back in and just start tipping away with her again. We’ll just have to see and get a feel for her over the coming weeks and she’ll tell us how she is. Each horse is different and there’s no set routine after a race, we’ll let her tell us. She is having a well-earned rest and we’ll pick things up again when she is ready.

“We also have Aspire Tower who will be aimed at the Paddy Power Champion Hurdle. He ran a blinder at Cheltenham to be fourth. We were delighted with him. He is only five but has made the transition from juvenile to open company very well and he will be aimed at Punchestown as well.”

Rachael Blackmore has made a habit of creating history in recent seasons and did so again at Cheltenham by claiming the Ruby Walsh Leading Jockey Award with six victories. A first success in the Paddy Power Punchestown Champion Hurdle on the penultimate day of the Irish jump season would be a fine way to cap the campaign.

Blackmore was crowned champion conditional jockey at Punchestown back in 2017 and the star rider said: “Punchestown is always a fantastic festival to ride at and hopefully Henry’s team of horses can be in similar form to Cheltenham. We're all very much looking forward to races like the Paddy Power Champion Hurdle.”

Ruby Walsh can boast six renewals of the Punchestown Champion Hurdle to his name and is already excited by the potential stories at this year's festival.

"When Punchestown comes around you hope for some Cheltenham Festival rematches or even new clashes," Walsh said. "And with so many strong Irish winners in March, added to a lot of placed horses and a slightly different program, we could be treated to a real spectacle in County Kildare.

"There are no championship or novice chase middle-distance Grade Ones, so who knows what will go where. And with the potential of a flat, fast two-mile hurdle track for Honeysuckle to contend with, I am sure the speedsters will fancy another go. I can’t wait to watch it."

Entries for the 2021 Paddy Power Champion Hurdle - along with 11 additional Grade One races - will be available from Monday 12 April.