As Honeysuckle’s star falls, five-year-old looks prime Champion Hurdle challenger to Constitution Hill come Cheltenham
Honeysuckle’s first career defeat this month and speculation over her target at the Cheltenham Festival have left State Man as potentially the leading Irish-trained challenger for the Champion Hurdle in March and Willie Mullins’s five-year-old will be odds-on to confirm that status in the Grade One Matheson Hurdle at Leopardstown on Thursday.
Constitution Hill, who took his unbeaten career record to five races in Monday’s Christmas Hurdle at Kempton, is already long odds-on for the Champion, but State Man – who is also a five-year-old – has also done little wrong since a fall, with victory in sight, on his debut for Mullins on Boxing Day last year.
