It's safe to say that Henry De Bromhead has really struck gold with Honeysuckle.
The 7-year-old mare will make her seasonal bow at the Hatton's Grace Hurdle at Fairyhouse on Sunday.
Since she first entered the National Hunt fray in 2018, Honeysuckle has maintained a perfect record, with victory in the Champion Hurdle at Cheltenham easily being the highlight.
With Rachael Blackmore at the reins, De Bromhead's prized mare should triumph at Fairyhouse , especially with the news that the Willie Mullins-trained Klassical Dream will not make his seasonal reappearance in Sunday's race.
De Bromhead joined Ger Gilroy and Johnny Ward on Friday Night Racing this week. He went into great detail about Honeysuckle, revealing that her prowess is not as obvious at home as it is on the track.
"She wouldn't blow you away at home", De Bromhead said. "She worked nicely a couple of times when we first got her before we ran her."
"It's on the track where you just see them progress; I find it very hard judging them at home, to be honest. I kinda like ours progressing on the track anyway, so I'm seeing it when everyone else is as well."
"You just keep dipping, and see where they get to - especially with jumpers."
De Bromhead continued: "[With] flat horses, it's different; you can work them on the trip that they're gonna run. There's no obstacles, obviously."
"But with National Hunt horses, it could be jumping fences and hurdles that crowns them. If you were working them over two or three miles every time, trying to find out how good they were, you'd just have them burnt out."
"I find, with the jumpers, you're better off letting them progress themselves."
De Bromhead: "I got a few carrots, and suddenly we were the best of friends!"
But De Bromhead is under no illusions around Honeysuckle maintaining her unbeaten record. He admits that his superstar is bound to be beaten at some stage.
"I would imagine it will happen sometime," De Bromhead said. "She would be under pressure, but you can only do what you can do, so you try to get everything as right as you can.
"This is probably the toughest one, the first one of the year. We've given her plenty of work, she seems really well, she's in really good form, so, fingers crossed, she'll get her best foot forward. But, we do have a long season ahead of us."
"Colman [Comerford], who rides her, said to me this morning she was really angry. I said: 'is that a good sign or a bad sign?' He said: 'I think it's good.'"
"So I just went to check her legs there, and she wouldn't let me near her - she had her ears back. I went and got a few carrots, and, all of a sudden, we were the best of friends!"
Download the brand new OffTheBall App in the Play Store & App Store right now! We've got you covered!
Subscribe to OffTheBall's YouTube channel for more videos, like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter for the latest sporting news and content.
