Following today’s unveiling of the Smurfit Kappa Champion Hurdle entries, the most notable absentee appears to be Mikael Dhaguenet, who was a 16-1 chance with Paddy Power.
Binocular In Champion Hurdle at Cheltenham
Rock Noir is an intriguing entry from Jonjo O’Neill, having won his last five starts at Auteuil for Marcel Rolland last year. On his last outing, the Mansonnien geldng mastered Jumbo Rio by half a length in the Grade One Prix Renaud du Vivier in November. Rock Noir has been installed into Paddy’s betting at 25-1 for the Champion, while J P McManus’s other contender Binocular is a 15-2 chance with the galaxy’s friendliest bookmaker.
Smurfit Kappa Champion Hurdle
4 Dunguib (with a run), 5 Go Native, Solwhit, Zaynar, 15-2 Binocular, 8 Khyber Kim, 9 Punjabi, 10 Celestial Halo, 16 Starluck, Volar La Vedette, 25 Quevega, Rock Noir, Sublimity, 33 Medermit, 50 American Trilogy, 66 bar
Irish trainers are responsible for 21 of the 34 entries for the Smurfit Kappa Champion Hurdle.
Heading the challenge from across the Irish Sea is the Noel Meade-trained Go Native, who is seeking a second win at The Festival having triumphed in the Supreme Novices’ Hurdle last season.
The seven-year-old has already plundered two of Britain’s top hurdling prizes this season, following up a comfortable victory in the Grade One Fighting Fifth Hurdle at Newcastle in November with a hard-fought success over Starluck in the Grade One Christmas Hurdle at Kempton the following month.
Solwhit was third behind Go Native at Newcastle but the Charles Byrnes-trained six-year-old recorded a third Grade One victory when defeating the 2007 Smurfit Kappa Champion Hurdle victor Sublimity in the Leopardstown Christmas Hurdle.
