Irish Examiner view: Race may be run

In 18 runs over a near five-year period, Honeysuckle won 16 times on the bounce. Picture: Lorraine O'Sullivan/PA Wirer.

All good things come to an end, and at Leopardstown on Sunday, we may have seen the last run of one of the greatest National Hunt stars of the modern era.

In 18 runs over a near five-year period, Honeysuckle won 16 times on the bounce, including 12 Grade 1s, two successive Cheltenham Champion Hurdle successes, and three Irish Champion Hurdles. 

The mare and her jockey, Rachael Blackmore, blazed a trail, engaging fans like few other racing partnerships down the years other than, perhaps, Pat Taaffe and Arkle or Jonjo O’Neill and another great mare, Dawn Run.

The duo broke down barriers with the nonchalance of champions and a degree of understated class which is hard to find in any sport. But their second defeat on the trot — having been beaten on Sunday by new kid on the hurdling block, State Man — may have called time on what has been one of racing’s most illustrious and successful partnerships.

While obviously disappointed by the reversal in the Irish Champion Hurdle, trainer Henry de Bromhead was hugely magnanimous in defeat, if realistic about the possibility that his was his star mare’s final racecourse appearance.

While non-committal about Honeysuckle’s future — that decision will be made by owner Kenny Alexander — trainer Henry de Bromhead seemed somehow resigned to the fact the nine-year-old mare might now be retired.

Were such a decision to come from her connections, there would be a palpable sigh of relief from her adoring public who, having been given so many great days by the mare, do not want to see her race at a lesser level than that at which she so successfully competed. 

Racing fans will be happy to see her retire healthy to the breeding paddocks for the next phase of her stellar career.