Honeysuckle in running to be crowned Horse of the Year for second year in a row

Honeysuckle could secure an unprecedented four in a row when she returns to action in the Bar One Hatton’s Grace Hurdle at Fairyhouse next month but Irish jump racing’s unbeaten star has another landmark achievement in her sights too.

The reigning Horse of the Year is again nominated for Horse Racing Ireland’s prestigious award which will be held next month.

No horse has ever won the prize back-to-back, but Henry De Bromhead’s Honeysuckle is one of six names in the running on a 2022 list released by HRI on Tuesday.

Honeysuckle’s biggest threat could be her own stable companion A Plus Tard, the spectacular winner of last March’s Cheltenham Gold Cup.

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A pair of Willie Mullins trained Cheltenham Festival winners, Energumene and Allaho, are also nominated while champion stayer Kyprios and State Of Rest make the list from the flat.

Hurricane Fly was twice Horse of the Year in 2011 and 2013. In 2015 Faugheen and Don Cossack shared Horse of the Year honours.

Hurricane Fly could also boast a 2010 victory in the Hatton’s Grace which will once again be the centrepiece of Fairyhouse’s Winter Festival.

However, Honeysuckle will eclipse the hat-trick trio of Limestone Lad, Solerina and Apple’s Jade should she come out on top in the Hatton’s Grace for a fourth time.

De Bromhead and Rachael Blackmore, who rode Honeysuckle and A Plus Tard at Cheltenham, are among the nominees for HRI’s National Hunt award alongside Willie and Patrick Mullins as well as champion jockey Paul Townend.

Colin Keane and Billy Lee, who fought out a memorable battle for the jockey’s championship, are nominated alongside Paddy Twomey as well as Aidan and Joseph O’Brien for the flat award.

Among a handful of nominees for the National Hunt Achievement award is trainer Paddy Corkery who won a Christmas Grade 1 with Master McShee last season.

Hewick’s American Grand National success sees his trainer Shark Hanlon on the list as well as Emmet Mullins for his victory in the biggest “National” of all with Noble Yeats at Aintree in April.

In other news, the popular Group 1 winner Princess Zoe will be for sale as a wild-card entry in the Tattersalls December Mares sale later this month. Tony Mullins’s 2020 Prix Du Cadran winner will go through the ring on November 29th.

During a fine career, which saw rise to the highest level from middle of the road handicapper, she was also runner up to Subjectivist in last year’s Ascot Gold Cup. Princess Zoe finished racing last month when fourth in the Prix Royal Oak at Longchamp.

Separately, in other bloodstock news, the fee for top stallion Sea The Stars in 2023 has increased to €180,000.

The 2009 world champion racehorse stands at the Aga Khan’s Gilltown Stud in Co. Kildare and the operation announced on Tuesday that the sire of Baaeed will stand at his highest ever fee next year.

It is more than double the €85,000 fee Sea The Stars began his breeding career at in 2010.

Another of the stallions under the Aga Khan’s banner, Siyouni, has also got a new career high fee of €150,000.

It comes on the back of the staggering $4.6 million paid in Kentucky on Monday for a 2.5 per cent share in the Breeders Cup Classic winner Flightline who begins his stallion career in 2023.

An unnamed bidder edged out Coolmore Stud for the share which puts a notional value on the unbeaten US star of a massive $184 million.

Flightline raced just six times during his career but is officially the highest-rated horse in the world in 2022. He was purchased as a yearling for $1 million in 2019.