Solwhit was an easy winner of the Irish Champion Hurdle at Leopardstown in January and looks to have the measure of the likes of Celestial Halo (16/1 various firms) and Sublimity (22/1 Sporting Bet) who he beat on that day. The Charles Byrnes-trained six-year-old missed the Cheltenham Festival last year but was successful in the Aintree Hurdle and holds a record of 10 wins in 15 races.
With Davy Russell in the saddle, Solwhit will definitely be thereabouts at the finish.
Go Native (6/1 various) is another Irish contender who came into the Champion Hurdle reckoning when beating Binocular in the Fighting Fifth Hurdle at Newcastle.
Noel Meade’s charge also beat Solwhit on that day and he could quite easily finish in front of his fellow Irish adversary again.
Khyber Kim (11/1 William Hill) has been a revelation this year winning two valuable races at Cheltenham in the Greatwood Hurdle and the Boylesports International Hurdle and could come close to grabbing a hat-trick of wins at his trainer’s Nigel Twiston-Davies’ local track.
Medermit (14/1 various firms) is another who has stepped up from the novice ranks and definitely seems like a horse on the up. Alan King’s runner finished a close second behind Go Native in the Supreme Novices’ Hurdle last year and ran a blinder in his reappearance when carrying top weight in the Greatwood Hurdle finishing only 3 lengths behind Khyber Kim
.
The six-year-old then emphatically beat Punjabi in the Champion Hurdle trial at Haydock in January and has seemed to improve with every run and surely marks a bit of each way value in the race.
One final contender to mention is the 2008 winner Katchit who at 100/1 seems priced far too big.
The little pocket rocket is a real battler and has always excelled up the energy-sapping Cheltenham hill. Although his performances haven’t been mind-blowing this year, Alan King will have the seven-year-old just right and I could quite easily see him sneaking into a place.
With such a wide open market, it is a very difficult race to call with so many holding chances but I have been impressed with Zaynar this year and I fully expect the gutsy grey to bound up the hill to take the prize for Nicky Henderson.
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