Henry De Bromhead is excited to put the finishing touches to his Cheltenham Festival 2022 team which includes Honeysuckle, Minella Indo and A Plus Tard.

Wondermare Honeysuckle took the the Unibet Champion Hurdle last year while Minella Indo won the Boodles Cheltenham Gold Cup and both go to Prestbury Park with a fighting chance of a repeat.

The eight-year-old Honeysuckle also added a third Irish Champion Hurdle to her tally at Leopardstown last month, a 10th Grade 1 triumph after connections briefly flirted with the idea of moving on to a chasing career.

De Bromhead was pleased Kenny Alexander stuck to the smaller obstacles but is expecting a tough test for Honeysuckle to retain her crown.

He said: "Obviously we had to discuss whether she should go chasing at the beginning of the season, but I think Honey made the decision for us and we were all happy to stay over hurdles.
"Once we'd decided to do that, we took the view that 'if it ain't broke don't try to fix it' and we stuck with the same route as last year. Touch wood, it's gone well so far.
"It looks a very good race, as you'd expect with any Champion Hurdle. I thought last year's looked very good as well."

Minella Indo's form has been patchy going into his Gold Cup defence, pulling up in the King George VI Chase before returning to something like his usual form in the Irish Gold Cup.

Minella Indo kept stablemate A Plus Tard at bay last year but his fellow De Bromhead horse is favourite this year after a demolition job in the Betfair Chase at Haydock before a narrow defeat at the hands of the reopposing Galvin in the Savills Chase at Christmas.

"I was obviously getting very excited last year. I was concerned that my two had gone on and they were going to get picked up by Paul Townend (on Al Boum Photo) at that stage, but they stuck it out really well and it was incredible," De Bromhead told the Jockey Club.
"They're both in great form and really well this year. A Plus Tard worked really well the other day and Indo had a great run in the Irish Gold Cup, so they're both really good."
READ MORE: Cheltenham Festival 2022 guide: When is it, times, big races, top horses, trainers, jockeys and more.