Pipe seeking Punchestown prize money with Adagio

David Pipe is hopeful Adagio can take a slice of the large prize money on offer after confirming he will travel to Ireland to face Honeysuckle in the Paddy Power Champion Hurdle.

The five-year-old has won three of his nine starts over hurdles for the Pond House yard and been runner-up on another five occasions.

However, he was beaten 15 lengths by Honeysuckle in the Champion Hurdle at Cheltenham when eighth of 10 and Pipe knows Adagio will have to find marked improvement to trouble the mare at Punchestown in next Friday’s Grade One event.

Pipe said: “The plan is to run. There is lots of prize money on offer. He goes there a relatively fresh horse and obviously Honeysuckle is the one they all have to beat. The prize money means we will give it a go.”

Adagio won the Grade One Finale Juvenile Hurdle at Chepstow in January last year before finishing runner up in both the Triumph Hurdle and the Anniversary 4-Y-0 Juvenile Hurdle at Aintree.

Though he did not manage to win any of his three outings this term, age is on his side.

Pipe added: “Adagio is very nice and he is a young horse, but it is like being a scratch golfer and a professional – there is a big gap. He can be competitive in these races, but unfortunately we are in the era of Honeysuckle.

“Then we’ll have Constitution Hill to worry about soon! But it is nice to have a horse that can run in these type of races and we’ll head to Punchestown and give it a whirl.”