Honeysuckle will once again be the star turn on day one of the Cheltenham Festival.

That’s the view of Mike Edwards, who has been involved in racing for well over 50 years and remains a huge supporter of the sport.

This year’s four-day extravanganza gets under way tomorrow, with the Henry de Bromhead-trained Honeysuckle strongly fancied to take the feature race, the Champion Hurdle (3.30pm).

“I can’t see anyone beating her,” said Edwards. “She’s won all 14 of her races so far including last’s year’s Champion Hurdle.”

Rachael Blackmore, the leading jockey at last year’s Festival, will again be on board as Honeysuckle bids to become the first mare to win the race twice.

“This race is usually dominated by geldings but the mares have been doing better in recent times,” said Edwards, who believes Honeysuckle has a chance of matching the achievements of the likes of Persian War and Istabraq by winning the race three times.

“It’s possible,” he said. “There’s a long way to go but she’s still only eight.”

And while Edwards is confident that Honeysuckle will make it 15 wins in a row tomorrow, he also reckons that Teahupoo is a good each-way bet.

Trained by Gordon Elliott, he has won six of his seven races and Edwards said: “He could run well. He’s a young horse, only five. He’s never run in this class before but sometimes these young horses pop up.”

Meanwhile, top trainer Nicky Henderson is set to get this year’s Festival off to a flying start by winning the Supreme Novices’ Hurdle (1.30pm) with Constitution Hill.

“He’s my nap of the meeting,” said Edwards. “He’s run twice and won twice, both at Sandown. He was so impressive, all the others were flat out, he just trotted up, it was that easy.”

Henderson has been a serial winner at the Cheltenham Festival for many years, of course, and with Nico de Boinville, who lives in Upper Slaughter, on board, it would certainly appear to be a winning combination.

“He rides very well,” said Edwards. “And Henderson is a Cheltenham specialist, he’s won everything, the Gold Cup, the Champion Hurdle, the lot.”

Edwards expects the UK-based trainers to fare better at this year’s Festival than they did 12 months ago when the Irish won 17 of the 28 races and he’s tipping Alan King, who is based at Barbury Castle in Wiltshire, to land the Arkle Challenge Trophy Novices’ Chase (2.10pm) with Edwardstone.

“He’s a class horse,” said Edwards. “He’s won his last four races and Alan King’s horses are going well.”