RACING:THE PRESENCE of veteran star Sublimity in the BHP Insurance Champion Hurdle is a reminder of how it is four years since an Irish-trained horse won hurdling's championship at Cheltenham, and anything but a victory for Hurricane Fly at Leopardstown tomorrow will seriously rock his claims to be Ireland's heir-apparent.
Just five are set to line up for this weekend’s €110,000 highlight, but the phrase “small-but-select” could have been coined for them.
Hurricane Fly and his old rival Solwhit are six-time Grade One winners, while Thousand Stars is a Cheltenham Festival winner. Voler La Vedette has yet to score at the top level, but she probably represents a greater threat than Sublimity, who is now very much in the veteran stage.
However, he will always be one of that vintage crop of Irish hurdlers that dominated the middle of the last decade, and if there is a horse here with the potential to follow in the footsteps of Brave Inca, Hardy Eustace and Co, then it should be Hurricane Fly.
Only Binocular heads Willie Mullins’s charge in betting for Cheltenham, but a third impressive Grade One success of the season could see Hurricane Fly back on top of the markets. He is already a red-hot favourite for tomorrow, which is not surprising given even Solwhit’s trainer, Charles Byrnes, has already described as “very, very slim” his horse’s chances of getting one over on his old rival.
Solwhit is 1-3 down to Hurricane Fly in career clashes and has been comprehensively out-pointed this term in both the Hatton’s Grace at Fairyhouse and the Festival Hurdle over tomorrow’s course and distance over Christmas. Davy Russell’s unexpected waiting tactics looked to backfire a few weeks ago, but Byrnes yesterday appeared resigned to another defeat.
“We’re not expecting to beat Hurricane Fly, but we’d be very happy to come home second. But one never knows – if Hurricane Fly has an off-day . . .” the Limerick trainer said.
There has been no sign of a hiccup in Hurricane Fly’s preparation, though, and Mullins reported: “He has been grand since his last run, which we were obviously delighted with. Hopefully he just stays sound and he can maintain the form he is showing. I am not looking beyond Sunday with him. I’m very happy with him at the moment.”
Voler La Vedette has been chasing Hurricane Fly and Solwhit this season and in the process proven her stamina credentials for March’s Nicholson Mares Hurdle at Cheltenham. Trainer Colm Murphy said: “Hurricane Fly is obviously going to be very hard to beat but if we can run into a bit of prize-money we’ll be happy enough.”
That seems to be the predominant view. It will be disappointing if Hurricane Fly can’t provide the expected outcome.
