Hurricane Fly went into the Ryanair Hurdle here on Monday with an extraordinary 20 Grade One victories to his name but the 21st, both as a spectacle and as an individual performance, was perhaps the most compelling and memorable of all.
A duel in the sun down the length of the home straight between Hurricane Fly and Jezki, last season’s Champion Hurdle winner, was punctuated by two headlong leaps at maximum speed as the two rivals eyeballed each other over the final flight.
Urged on by Ruby Walsh and Tony McCoy, the outstanding riders of their generation, the two horses then fought over every inch of ground from the last hurdle to the line but it was Hurricane Fly, as ever at Leopardstown where his record is now nine Grade One wins from nine starts, who emerged as the half-length winner.
Hurricane Fly has enjoyed many easier wins than this and others, including two Champion Hurdle successes at Cheltenham, with more prestige. No victory, though, has said as much about the durability and fighting spirit of a horse who will be 11 on Thursday, four years older than Jezki and his stablemate Faugheen, the favourite for this season’s Champion Hurdle in March.
“It was all to play for all the way up the straight,” Willie Mullins, Hurricane Fly’s trainer, said. “Coming to the final hurdle, Fly always gets a good jump but Jezki actually got a fantastic jump at it as well. But when [Hurricane Fly] gets over the last and puts his ears back and gets down to battle, there’s no horse I’ve ever seen with such battle in him. He’s never finished.
“When he gets his head in front, he’s just a professional with huge ability. I’d say he’s the best anyone’s ever trained over jumps and hurdles, I’ll never have another one like him anyhow. When you look at his pedigree, Montjeus wouldn’t be renowned for keeping their enthusiasm, but he does.”
Hurricane Fly was only fourth behind Jezki in last season’s Champion Hurdle and remains a 14-1 chance to become only the third 11-year-old to win the race, after Hatton’s Grace (1951) and Sea Pigeon (1981). He is odds-on with Paddy Power, however, to win the Irish Champion Hurdle back at his beloved Leopardstown next month.
“I didn’t lose faith in him [after defeats at Cheltenham and Punchestown last season],” Mullins said. “People were talking to me and saying would I retire him. He had two less than good runs but any horse is allowed that. I thought the ability was still there and he showed me at home that his zest for racing is still there so we were happy.”
Jezki is roughly half the price of Hurricane Fly for the Champion Hurdle and could take on Monday’s winner again in the Irish Champion on the way to Cheltenham. “He lost nothing in defeat but Hurricane Fly is just very, very hard to beat around here,” Jessica Harrington, Jezki’s trainer, said.
“They went at it hammer and tongs from when they turned in and they both jumped the last well. Hurricane Fly was just marginally quicker away from it. We’ll head on to Cheltenham and hope the hill will make a little bit of a difference.”
Mullins completed a Grade One double while Bryan Cooper took his total in the meeting’s feature events to four when Don Poli stayed on strongly to beat Apache Stronghold in the Topaz Novice Chase. The winner is now best-priced at 8-1 for the RSA Chase at Cheltenham in March while there were also performances with Festival potential on Monday’s card from Windsor Park and Carrigmorna Rock.
Windsor Park, whose dam was a sister to the Kentucky Derby winner Fusiachi Pegasus, made a smooth debut over hurdles in the opening race and is 20-1 for the Neptune Investment Management Hurdle with Hills, while Carrigmorna Rock was an easy winner of a mares’ event and is priced at 10-1 for the Mares’ Hurdle in March.
Parlour Games will be a leading contender for the Neptune Novice Hurdle after an easy victory in the Grade One Challow Hurdle at Newbury. The race had looked competitive beforehand despite a small field but Parlour Games travelled like a winner throughout on the way to a neck defeat of Vyta Du Roc.
Newbury’s meeting was the only scheduled card in Britain on Monday to escape the cold weather, which allowed Sprinter Sacre, the 2013 Queen Mother Champion Chase winner, to gallop and school on the track before racing. Despite a mistimed jump at the second of five schooling fences, the highest-rated chaser in training remains on course to make his first start since December 2013 in Ascot’s Clarence House Chase on 17 January.
Haydock’s card on Tuesday was abandoned following a 2pm inspection on Monday, while the card at Taunton is subject to a precautionary inspection at 8am.
