Hurricane Fly received a round of applause simply for walking into the parade ring before the Ladbrokes World Series Hurdle here on Thursday, but it was Jezki, so often a runner-up behind Hurricane Fly in the past, who earned the acclaim when they returned.
Both horses were running over three miles for the first time and both showed their class to pull clear of proven stayers in the closing stages. At the line, though, it was Jezki who saw out the trip a little better than his opponent, who was just under two lengths adrift and unable to close the gap after Jezki and Mark Walsh seized control of the race on the run to the final flight.
This was the first Grade One success for the green and gold colours of JP McManus since the retirement of his principal jockey, Tony McCoy. Walsh, who is quoted at around 10-1 to be McManus’s next full-time rider, did his prospects no harm with a composed ride on the winner, settling in mid-division through the first two miles as Thousand Stars made the running and then taking the initiative on the turn for home.
This was the ninth Grade One race contested by both Hurricane Fly and Jezki since December 2013 and Hurricane Fly still holds the advantage in their head-to-head with five wins to his rival’s three. What seemed more significant here though was the four years that Jezki has in hand of the 11-year-old Hurricane Fly, who has won a record 22 Grade Ones in his outstanding career but may now struggle to win a 23rd as time, and younger opponents, catch up with him.
Jezki, by contrast, opened up new opportunities at three miles with this victory, the most obvious being the World Hurdle at Cheltenham next March. William Hill briefly offered Jezki at 12-1 for the World Hurdle after his win on Thursday, but that was soon cut to 8-1 while Paddy Power make Jezki their new 5-1 favourite (from 12-1).
“I was hoping he would get home because he was being pretty free and tanking for Mark, but he jumped brilliantly and he lasted every inch of the three miles,” Jessica Harrington, Jezki’s trainer, said.
“He’s an amazing horse to have. He does like the spring in the air and the sun on his back, and he’s a different horse than he is in the winter. Mark had only ridden him once before and he gave him a terrific ride today.
“The great thing is to try something new and all the family stay very well. Until his last two races you might have said that he’d had a disappointing season, but he’s now won two Grade Ones.”
Jezki was well beaten by Faugheen in the Champion Hurdle at Cheltenham and avoided a rematch with the winner in Friday’s Punchestown Champion Hurdle by running in Thursday’s race. He is unlikely to switch to steeplechasing in the near future either, which makes a season in staying events next year seem an ever more logical choice.
“He had a half-brother Jenari who jumped quite well, but [another half-brother] Jered didn’t like them and Jetson [who finished sixth in Thursday’s race] positively hated fences,” Harrington said, “so I think we’ll keep him over hurdles for the moment.”
Willie Mullins, the trainer of Hurricane Fly, felt that a couple of minor errors might have compromised the 11-year-old’s chance. “He probably wasn’t as fluent as Jezki down the back straight and I think that’s where the race was won,” Mullins said. “They both turned for home with a chance but it was Jezki’s turn today.”
The Mullins-trained Un De Sceaux predictably proved too good for his opponents in the Ryanair Novice Chase, but was not at his brilliant best in holding off Micky Hammond’s British raider Just Cameron with jockey Ruby Walsh pointing to the fast-drying ground at the track.
Walsh said: “The ground has dried all day and it was on the quick side for him, I just want him to be OK in the morning. He was deliberate at the first and high at the second. They’ve put plenty of water on but it’s a glorious day and has been drying all the time.”
Mullins, who won five of the six Grade One events on the first two days here, extended his dominance to the cross-country course too as the veteran Uncle Junior edged out Quantitativeeasing in the La Touche Cup.
Uncle Junior is now 14 years old but showed plenty of vigour for his jockey Patrick Mullins, the trainer’s son, to stay on past the 13-8 favourite in the final 100 yards.
“Junior is some hero in our yard,” Mullins said. “To run a race like that is fantastic. He always makes one terrible mistake, that’s just his form, and coming to the last he hadn’t made any mistakes so I thought, here it comes. But he only lost half a length at it and I think he appreciated the drying ground.
“Patrick really enjoyed it, he’s just a fantastic horse to have. When he started off he couldn’t jump, he lost four or five hurdles before the got the hang of it, but he’s made of iron. He just keeps going. He gave us a fantastic run at Cheltenham this year, horses like that are entertaining and he entertains the whole place.”
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