As Ireland’s pre-eminent trainer took all three of the Graded events on the card here on Sunday, it felt as though the past, present and future of Irish jumping all belong to Willie Mullins. Most of the spectators will remember it as the afternoon when they cheered Hurricane Fly from the track to the winner’s enclosure after his fifth consecutive victory in the Irish Champion Hurdle but it was a day when the raw, fresh talent of Un De Sceaux left an indelible impression too.
There was the atmosphere of a prize-fight as Hurricane Fly and Jezki, who fought out a brilliant finish to the Christmas Hurdle here in late December, entered the parade ring before the feature event. Hurricane Fly was 4-2 up in his head-to-head with Jezki but the drying ground seemed to be in Jezki’s favour and there were high hopes of a repeat of their recent duel all the way to the line.
The expectation lasted until between the last two flights where Hurricane Fly headed Jezki. To that point everything had unfolded ideally for Jezki, who had cruised round, while Hurricane Fly’s old legs struggled to find an immediate response when Tony McCoy, aboard Jezki, quickened the pace three flights out.
Yet as Ruby Walsh pointed Hurricane Fly down the straight and towards the last, the years fell away and he swiftly closed the gap. A bad mistake at the last ended Jezki’s challenge and Hurricane Fly was able to coast home three and a half lengths ahead of his stablemate Arctic Fire, with Jezki another four lengths away in third.
The race was still in the balance at the last, but Jessica Harrington, Jezki’s trainer, was in little doubt about the probable result had her runner jumped it cleanly.
“I think we’d have been second again,” Harrington said. “It’s just very, very hard to beat Hurricane Fly around here, and we’re not good enough to beat him around here and that’s it.”
As yet no horse has proved good enough to beat Hurricane Fly at Leopardstown, where he is 10 from 10, while his latest success increases his already record-breaking career total of Grade One wins to 22. The dual Champion Hurdler is also no better than 9-1 to win the Cheltenham race for a third time while Jezki, the defending champion, is 13-2 to retain his title.
“They really quickened the pace at the first hurdle down the back,” Mullins said, “so much so that he was outpaced going down to the fifth and sixth and then turning in. But when Ruby got stuck into him he produced. The one good thing is that you could have your life on him jumping the last without making a mistake and it was over from then.”
Mullins also trains Faugheen, the 5-4 favourite for the Champion Hurdle, but there is no doubt that the 11-year-old Hurricane Fly will join him on the trip to Cheltenham.
“That was always where he was going and he’s just confirming it for me,” Mullins said. “His performances are what people would be expecting from a young horse, but he just keeps pulling it out all the time.
“One wag said to me, ‘are you sure he’s not five?’ – so we’re going to check his teeth shortly.”
Mullins trainer is currently responsible for the ante-post favourite in all five of the non-handicap events on the first day of the Cheltenham Festival on 10 March, and Un De Sceaux, the even-money favourite for the Arkle Trophy, is the shortest price of all after running away with the Irish equivalent.
Un De Sceaux is a confirmed front-runner but there was a new sense of composure about his performance on Sunday as he jumped quickly and cleanly.
There was an almost effortless burst of energy at the top of the straight, just as Clarcam, a Grade One winner at the Christmas meeting, seemed ready to move into contention. It is rare to see a horse simply gallop away from a high-class opponent after setting a strong pace but Un De Sceaux powered clear on the run to the last on the way to a 15-length success.
“I was a bit concerned about the good ground today but if anything he was better on it, especially over the fences where he probably needs a firmer footing for his style of racing,” Mullins said.
“That’s was I was hoping for today, that he wouldn’t make a mistake in the middle of the race or at the fourth- or third-last where the pressure’s starting to come on. Certainly if he can repeat that performance over there [at Cheltenham] he’s going to be tough to beat. He’s probably not down to his full racing fitness yet so we have a bit left to prepare for the next six weeks.”
Mullins also has a significant contender for the Albert Bartlett Novice Hurdle after Outlander, in the second colours of Michael O’Leary’s Gigginstown Stud operation, beat the same owner’s No More Heroes in the card’s Grade Two novice hurdle.
Outlander is top-priced at 16-1 for the three-mile event on 13 March, while No More Heroes, the ante-post market leader on Sunday morning, is out to 14-1 with Boylesports.
