Irish eyes will be smiling if Hurricane Fly can breeze to victory

UNBEATEN for 27 months, and the winner of over £880,000 of prize money, Hurricane Fly will carry the hopes of Ireland when he defends the Stan James Champion Hurdle tomorrow.

One of the Emerald Isle’s ‘banker’ bets after an imposing win in the Irish Champion at the end of January, the Willie Mullins-trained horse has the scope to run up a sequence of victories in hurdling’s most prestigious race.

A significant proportion of the £300m expected to be gambled this week will be invested on Hurricane Fly going with the wind under Ruby Walsh, the winning-most jockey in Festival history.

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Some have even advised the Irish government to invest the country’s national debt on Hurricane Fly; it is the best way, they argue, of cutting the crippling deficit.

And though last year’s victor will only face 10 rivals tomorrow, the test is, arguably, harder than 12 months ago because the AP McCoy-ridden Binocular, the 2010 winner, has been declared after missing last year’s race following an 11th-hour training setback.

If the unpredictable Binocular can replicate the finesse that he demonstrated at Wincanton last month, he will at least give Hurricane Fly a race in a battle of wits between the two greatest ever jump jockeys.

So, too, will Donald McCain’s front-running Overturn, a dual-purpose Flat and hurdles horse, who is the each-way fancy of many shrewd judges, notably retired commentator Sir Peter O’Sullevan, because he has just enjoyed a considerable lay-off.

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He took part in 12 races throughout 2011, but has not raced since finishing a weary third to Binocular and Rock On Ruby in Kempton’s Christmas Hurdle on Boxing Day.

But this threat has not been sufficient to deter Charlie Swan, Steve Smith-Eccles and Graham Bradley, the winners of seven Champion Hurdles between them.

All three name Hurricane Fly as a near-certainty to record an opening-day victory.

Swan will be forever associated with the hurdling legend Istabraq who won three successive renewals from 1998 to 2000.

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“Hurricane Fly is very good and he looks a bit like Istabraq,” said Swan, who is now a successful trainer in County Tipperary.

“It’s very hard to compare them, but he certainly looks the best around. He has lots of class and jumps really well. He has loads of gears and he stays well too.”

Bloodstock agent Graham Bradley, triumphant on Collier Bay in 1996, was also taken by Hurricane Fly’s reappearance, and is particularly impressed by his ability to go on any ground.

“He looks a true champion judged on his performance at Leopardstown,” said the Yorkshireman. “The ground was very testing and he ploughed through it like it was good ground.

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“He looked as good, if not better, than ever and he is the one to beat again. He’s a very well-bred horse and he looked very special when he won it last year. He’s obviously had lots of little issues and is fragile, but there’s no-one better to look after him than Mr Mullins.”

That view is shared by Steve Smith Eccles who completed a hat-trick of victories in the Champion Hurdle on See You Then for trainer Nicky Henderson from 1985-87. He, too, was taken by the Leopardstown comeback win, even though training niggles had forced Mullins to miss several intended races.

“You would expect him to improve for that run,” he said. “It will have knocked a few cobwebs off.

“It takes a very good horse to win it more than once and you have to take into consideration what opposition he’s up against, which I don’t think is much.”

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Hurricane Fly’s belated seasonal debut reminded Smith Eccles how difficult See You Then was to train in the 1980s.

“The unfortunate thing about See You Then is you never really saw that much of him,” he said. “He’d have one prep race before the Champion Hurdle. He’d win it then you wouldn’t see him for another year. I don’t think he got the recognition he should have. I thought Nicky Henderson’s performance with that horse was one of the best training achievements I’ve seen in my lifetime.

“Hurricane Fly is obviously not straightforward either, but Willie Mullins trains him well.

“It sounds like he surprised him when he won at Leopardstown and that can only be a good thing.

“You wouldn’t be opposing him at Cheltenham.”