Near-miss offers Champion Hurdle hope for Hughes

The father of champion Flat jockey Richard Hughes was speaking after last season’s JCB Triumph Hurdle winner was narrowly beaten by the 19-time Grade One winner in the BHP Insurance Irish Champion Hurdle.

For a brief moment after touching down after the final flight, Our Conor looked set to dethrone the champion, but Hurricane Fly roared back on the run-in to secure his fourth successive Irish Champion Hurdle crown.

“He’s come out of the race absolutely fine and I’m very happy with where we are with the horse,” said Hughes. “We were a bit disappointed as it looked as though he might have it won at one stage, but I’m thrilled he improved, which I thought he would.

“He’s just a bit young and for a five-year-old to do that, I think was a tremendous performance. He was nearly the last horse off the bridle which was a fantastic feat in itself.

“For three or four strides after the last I thought we had him but the other old boy just wore him down. Being a young horse, he should improve and I think Cheltenham improved him last year; he was definitely a stone better horse last year at Cheltenham.

“All in all, I think we’ll be going to Cheltenham more optimistic than pessimistic and he must go there with a fighting chance.”

This season’s leading British trainer Paul Nicholls, meanwhile, is considering a tilt at the Grand National with Rocky Creek after he finished a respectable second in the Argento Chase at Cheltenham on Saturday.

Runner-up in the Hennessy Gold Cup at Newbury on his seasonal reappearance, the eight-year-old was a 6-4 favourite to put himself in the Cheltenham Gold Cup picture in Saturday’s recognised trial.

This is a horse that came to prominence when winning the Albert Bartlett Novices’ Hurdle two years ago on Town Moor before landing the Doncaster Healthwatch Novices’ Chase in December 2012.

“Rocky Creek had a bit of a setback after the Hennessy and I think he might have needed the run on Saturday,” said Nicholls.

Nicky Henderson, the reigning champion trainer, has denied reports that his Lambourn yard has been hit by a virus.

He attributes his lack of runners this week to the desperately heavy ground conditions. As to his stable stars, he said: “My Tent [Or Yours] is fine, Bobs Worth is fine and Sprinter [Sacre] is going well.

“No trainer in this world will have 100 per cent of their horses right, especially when the weather has been horribly muggy and damp.”

Henderson did have two winners at Doncaster on Saturday and his Malton-born jockey Andrew Tinkler predicts a bright future for Side Step who won the concluding Bumper in the colours of the Queen who bred the mare.

“She has a fantastic attitude and stays well,” said Tinkler. “The penny dropped only in the final 150 yards and there’s improvement to come. She coped with the ground there, which was almost heavy by the final race, and might go for the mares’ final at Sandown in March.”

Rebecca Menzies remains a young trainer to watch as Ferdy Murphy’s former assistant claimed her fifth career winner at Ayr with Chavoy.

Based at the Brandsby stables of former Gold Cup-winning trainer Peter Beaumont, Chavoy is an ex-Murphy horse who started out well for his old trainer after arriving from France, although loss of form saw him start off at 16-1 yesterday.

Jockey Tony Kelly, the trainer’s partner, brought Chavoy into contention over the last few flights and drove him five lengths clear.

“It’s exciting, we’ve got a nice little bunch of horses,” said Menzies. “It couldn’t have gone better up until now. We’re lucky the gallops have been kept open but we’ve a lot of good ground horses for the spring.

“I thought he might need the run again as he blew up at Wetherby. I knew he’d stay and the tongue-tie helped. We wanted to go over fences after this, but he just might stay over hurdles for the time being. He is a chaser, though.”

Menzies says she is in talks about taking out a Flat licence as well.