When: Today, 15:20
Distance: 2m 110yds
Prize money: £210,000 (winner)
Reigning champion: Hurricane Fly (11/4 fav)
Latest odds: 10/11 Hurricane Fly; 9/2 Binocular; 7/1 Zarkandar; 9/1 Rock On Ruby; 12/1 Oscars Well; 20/1 bar
A NEW CHAPTER in the brilliant story of Hurricane Fly will be written today, for better or for worse, when he defends his Champion Hurdle title at Prestbury Park.
Win, and Willie Mullins’s eight-year-old will join a list of Irish hurdling legends — Hatton’s Grace, Monksfield, Istabraq, Hardy Eustace — who have won the race on two or more occasions. Lose, and his sparkling record will have its first rather sizable black mark.
The stats make for impressive reading. The son of the legendary Montjeu has only lost once since making his Punchestown debut in May 2008 and has won 10 Grade One contests over the last four seasons.
But anybody who knows anything about horse-racing will tell you that a horse is only as good as his current form, and the fact that Hurricane Fly has only had one outing since holding off Peddlers Cross last year will give punters slight reason for pause.
Mullins never seemed to be 100% happy with the horse’s early season work, and cancelled a number of scheduled appearances before finally sending him out for the BHP Irish Champion Hurdle in January. There, he looked every bit his best, winning effortlessly by six-and-half-lengths from Oscars Well, who reopposes this afternoon.
The market suggests that there is no reason for concern with punters wading in at odds of 10/11, and he will go off a heavily-supported favourite to retain his crown this afternoon.
Binocular, left, holds off Rock On Ruby to win the Christmas Hurdle (Daniel Hambury/EMPICS Sport)
His main rival is 2010 champion and last year’s ante-post favourite Binocular, who was forced out of last year’s showdown with an injury in the run-up to the Festival. After disappointing on his return from injury in the latter stages of last season, he looked to be coming back to his best when he held off Rock On Ruby by a neck in the Christmas Hurdle at Kempton.
A minor wind operation after Christmas looks to have helped, and he was a very easy winner at Wincanton in February when he beat Celestial Halo by six lengths. The calibre of horse which he faces today is considerably higher though, and he will need to show further improvement to win. Still, this is a horse who has stayed up the hill under pressure before and, barring an upset, will be there in the shake-up.
Rock On Ruby was a short-head second to First Lieutenant in the Neptune last year, and the form line from the Christmas Hurdle shows that he is worthy of his place in this classy field. That aside, his most impressive performance came in a Newbury handicap in November, although he may have been underestimated by the handicapper on that occasion.
He has solid each-way claims as does Nicholls’s other contender, Zarkandar, winner of the Triumph Hurdle last year. His record of four unbeaten runs in graded company deserves respect and further improvement should see him feature among the places.
Overturn is a fiesty contender who needed just seven days’ recovery after winning the Ascot Hurdle before bouncing back to beat Binocular in the Fighting Fifth. He should find a couple too good here today, but never knows when to give up and could battle on longer than expected.
Of the other Irish contenders, Jessie Harrington’s Oscars Well will need to convince punters that he is better than his disappointing third at Leopardstown at Christmas. He does have his runner-up finish to Hurricane Fly in the Irish Champion Hurdle to show, but it is difficult to know if the winner ever needed to get out of third gear that day.
Zaidpour has three Grade Two wins under his belt since finishing seventh in the Supreme Novices’ last year, though all of those runs came on soft ground at best. The course has been watered and at a generous 33/1, some will see decent place claims.
TheScore.ie says: It’s anything but a vintage renewal and difficult to look outside the top two in the betting for a winner. If HURRICANE FLY lives up to the promise of his only run this season, he should be good enough to hold off Binocular and Rock On Ruby.
