RACING:IF THE Hurricane Fly that completed a perfect five-from-five campaign which took him to 2011 horse-of-the-year honours shows up at Leopardstown for tomorrow's BHP Irish Champion Hurdle then the €110,000 feature will be little more than a coronation.
The intrigue though comes from the presence of that “if”. Ante-post odds of 4 to 7 suggest the Willie Mullins-trained superstar is all but nailed on to become just the fifth back-to-back winner of Ireland’s most prestigious hurdles prize, and yet there remain some niggly doubts.
Mullins admits pitch-perfect race fitness has to be a worry for a horse that hasn’t run in almost nine months.
There is also the residue of a few weeks on the run up to Christmas when the champion trainer’s reluctance to comment on running plans for Hurricane Fly led to speculation that all might not be well.
A racecourse gallop earlier this month was reassuring on that score but a race is always the ultimate test and in that light it’s significant that Mullins has exercised his claim on Paul Townend to ride his second-string Thousand Stars.
That means Davy Russell comes in for the mount on Unaccompanied, the mare that beat Thousand Stars at Christmas and with whom Townsend has built up an impressive record.
Townend, of course, knows Hurricane Fly better than most, riding him regularly at home, and being beaten just once on the racecourse. The chances of him being released to figure out a way of beating his old pal were always going to be slim but the importance Mullins is putting on this weekend’s feature can be gauged by how his number two jockey is very definitely on his number two contender.
Mullins yesterday was not underplaying the task his number one faces. “He did a lovely bit of work in Leopardstown and all his work after that has been good – fingers crossed that he stays right. He’d been disappointing me and having a good workout on grass just put him right,” he said.
“This is probably one of his stiffest tests for his first run, but he likes Leopardstown and he’s been giving us all the right signs, so we just hope he can transfer that on race day,” Mullins added.
Unaccompanied has been a revelation generally since being switched to jumping but looked to take a significant step up when winning that Christmas Grade One over the same “inner” track over which the race is run tomorrow.
She gets a mares allowance from the other four runners but on official figures still comes out a long way behind Hurricane Fly.
Dermot Weld acknowledges the scale of her task but believes the experience of taking on a real top-notcher like Hurricane Fly, who is after all officially rated the best hurdler since Istabraq, will be the acid test of Unaccompanied’s own championship credentials.
She did appear to get the run of the race against Thousand Stars a month ago, however, and since he is demonstrably inferior to his illustrious stable companion, it should pay to stick with the tried-and-trusted champ rather than the up-and-comer.
Sunday’s other Grade One, the Frank Ward Arkle, sees Blackstairmountain and the English hope Notus De La Tour renew rivalry from Christmas. However, both could be trumped by Flemenstar.
Trainer Peter Casey rates the seven-year-old as his best ever horse and there was a lot to like about the way he batted away the persistent challenge of Lambro on his last start at Naas.
The novice hurdle looks a blinding contest for a Grade Two and Make Your Mark’s big reputation will get a thorough workout while Thomas Edison, purchased by JP McManus after a bumper win here, can score in the opener.
