Hurricane Fly to storm home in Champion
THREE starts ago, there may have been enough evidence to doubt whether Hurricane Fly still had the ammunition to win another Champion.
Not any more. Not with Darlan out of the picture.
In November, the ill-fated Go Native appeared ready to throw down a serous challenge to Willie Mullins' contender in the Grade One Morgiana Hurdle at Punchestown before coming to grief.
But Hurricane Fly, bounced back in convincing style with consecutive wins at Leopardstown, the latest when accounting for Thousand Stars and Binocular to show that he was back to his best. For me, the 2011 winner is the class runner of the field and the key issue of the ground will play strongly on his favour.
While his trainer Mullins is never one to be over confident, his relaxed mood last night spoke volumes.
The Irish trainer said: "He travelled well, he's in great form and I'm happy with conditions.
"I haven't even looked at the declarations. I'm just happy with how everything has gone with our horse so far.
"We're looking forward to the race."
My money is on the track riding slower than soft today and, of all the horses in the feature race, Hurricane Fly will have no trouble coping with the tricky conditions.
He has never been the easiest horse to train and Mullins conceded that he was not quite right last year.
This time round he has the Hurricane cherry-ripe and certainly thinks he has another big race in him.
Also don't rule out Zarkandar, Paul Nicholls' hope, who has hardly put a hoof wrong around Cheltenham. He won the Triumph Hurdle in 2011 and ran fifth behind Rock On Ruby last year in this race before turning the tables on that horse in the International Hurdle back at Prestbury Park in December.