RACING/PUNCHESTOWN FESTIVAL REPORT:THE MERCURIAL influence of the late stallion Montjeu usually occupies the minds of trainers dealing with Derby contenders but Willie Mullins could spend the summer doing something similar with his top-hurdler Hurricane Fly. The 4 to 11 favourite duly returned to winning ways when completing a hat-trick of Rabobank Champion Hurdle victories at Punchestown last evening but afterwards Mullins didn't quite have the carefree air of a man who'd just saddled a second Grade One clean-sweep at the festival.
Hurricane Fly’s usual exuberance was replaced by a more workmanlike quality as he fought his way clear of stable companions Zaidpour and Thousand Stars.
The upside was a return to winning ways after failing to defend his Cheltenham title six weeks previously: but a downside was an absence of the swagger that characterised his Irish Champion Hurdle success in January.
“We’ve spent all our time trying to settle him and maybe we’ve done it too well. Going past the post first time I wasn’t happy. I think his class won him the race. He didn’t like the ground. But maybe he’s maturing and we can ride him in future like a normal horse,” said Mullins who later won the bumper with Glens Melody.
If that’s the positive view, then the champion trainer is much too shrewd an individual not to at least consider another negative possibility, and that revolves around Hurricane Fly’s sire.
Montjeu died last month after leaving a legacy full of brilliant but occasionally mentally brittle champions. They include Camelot who next weekend is set to try to win the 2,000 Guineas and is favourite for the Derby. But with that brilliance can come a quirkiness. “The ground was very testing when he won at Leopardstown. And he had a hard race at Cheltenham. Is he just thinking about it?” Mullins wondered. “He is a Montjeu and they like to think about it. But winning today should help him.”
Bookmaker reaction was to leave Hurricane Fly unchanged at a general 5 to 1 to reclaim the Cheltenham crown next year.
Ruby Walsh was also relatively underwhelmed with Hurricane Fly’s performance but doesn’t doubt his innate class. “Halfway down the back I was kind of thinking to myself, ‘I wouldn’t mind being on Zaidpour’ but pure raw ability and guts has won it for him,” he said. “I wouldn’t say he’s anywhere near the horse that won in Leopardstown . . . He was lethargic in Cheltenham, he was lethargic again. But pure ability has won him the day.
The Mullins-Walsh team were out of luck in the Cathal Ryan Champion Novice Hurdle as Felix Yonger could finish only fifth behind Dedigout who got the better of a good finish and kept alive Michael O’Leary’s hopes of winning the owners’ championship today. “I was looking at the three-mile race earlier in the week but the boss man (O’Leary) said two and a half would be far enough in that ground so fair play to him,” said trainer Tony Martin.
Barry Geraghty hit the Grade One scoreboard on Lucky William who got the better of Blackstairmountain from the last in the Ryanair Novice Chase. He doubled up on Oscara Dara who led home a Nicky Henderson one-two in the novice hurdle.
The races lost at this week’s Punchestown will be rearranged after Horse Racing Ireland confirmed an extra meeting for the track on Tuesday week. A meeting scheduled for Punchestown on the Wednesday means back-to-back fixtures at which the cancelled races will be run off.
