More than a solo performer

Interview/Conor O'Dwyer: Brian O'Connor talks to a confident Conor O'Dwyer who is aiming to complete a hat-trick of Champion Hurdle successes on Hardy Eustace

After two inspired Champion Hurdle winning rides, the general assumption is Conor O'Dwyer isn't likely to get away with it again. No solos in front today for Hardy Eustace and his veteran jockey. The others will be wise to him this time.

Won't they? The snag with that is they knew what O'Dwyer was going to do last year as well and it still didn't stop Hardy Eustace emerging best in an epic finish.

The rider, who will be 40 later in the month, gave his weigh-room colleagues a master class in subtlety. Instead of going faster to try to shake them off, he took his foot off the gas, let everything else queue up behind him, and then gathered momentum for the hill in his own good time.

On a summer Friday night in Kilbeggan it would have been beautiful to watch. In one of the biggest races of the year, it was inspired. Hardy Eustace's preparation for the hat-trick hasn't been smooth but Tony McCoy and the rest will still be watching him like a hawk this afternoon.

If O'Dwyer is worried about that he hides it very well, partly because he's confident his old partner is coming back to his best at the right time, but also because he feels the solo theory has been overplayed.

"Everyone says I've got two freebies. Okay, the first year was definitely a freebie because of the price he was and his main danger, Rooster Booster, was a hold-up horse. But it wasn't to the same extent 12 months ago. I got a good start and they followed me. And it is still difficult for a horse to make the running at Cheltenham and still have enough for the end," he says.

The solo theory is also unfair to a horse which came from off the pace to score in the 2003 SunAlliance and which is only one race away from emulating Istabraq's festival record. Hardy Eustace is far from the one-trick pony some would have you believe.

"Tactically a lot is going to depend on what McCoy is going to do on Brave Inca. If he opts to make it then we will sit in. I don't have to make it at all. It's simply a question of pace. If they bomb down to the first couple, I'll happily sit in forever. If they don't then we'll think again," O'Dwyer declares.

His confidence has been boosted by Hardy Eustace's recent well-being. The memory of that AIG flop is almost banished on the strength of some very decent workouts. Certainly his jockey believes the champ is off the floor in a big way.

"He wasn't a very sick horse after the AIG. He didn't miss much time and it's probably not as much of a factor as some people think. In fact, he put in a smashing bit of work at Leopardstown recently and Dessie (Hughes) is pleased with him.

Dessie's a very straight fellah and would tell me if he wasn't happy with the horse," O'Dwyer adds.

The jockey acknowledges Brave Inca is a worthy favourite on this season's form but there is also the bald evidence of last year when Hardy Eustace was superior. With the AIG not a form factor the reality remains that the favourite still has ground to make up on the champion.

"On his best form this season Brave Inca is the one to beat. Arcalis is obviously a decent beast but he is basically still a novice and Howard Johnson's horses haven't been in the best of form. Macs Joy is probably better going into the festival this time compared to last year but he still has a lot to make up," O'Dwyer reasons.

"But I can still remember from last year how my fellah was really running at the finish. I had to run him into the corner at the end of the track to pull him up. He wasn't finished by any means," he adds.

The same could be said for Hardy Eustace's jockey. Three career festival victories have come in a pair of Champion Hurdles and the 1996 Gold Cup. O'Dwyer has had more extensive books of festival rides in the past but the quality remains high.

"Basically I've got Hardy Eustace and War Of Attrition. But if you offered me two rides to have at the festival it would be those two. It's not bad," he grins.

Like Hardy Eustace himself it's certainly good enough to encourage thoughts of win number four at the festival.