Cheltenham: Faugheen to show class in Champion Hurdle

Whatever the sport, few things resonate more than an unbeaten record, conjuring as they do notions of invincibility often more make-believe than real but which for today at least Faugheen can continue to generate in the Stan James Champion Hurdle.

Amidst the torrent of pre-festival coverage about Willie Mullins’s overwhelming strength in depth, the specific matter of Faugheen’s individual potential has been comparatively overlooked even though an argument can be made the horse has it in him to be the best his trainer has ever had.

Since his point to point success in 2012, Faugheen is unbeaten in nine starts, including last year’s Neptune which at the time looked a mere prelude to a chasing career. A brilliantly impressive subsequent spin over two miles at Punchestown changed everything and during the following summer Mullins binned any notions of going over fences.

Instead a pair of starts this season, especially a Christmas Hurdle rout at Kempton, has only encouraged a view that in this ex-point to pointer with the physique of a Gold Cup horse but possessing singular speed, we could just be looking at something freakish.

Certainly with Faugheen it appears the best is yet to come and that, combined with his unbeaten lustre, surely makes him the most exciting prospect at this Cheltenham festival.

Critics point to the horse not yet having beaten a true Grade One two-miler yet but that Christmas Hurdle victory has got him an official rating inferior to only one other horse in today’s race, and that’s just a single pound behind his stable companion Hurricane Fly.

Any hurdler

Sentiment will flow like a flood if ‘the Fly’ wins a third championship. This is a horse to rank with any hurdler ever produced in Ireland and his three wins this season have lit up the winter. But even without the suspicion he’s never been over-fond of Cheltenham he still looks to have a lot on his plate to become the first 11 year old in 34 four years to win.

But perhaps the most significant decision in all of this has been Ruby Walsh’s cold-eyed call to discard the tried and trusted veteran superstar in favour of his young stable companion. He did that on a basis of there being much more to come from Faugheen.

And that’s a prospect that could force a redraw of the parameters of current hurdling excellence.

Since those parameters are already pretty exclusive, that’s a hell of an idea.

Reigning champ Jezki took his form to another level in winning last year, beating My Tent Or Yours and a palpably unlucky The New One who was brought to a near-halt by Our Conor’s fatal third-flight fall.

The immediate thought at the time was that The New One’s progress to the hurdling title had merely been postponed by a year. The former Neptune winner has a formidable turn of foot at his best and when his jumping holds up he is truly top class. And if he’s top class, Hurricane Fly is at another level again in terms of achievement.

In fairness, since he’s the world record Grade One winner, nothing can get close to the veteran’s CV, and should there be sufficient dig in the officially “good to soft” ground he still theoretically sets the standard for everything else.

Unique position

Certainly the idea that there might be a horse next door at home good enough for Walsh to desert him would previously have been thought ridiculous but that’s the unique position the Mullins team find themselves in. ‘The Fly’ my be the proven article but there’s no knowing how proven Faugheen may yet become.

He is aiming at a perfect-ten today, still at the upward curve stage of an unbeaten record where anything is possible and preserving that record doesn’t become a pressure.

Of course Cheltenham has a habit of punishing presumption and making it look ridiculous. That is its function as the ultimate test of jumping’s champions. Come 3.30 this afternoon it could punish again. Or it could witness one of those special moments when a special talent is confirmed. Invincibility is rare, and in the jumps game keeping an unbeaten record is next to impossible. But it could be worth betting Faugheen can keep it going for another bit, and maybe in some style too.