Horse Racing: Hurricane Fly dominates the field at Fairyhouse
The Bar One Racing Hatton’s Grace Hurdle event kicked off at the Fairyhouse racecourse on Wednesday. It was a Grade I event that was run over a distance of 2 miles and 4 furlongs and was contended by a field of racehorses of age four and above.
The champion colt Hurricane Fly gave a spectacular victory for a second time in a Grade I meeting against his arch rival Solwhit. He is enjoying his second consecutive Grade I victory that has also made him a hot favourite for the Stan James Champion Hurdle.
He is now being considered at 7-2 by his sponsors.
His jockey Paul Townend and trainer Willie Mullins are more than pleased to see their second colt claim a Grade I event, after their horse Zaidpour stole the show at Fairyhouse earlier.
Solwhit had earlier clinched victory in his seasonal debut at the Punchestown racecourse when he gave a remarkable performance in the Dobbins & Madigans Hurdle. He was the runner up to Hurricane Fly under the jockey Davy Russell and the pair finished just
a length and a half behind the winner.
In a post-race interview, Hurricane Fly’s trainer was reported as saying, “That was a good effort and hopefully there’s more to come, fitness-wise. I thought he was a bit free early on, but when Paul gave him a breather at the third last he clicked into
gear.”
The trainer was glowing with joy as he went on to say, “We’ll see how he comes out of the race, but the likelihood is he’ll go to Leopardstown for the December Festival Hurdle on December 29th and then the Irish Champion and on to Cheltenham.”
Atimatov and Oscar Dan started off from the first and the second post respectively, meanwhile the strongest competitors Solwhit and Hurricane Fly went off from the fifth and sixth positions respectively. This order was maintained by the colts almost throughout
the race with Atimatov setting the pace ahead of all the other horses. He also managed to hold off his rivals from turning for home in a sprint to the line.
Hurricane Fly took over the field towards the end of the race under his enthusiastic jockey who stormed to claim the Hurdle event. While the second place finisher was Solwhit, the third place was bagged by Voler La Vedette, who was sent out as an 8-1 favourite.
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