Hurricane Fly Profile

The County Carlow yard-trained horse, Hurricane Fly reigned supreme in the Royal Bond Hurdle at Fairyhouse in November 2008, a feat the five-year old gelding repeated at Leopardstown a month later in another Grade One horse race, this time the Paddypower.com Future Champions Novice Hurdle, his second successive Grade One victory. He followed this up with a resounding win in the Evening Herald Champion Novice Hurdle in April 2009, were he pipped the much fancied Go Native to the finishing post by some 10 lengths.

Hurricane Fly Being Groomed For 2010 Cheltenham Festival Victory

Another Willie Mullins trained horse (and stable-mate to ) to be talked up as a potential Champion Hurdler, there's certainly a body of evidence building to testify to this notion, with Hurricane Fly having proved his mettle on both good and heavy ground over the 2-mile and over mark over the season just gone. This follows hot on the hooves of successful outings on the flat back in his native France, where he was quick to be noted as something of a classy performer. One of the two primary wins was the listed race at Saint-Cloud where he finished ahead of subsequent Champions Stake victor, Literato and subsequent Arlington Million winner, Spirit One over what was deemed soft ground.

Although not bred specifically for the National Hunt, being sired by Montjeu ensured that the jumps are very much in Hurricane Fly's blood, whether by accident or design. What really marks him out as one to watch with even more interest as we head into the 2009-2010 National Hunt season is the lightning quick turn of foot he readily shows when it matters most, allied to a consistently high cruising speed.

Internet Betting On Willie Mullin's Trained Hurricane Fly In 2009-2010

The only regret of an otherwise scintillating 18 months racing was Willie Mullin's decision to withdraw Hurricane Fly from the 2009 Cheltenham Festival due to him convalescing from a bone splint at the time of arguably one of the most important dates on the National Hunt calendar. A horse that was generating considerable interest in the ante-post marketplace prior to the yard ultimately deciding to pull one of their undoubted stars out.

However, the disappointment of that decision is set to be exorcised and well and truly put behind the ambitious yard as Hurricane Fly is geared up to appear in the 2 mile Champion Hurdle in at the 2010 Cheltenham Festival next March, where he's placed on average at 3 - 1 with SportingBet, Boylesports, Paddy Power and William Hill amongst other online bookies.