Where it all started
The 2008 Future Champions Novices’ Hurdle couldn’t have been upgraded from a Grade 2 to a Grade 1 race at a better time. Since the first running in 1996, a few solid hurdlers passed through the ranks, but in 2008 a young four-year-old gelding called Hurricane Fly lined up for the Leopardstown contest. The resulting performance would change the two mile hurdling division for the next seven years.
Hurricane Fly only won by a neck on his hurdling debut at Fairyhouse the previous month, but the race was run at a crawl and we didn’t get to see what this highly regarded French import could do with a decent gallop to aim at. We found out on the 27th of December 2008. He was hugely impressive, quickening readily clear of his rivals, recording a Racing Post Rating of 151 in the process - the kind of rating reserved for special novice hurdling talent.
Go Native - who came second to Hurricane Fly that day - would go on to win the Supreme Novices’ Hurdle at Cheltenham the following March. Hurricane Fly beat Go Native by ten lengths at Leopardstown, but he was forced to miss the same race at the Festival.
A now five-year-old Hurricane Fly closed out his novice season in 2009 with a career best Grade 1 victory at Punchestown. He returned to action at the same track that November, where he finished a fairly tame 3rd behind Solwhit. It was a disappointing effort, but he suffered ligament damage and once again was forced to miss the Cheltenham Festival the following March. Fitness was a concern when he returned to the track in April, but he managed to exact his revenge over Solwhit in a pulsating finish to the 2010 Punchestown Champion Hurdle.
The Glory Years
As the Autumn of 2010 approached, the six-year-old Hurricane Fly and a growing legion of fans harboured hopes of the horse enjoying his coming out season in the two mile hurdling division. He was due a bit of luck and a clean run to Spring, having missed the last two Cheltenham Festivals. En route to the 2011 Festival, he beat Solwhit three times in a row - twice at Leopardstown - confirming his superiority over a fierce rival and setting up a trip across the pond for the Champion Hurdle.
At this point in Hurricane Fly’s career, he was still awaiting that big breakout victory, but there were growing elements to his racing style which made stardom an inevitability. The horse had a unique liking to jumping, in fact he was outstandingly fast and efficient over hurdles. Hurricane Fly wasn’t the biggest racehorse in the world - not tall, not flash. But it was that compactness made him an elite hurdler. He didn’t have the size for chasing. Fast, low and nimble, Hurricane Fly would spy the hurdles in front of him from a long way out and strain every sinew to measure them perfectly almost every time.
In Ireland, Hurricane Fly was an established Daddy of the two mile hurdling division entering 2011. Injury hold-ups seemed a thing of the past and all roads were leading to a pilgrimage across the pond to Cheltenham in March.
At the time, there were three chief threats trained in the UK. Oscar Whisky for Nicky Henderson, Menorah for Philip Hobbs and the improving, unbeaten Peddler’s Cross for Donald McCain. Hurricane Fly was sired by Montjeu, a stallion with a terrible record with Festival runners leading up to the 2011 event. His breeding was regularly cited as a reason he couldn’t possibly win at Cheltenham. Of course, his unique talent would readily override those concerns, for all he was never truly at his best at the track. In any case, Hurricane Fly went off a £3.40 favourite on the day and duly won, edging out Peddler’s Cross in an excellent finish between the pair to land his first Champion Hurdle.
The following Autumn, Hurricane Fly returned with a bang, winning the 2012 Irish Champion Hurdle without turning a hair. Once again, the horse proved his true love for the Leopardstown turf. It was his only tune up run for Cheltenham that season though and come March, he wasn’t quite at his best, succumbing to the efforts of Rock On Ruby.
The Comeback
For some, the loss was a reason to cast doubt over Hurricane Fly’s future. They needn’t have worried. Hurricane Fly ended the campaign was a viciously impressive win at the Punchestown Festival, before returning later that Autumn with a 12 length drubbing over Captain Cee Bee in the Morgiana Hurdle at Punchestown. Next up - Leopardstown. His next two starts there in December 2012 and January 2013 would see him go off at very prohibitive prices. Competition on the home front was noticeably dry, but that didn’t stop him being very impressive on the eye and racking up top class performance figures.
Hurricane Fly would next meet Rock On Ruby once again and he went off as favourite to exact his revenge on the 2012 Champion Hurdle winner. As they approached four hurdles out in the 2013 Champion Hurdle, Ruby Walsh was having to niggle and get after Hurricane Fly - he never did travel particularly strongly at Cheltenham like he did at Leopardstown or Punchestown. But he enjoyed a perfect prep, was on song that day and he kept finding for pressure, enough to put Rock On Ruby to the sword and plenty to regain his Champion Hurdle crown, the first to regain it since Comedy Of Errors in 1975.
Hurricane Fly followed up with another facile victory at the Punchestown Festival the following month, before following the same path again in the Autumn of 2013 and early 2014. He beat the emerging Jezki at Leopardstown in December, before humbling up and coming star Our Conor at the same track once again in January. The latter was his fourth win in the BHP Insurance Irish Champion Hurdle, matching the great Istabraq’s record in the race.
Willie Mullins’ star hurdler was ten years old now and perhaps beginning to slow a tad. He was beaten by Jezki at both Cheltenham and Punchestown. Understandably, many thought we’d struggle to see that brilliant spark again from the horse. Of course, Hurricane Fly had other ideas for the 2014-2015 National Hunt season. He returned in the Morgiana once again come November, but this time Jezki was the favourite. Turning for home it was either horse's race to win, but Hurricane Fly flew the last and stayed on well to bring the house down at Punchestown. Once again, this horse had overcome loss and adversity to prove his class and position as the number one hurdler in the country.
After his 11th birthday, a return to his beloved Leopardstown was on the cards for Hurricane Fly come January. He would attempt to beat Istabraq’s record in the race and secure a remarkable fifth win. Tension - as always when Hurricane Fly ran - was high. Once again it was between Jezki and “The Fly” as they hurtled down toward the final flight. Jezki dived at the obstacle and got it all wrong. Hurricane Fly, as usual, didn’t. Rabbit-like, the old boy pinged the last and stayed on powerfully, the words: “This is an un-be-lieeeevable racehorse” ringing out from commentator Des Scahill as this legend of a hurdler secured his place as one of the true greats in front of an adoring crowd.
A Leopardstown Legend
Hurricane Fly was good everywhere, but Leopardstown was where he really shone. There is a turning sharpness to the Leopardstown track configuration which always seemed to perk him up and keep him “on it”. He made the place his fortress. Indeed, Hurricane Fly performed at Leopardstown ten times and was never beaten there. All in Grade 1 races. Both Ruby Walsh and Paul Townend played a huge role in the saddle during a remarkable career, while the job Willie Mullins did presiding over Hurricane Fly’s seven year period of dominance was nothing short of staggering. The horse had to overcome injury, losses, all manner of questions and doubt. Mullins didn’t get it right every time, but he got it right where it mattered and trained Hurricane Fly to produce some spell-binding performances over the years.
He always showed up. Even in defeat, Hurricane Fly was never disgraced. But his modus operandi was “Winning” and few, if any, two mile hurdlers were as good at it as he was. What made Hurricane Fly special was an unmistakable air of excitement in the racing community every single time he ran.
The slick jumping, the trademark explosive turn of foot, the toughness in battle where required, all added up to make Hurricane Fly “Must see” television. Rarely before, not since and perhaps never again will there be a two mile hurdler in Ireland with such an infectious profile.
Hurricane Fly is one of a kind. At the age of 15, the horse now spends his time kicking around with the likes of Beef Or Salmon and Kicking King at the Irish National Stud. A winning machine on the track, his legacy will linger on for decades to come. For his fans, his absence from the scene was felt in the following season or two. It wasn’t that “something” was missing, it was “Hurricane Fly is missing” and his retirement in 2015 left a quality gap in the division that is yet to be filled.
You will always find a few top class hurdlers floating around at both sides of the Irish Sea, but none of them will ever be able to match the fanfare, excitement and class of Hurricane Fly. He was uniquely gifted, fiercely competitive and physically brilliant.
He was better than your favourite hurdler’s favourite hurdler. Probably better than Istabraq. Probably the greatest of all time.
