Hurricane Fly impressive at Leopardstown

Hurricane Fly won the Irish Champion Hurdle | Photo: Skysports

Hurricane Fly impressively won the BHP Insurance Irish Champion Hurdle, thrashing four rivals on his much-delayed seasonal reappearance at Leopardstown on Sunday. 

The Willie Mullins-trained 4-5 favorite recorded back to back victories in the Grade One and looked as good as ever in winning.

Thousand Stars did his best to fight off his stable companion in the straight, but Hurricane Fly went by him and pulled clear after the final flight to win by six-and-a-half lengths. Oscars Well rallied to finish second and deny Mullins a one-two, with Unaccompanied finishing fourth, a place behind Thousand Stars.

After an encouraging display, Hurricane Fly will now be preserved ahead of the defence of his Champion Hurdle crown at Cheltenham in March.

Mullins said: “He completely surprised me. It must be as good a performance as he’s ever produced. They went a right good gallop. Ruby said he wasn’t travelling in the ground early on, but when he gave him a squeeze three out he came alive. I was a bit anxious about the ground and I was a bit anxious because he was very quiet beforehand, but maybe he’s just maturing.”

“Normally it takes a couple of lads to lead him round the paddock because he can get a bit tight. We had been a bit worried before Cheltenham last year how he would handle everything, including the parade, but he went round like an old handicapper today.”

“I was a little concerned he would flop as my first two runners disappointed. I was surprised how fit he appeared. We’ll keep a lid on him between now and Cheltenham.”

Hurricane Fly is now best priced evens for the Champion Hurdle at Cheltenham Festival online betting odds in March.

Elsworth: Somersby ideal for Ryanair Chase

Jockey Dominic Elsworth feels the Ryanair Chase will be Somersby’s ideal race at the Cheltenham Festival despite winning in the Victor Chandler Chase at Ascot last Saturday.

Henrietta Knight’s eight-year-old also has the two-mile Queen Mother Champion Chase as a possible objective at the Festival, but his regular jockey believes the two miles and five furlongs of the Ryanair will be suited best.

"I just feel over two miles he can miss a jump out here and there," said Elsworth, who was securing his first Grade One winner at the weekend.

"It (the Ryanair) would be definitely more up his street. He does stay, and he's got the pace to lay it up to them over two and a half miles."

"He can miss a fence now and again and obviously Ascot being a bigger, longer, galloping track definitely played to his strengths He's as good as anything else in the Ryanair," Elsworth told At The Races.

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Blazing Tempo aims Ryanair Chase after Fairyhouse win

Blazing Tempo, winner of the Galway Plate in July, proved too strong for Noble Prince, odds-on favorite in the Grade Two Normans Grove Chase at Fairyhouse on Sunday.

Ruby Walsh brought Blazing Tempo (9-4) into the race just before the turn for home and denies Noble Prince by three-quarters of a length.

Blazing Tempo and Ruby Walsh (far side) jump the last fence alongside Noble Prince
(© Healy Racing Photos)

Willie Mullins's mare has been running regularly since her win at Galway in the summer, but her improvement shows little sign of tailing off, and she is now quoted by bookmakers for both the Ryanair Chase and the Queen Mother Champion Chase at the Cheltenham Festival William Hill in March. 

Mullins added: “She is holding her form and that was nice to win, given the ground. We had the choice of coming here or going to the Boylesports Hurdle but rather than take on a handicap with 20 runners, we decided to take our chance today even though the ground might not be as suitable.”

"She's an iron mare and has been on the go since Galway and been doing it in all sorts of ground. She'll get an entry for the Ryanair Chase but I'm not sure if she's good enough."

Sprinter Sacre could run in Game Spirit Chase at Newbury

Nicky Henderson on Wednesday announced that 2012 Arkle Chase favourite Sprinter Sacre could run in the Game Spirit Chase at Newbury in February rather than the more obvious route of the Kingmaker Chase at Warwick as part of his preparation for the Cheltenham Festival.

A winner of the Wayward Lad at Kempton on December 27, Sprinter Sacre is as short as 9-4 for the festival race on the back of his 16-length defeat of Peddlers Cross and he is also one of the leading lights for the Cheltenham Festival horse racing betting.

Options at Warwick and Doncaster against fellow novices had been mooted, but Henderson believes he would learn plenty from taking on two horses in the Grade Two event.

Henderson told Racing UK: "It has actually crossed our minds that we could switch Sprinter Sacre from Warwick to the Game Spirit. Experience is what he needs. Going around on his own isn't going to teach him anything."

"The Doncaster race clashes with Cheltenham and the Warwick one we'll be at Newbury that day. It fits in quite well and I like the idea. It was actually Barry's (Geraghty) idea, probably to make sure he could ride him! But when I thought about it, it was a better idea than I'd originally thought."

Lynch drove Jack the Bus to victory at Navan

12-year-old veteran chaser Jack the Bus showed that he still has an appetite for the game when winning the feature race at Navan, the Foxrock Handicap Chase despite giving Andrew Lynch a couple of hairy moments with blunders at the final two fences.

Trained by Dubliner Peter Casey, who enjoyed a significant success last week with promising novice chaser Flemenstar, the 2010 Troytown Chase winner lumped top weight to victory to stamp his class on proceedings.

Ridden by Andrew Lynch, the veteran survived a bad blunder at the second-last fence to come home three lengths clear of Four Chimneys. Jack the Bus (7-2) had finished seventh when trying to retain his Troytown title and will now head for the Thyestes Chase at Gowran on January 26th.

"I was raging over it," Casey said. "The ground was too fast and the lads at the track wanted to withdraw him but they couldn't contact me. He will go for the Thyestes at Gowran now."

Barry Geraghty escaped unscathed from a nasty incident when the 11-4 favourite Kakagh dived out through the wing at the fence in front of the stands on the first circuit.

Oscar Dan Dan (9-1), who is now with Tony Martin, opened his account over fences in the Irish Stallion Farms EBF Beginners Chase after Willie Mullins' Bagber (8-11 favourite) made a bad mistake two from home that stopped him in his tracks.

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Raikkonen is back on track after crash setback

Kimi Raikkonen's return to fitness can now resume in full in the wake of his snowmobile crash last month. The 2007 World Champion tweaked his left wrist during an event in Austria. 

In the meantime, Kimi Raikkonen will prepare for his Formula One comeback with some laps in a two-year-old Renault race car in Spain this month before official testing starts in February, the Finn’s Lotus team said on Monday.

“We can now confirm that Kimi Raikkonen will be completing some mileage in the team’s R30 car at Valencia on 23rd/24th January,” Lotus, formerly Renault, said on their twitter feed.

Raikkonen, the 2007 World champion with Ferrari, has not driven an F1 car since he left the sport for the world rally championship after the 2009 season-ender in Abu Dhabi.

The first pre-season test of the year will start at the Jerez circuit, in Southern Spain, on February 7 when Lotus will have their new car on track.

Under cost-saving regulations that limit testing, Raikkonen will not be able to drive the latest equipment until Jerez and nor will he be able to use the Pirelli tyres that were introduced last year.

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Murray defeats Dolgopolov for Brisbane International title

Andy Murray achieved his 22^nd ATP World Tour title on Sunday at Brisbane International final by beating third seed Alexandr Dolgopolov of Ukraine 6-1, 6-3 in front of his new coach, former World No. 1 Ivan Lendi.

Andy Murray holds up the Roy Emerson Trophy

“It's been good. I played much better the last three matches. I could have easily lost the second round against [Gilles] Muller, but managed to fight my way through. The doubles [with Marcos Baghdatis] helped me as well. I felt I was moving well towards the end of the week,” he said. “I've just got to get myself rested and get myself 100 per cent for the Aussie.”

“I'm a year wiser, at least, with a year's more experience. I think I've improved a few things in my game, too. I still played pretty good last year in Australia and I can play great tennis again,” he said.

“I need to show up and give 100 per cent every match. If someone plays a great match to beat me, that happens. But if I play well, like I did this week, I give myself a good chance.”

Top seed Murray earned $74,370 in prize money and 250 South African Airways 2012 ATP Ranking points, while No. 15-ranked Dolgopolov was presented a cheque for $39,165 and 150 points.

He will spend the next week in Melbourne preparing for the Australian Open, which starts January 16.

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Image courtesy of  The Guardian.

Top golfers missing on PGA Tour opener

The Hyundai Tournament of Champions held at Kapalua’s Plantation Course in Maui is the first tournament of the 2012 season. With the lush setting, it would seem likely that many of golf’s top players would make their way to the island for the tournament. But, that is not the case.

The tournament is open to all golfers who won a tournament on tour in the previous season. Despite the loose qualifications, several big names are choosing to skip the event to be better prepared for the rest of the season.

Of the 11 players who aren't at Kapalua, most have a valid reason. Major champions from last year Rory McIlroy, Darren Clarke and Charl Schwartzel are all absent from the field. Big names Phil Mickelson and Tiger Woods will not be playing, either. Mickelson hasn't made his way to the tournament since 2001, while Woods has been a no-show since 2005. 

Additionally, top eligible golfers Luke Donald, Adam Scott, Martin Kaymer, Dustin Johnson, Justin Rose, Brandt Snedeker and Fredrik Jacobson will not be in Hawaii this weekend. In all, only about two-thirds of qualified golfers will be on hand for the tournament.

Some of the top golfers who do plan on participating include Steve Stricker, the No. 6 player in the world, and Webb Simpson, ranked No. 10. Other potential favorites will be 2011 FedExCup winner Bill Haas, 2011 PGA Championship winner Keegan Bradley, No. 12-ranked Nick Watney and the tournament's 2011 winner, Jonathan Byrd.

For now, there are 28 players who chose to begin their season on Maui which will kick off January 5 to 9. It's not a bad place to start. The winner of the tournament receives $1.12 million and 500 FedEx Cup points. 

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