Hurricane Fly vs Jezki - The Story So Far

This year’s Irish Champion Hurdle, like last year’s, sees the clash of Hurricane Fly and Jezki, two Champion Hurdlers who have met six times to date. With a record of 9 wins from 9 starts at Leopardstown, Hurricane Fly holds favouritism for today’s contest, having beaten Jezki in both clashes this season despite being beaten by Jessica Harrington’s 7-year-old at both the Cheltenham and Punchestown festivals at the end of last season.

Hurricane Fly won the Champion Hurdle in Cheltenham in
both 2011 and 2013

Hurricane Fly has, since 2008, been a superstar of the Irish National Hunt racing scene, a sensation from the start. He won eight of his first nine starts in Ireland before travelling to Cheltenham for the first time in 2011 to win the Champion Hurdle. Following this, he returned across the Irish Sea to Punchestown to win the Champion Hurdle there, and was campaigned the following season to win the Irish, Cheltenham and Punchestown Champion Hurdles – successful in both of the Irish races but beaten into 3^rd at Cheltenham.

He had a busier season in 2012/13, beginning by winning the Morgiana Hurdle at Punchestown, followed by the Grade 1 Hurdle at Leopardstown’s Christmas meeting, then the Irish, Cheltenham and Punchestown Champion Hurdles - anything the great Fly touched turned to gold.

Mullins followed the same plan the following year with his sensational Champion Hurdler. He began by winning the Morgiana Hurdle, easing past minimal opposition. Then, he moved on to what was by now known as the Ryanair Hurdle. This was where he clashed with Jezki for the first time.

The Fly and Jezki have come head-to-head 6 times to date

At that stage, Jezki had finished 3^rd in the previous season’s Supreme and followed up with a win at the Punchestown Festival, before winning on both of his starts prior to meeting with Hurricane Fly. Considered the main opposition to Mullins’ charge (along with Our Conor), Jezki ran a respectable race but finished 2 ½ lengths behind Hurricane Fly.

This was their first meeting, but it was to be less than a month before they would run together again, in last year’s renewal of this race. This time, Jezki’s finishing position of 4^th of 4 doesn’t do his respectable run justice, but Hurricane Fly relished the cut in the ground and stayed on well to assert his dominance over his emerging challenger.

Jezki took the Champion Hurdle crown in 2014

However, it was when they reached the most important contest that their roles reversed – the Champion Hurdle on the first day of the Cheltenham Festival saw Hurricane Fly just scraping favouritism from The New One, My Tent Or Yours and Our Conor, another Irish challenger possibly considered at the time to be more of a threat to the Fly than Jezki. It was Barry Geraghty’s mount, though, that put in a perfect run to gain the title of Champion Hurdler, with Hurricane Fly down the field in 4^th place, 5 lengths behind the winner.

Jezki’s victory over the Fly was a convincing one, but the punters weren’t yet ready to write off their Grade 1 veteran, with Jezki only the narrow favourite when the two met at the Punchestown festival. His victory this time seemed more comprehensive – there was no doubt after the race that Jessica Harrington had a fantastic young hurdler in her care, had the best hurdler in Ireland in her care; had, in Jezki, a better hurdler than Hurricane Fly.

The media spoke of the end of an era and the retirement of Hurricane Fly; Mullins had other ideas. Despite the inevitability of Jezki’s presence in the races which Hurricane Fly had grown accustomed to dominating on an annual basis, connections chose to send him on the same path again, and in a fantastic comeback, he showed that two defeats at the hands of Jezki at the end of last season did not signal the end for Hurricane Fly.

It's Hurricane Fly that has come out on top so far this season

Despite Jezki being odds-on favourite for this year’s Morgiana Hurdle, he finished 2 lengths behind his rival in 2^nd place. Hurricane Fly was not heading for retirement, he was here to stay and had not yet grown tired of winning. By the time the Christmas Festival came around, Hurricane Fly was the favourite to beat Jezki – a cut in the ground at Leopardstown meant that Hurricane Fly would love the race, and love it he did, beating Jezki yet again.

Jezki’s supporters for today will have been heartened by this performance, however. In his three previous defeats at the hands of Hurricane Fly, Jezki had never finished this close to him. Today is the seventh clash of these two rivals. Hurricane Fly’s dominance so far this season is not feared when it comes to Cheltenham – Jezki’s Champion Hurdle credentials are valued at 11/2 at the longest, a lot shorter than Hurricane Fly’s at 14/1, yet the Fly’s dominance thus far this season must be taken into consideration. Will it continue, or will the roles reverse yet again, back to the way things were at last season’s climax? 

Only time will tell.