Irish Champion Hurdle at Leopardstown

A small but select field lines up today for the Grade One irish Champion Hurdle at 1.55 CET at Leopardstown. The 5 runners include two past winners of the Champion Hurdle itself, Binocular (Nicky Henderson/ Tony McCoy), who won in 2010 and Hurricane Fly (Willie Mullins/ Ruby Walsh), the 2011 winner. Both of them also ran in the 2012 edition, finishing fourth and third (at odds-on) respectively.

Binocular has not run since and frankly we shall be amazed if he wins today. To our mind, Hurricane Fly, who has won both his starts this season with the greatest of ease, is a certainty. He has won 12 of his 14 starts and what went wrong at Cheltenham last March is unclear, but he is definitely the best hurdler in training; he is also unbeaten in 5 starts here and has won this race twice already. Mullins continues in great form and we would not be surprised to see his other runner Thousand Stars (Paul Townend) finish second; but he has already faced Hurricane Fly 8 times and lost every time!

Mullins and Walsh should clean up on the undercard as well. They can take the main supporting feature, the Grade Two novice hurdle at 14.25 with German-bred Pont Alexandre (by Dai Jin), with another German-bred Anonis (Margaret and Danny Mullins), by Tiger Hill, looking the main danger. Willie and Ruby can also take the first two races with Urano at 13.25 and Zuzka at 13.55; however like all the stable´s runners they will start at a very short price.

Willie and Ruby also have a good chance in the beginner´s chase at 16.35 with Rupert Lamb, but here we just prefer the consistent Prima Vista (Noel Meade/ Paul Carberry). On what could be a good day for German-breds, we also like High Desert (Arthur Moore/ Barry Cash) and Quartetto (Tom Taaffe/ Townend) in the concluding handicap chase at 17.10, both out of Königsstuhl mares; we prefer the former who is much improved this season and can complete a hat-trick.

The handicap hurdle at 15.30 is the big betting race of the day but with 27 runners must be treated with caution. However there could be another Gerrman-bred winner here as the lightly-raced Sammy Black (Tony and Danny Mullins this time) meets his last time conqueror Shariyan, the likely favourite, on 7 lbs better terms and the Black Sam Bellamy geding can turn the tables here.

Betting forecast:
1. Race: Urano - Some Article - Smithfield
2. Race: Glens Melody - Jennies Jewel - Way Up In The Air
3. Race: Pont Alexandre - Seefood - Our Vinnie
4. Race: Binocular - Thousand Stars - Captain Cee Bee
5. Race: Shariyan - Sammy Black - Talbot Road
6. Race: Blackmail - Sizing Chile - Benemeade
7. Race: Prima Vista - Rupert Lamb - Toner D`Oudairies
8. Race: Wilde Wit Pleasure - High Desert - Edmundo