Jezki ends era of mighty Hurricane
This was a contest that produced high drama, with super sub Barry Geraghty driving Jezki to victory and once again showing there is no better man for the big day.
It was a race, however, that was full of sadness. Firstly Our Conor, bought by Barry Connell for a reported €1m, after winning the Triumph Hurdle here last year, took a fatal fall at the third.
The vets were quickly on the scene and tried to save him, but Our Conor suffered a bad back injury and the decision was taken to humanely put him down.
And then, of course, we saw what may well be the end of an era with Hurricane Fly finishing a well beaten fourth.
Jezki, owned by J P McManus, had been the medium of a puzzling ride by Tony McCoy at Leopardstown, ridden for speed when he has always shaped like a thorough stayer.
McCoy then had the choice between Jezki and another McManus-owned gelding in My Tent Or Yours, and nodded in the wrong direction.
My Tent Or Yours ran the race of his life to finish a neck second, but that will offer no consolation whatsoever for the ultra competitive McCoy.
Captain Cee Bee and Our Conor were the principals, until the latter departed at that third flight.
Heading to the home turn, Jezki powered through to challenge and was immediately taken on by Hurricane Fly.
The packed stands erupted in expectation of a third success in the race for the Fly. But it was not to be and he soon cracked.
By now, My Tent Or Yours had arrived to stalk Jezki and they raced down to the final flight with little between them.
But My Tent Or Yours hit the top bar of the obstacle and, hard as he tried, could never quite get on terms with the Geraghty-inspired winner.
And then came the third home, The New One, who has to be regarded as a desperately unlucky loser.
He was badly hampered when Our Conor fell, losing many lengths. Sam Twiston-Davies, wisely, gave him time to recover, but The New One struggled to get back into a rhythm and his jumping began to suffer to boot.
But this is a proper horse and the amount of ground he made up in the straight was quite extraordinary. The fact The New One was beaten less than three lengths tells its own story. Geraghty, who is now unbeaten on Jezki, reported: “He is a great little horse. It was a fine run by the second and I’m sure JP will be delighted to have the first two home.
“I have been riding winners for Jessie since I was 17 or 18 and she has been great to me over the years. She has given me plenty of good horses, like Moscow Flyer. It’s brilliant to be back here for her again.
“The Champion Hurdle is one of the races you want to win. I had a great run, he missed the third last, but apart from that was very good.
“He found plenty when I wanted him, but I needed the line. I’m sure the hood helped, he’s a horse with a big engine and it rode like a good time!’ Geraghty had previously won the Champion Hurdle on Punjabi for Nicky Henderson in 2009.
Harrington, enjoying her first success in the race, said: “I didn’t see much of the final two hurdles because I was doing a lot of jumping up and down and cheering for Barry.
“He battled like hell up the hill. Barry said the hood made a big difference, that it got him to settle.
“I felt Jezki’s previous two races were a bit messy and, at Christmas, if he hadn’t got shut off, might have beaten Hurricane Fly.
“We had little excuses in defeat, but today it all came right and the fast pace definitely helped him.
“It’s big to win any championship race here, I’ve won two Queen Mother Champion Chases [Moscow Flyer], so now I want to put the Gold Cup on my CV, although it will be hard to do. I haven’t thought of any plans for Jezki, it’s one day, or one drink, at a time.’
Trainer, Nigel Twiston-Davies, said of The New One: “It’s disappointing and we don’t know what would have happened.
“You’ve been trying all year and then something like that happens, I’d like to have found out who had the best horse.
“I hope we have, but haven’t proved it. I’d imagine we will be favourites for the race next year and will be quite happy to come back.
“Sam [his son] is in bits, but has done nothing wrong. For me the best thing he did was the phenomenal ride to put the horse back in the race, without over-reacting.’ Twiston-Davies senior certainly got that right.’
Willie Mullins was very disappointed with Hurricane Fly.
He said: “I thought he was in good form coming into the race, and the horses are running well, so it’s disappointing to be fourth.
“I think he just got tired, after the second-last I knew the game was up. I hoped he’d pick up, but it didn’t happen.
“We’ll go to Punchestown, as normal, and then review things. One disappointing run isn’t the end of it.
“We set about riding him more positively this year and maybe it backfired. He seemed fine afterwards, maybe it’s his age, I don’t know.”
Henderson said of My Tent Or Yours: “He pulls too hard and AP felt he must be some horse to achieve what he did.”
