We may not have seen best of Hardy Eustace yet

ANYONE else mildly surprised there was no real tightening in the price of Hardy Eustace for the Champion Hurdle, following his seasonal debut at Navan on Sunday?

You would have thought he was entitled to be promoted to clear favouritism, but the firms didn’t see any reason to get excited and plenty 7-1 is still widely available.

Of course it is a wide open contest and, remarkably, the first six in the betting, depending on where you look, are all Irish-trained, a situation which would have been quite unthinkable not so long ago.

But if you put a gun to my head and forced me to have a bet then I’d be inclined to go with Hardy Eustace.

He’s scored twice at the Festival, in the SunAlliance Novices’ Hurdle last year and the Champion Hurdle in March.

Even though he’s won over two miles and five at Cheltenham, most observers now accept that two miles is his best trip.

Shades of Istabraq! Well, he did start off by winning the SunAlliance as well and then got faster and faster to take the Champion Hurdle three years in-a-row.

No one in their right mind would have Hardy Eustace in Istabraq’s class, but, at the same time, we may not have seen the best of this tough customer just yet.

After all he did win by five lengths in March and then came home to Punchestown to again prove far too strong for Rooster Booster.

It should also be noted that he didn’t wear blinkers at Navan, having had them on at both Cheltenham and Punchestown.

We should not underestimate that run against Solerina at Navan. She had everything in her favour, soft ground, two and a half miles, a galloping track and a big edge in fitness.

Yet, Solerina was only two and a half lengths to the good at the line and wasn’t value for any more.

It was a terrific weekend for Irish racing and there is no doubt the National Hunt game excites in a way the flat never will.

Back In Front set the scene with that stirring display at Cheltenham on Saturday and Navan and Cork housed two fine cards on Sunday.

The layers won’t forget Cork for a while and it is safe to assume the vast majority lost on six of the seven races.

The Bumper was the only possible respite and that was almost certainly only of limited, if any, benefit.

Punters are gas, though. They had the bookmakers on the back foot from the start and never gave them a moment’s peace or any cause for optimism.

If it was a boxing match the unequal struggle would have been called off long before the end, but the boys on the boxes are made of stern stuff.

They were still standing going into the last round. Nearly every punter in the place had to be winning and, with pockets bulging, there seemed no good reason to become involved in trying to solve the Bumper.

Not with a short-priced favourite and several unknown factors. Sit back, watch the contest and try and find a winner or two for the future. It seemed the logical way to behave!

But greed is a terrible thing and, surprise, surprise, the Bumper was the best betting race of the afternoon.

Really liked the performance of Homer Wells in the three mile novice hurdle and not just because he took the financial pain out of Christmas.

He constantly lost ground by jumping away to his left and still managed to bolt in. Only a horse with a decent engine could do that.

Finally, a little story about Tony Mullins, a trainer well known for his sense of humour.

At Clonmel last Thursday, he saddled The Galway Man, who had failed to complete in his three previous races, to land a conditions ’chase. Intended to nap the horse, depending on who was in the plate, and met Mullins at Clonmel the previous day.

“Who’s on The Galway Man tomorrow, Tony?” His instant response was a classic. “Well, Paul Carberry is riding him for the first half of the race...”