CHELTENHAM: Weathering the perfect storm

Willie Mullins may be Ireland’s most successful Cheltenham trainer but respect was in short supply as he prepared his feisty champion hurdler Hurricane Fly for yesterday’s renewal.

The hurricane that created the perfect storm became the first horse to regain the Champion Hurdle in 38 years as he showed substantial guts to go with his undoubted class at Cheltenham.

But the horse — “a fractious individual”, according to Mullins — gave the trainer a nasty shot in the rear end ahead of racing, leaving the Carlow handler sore but not sorry.