Hurricane heads Champion entries

Defending champion Hurricane Fly heads 18 entries for the Stan James Champion Hurdle at Cheltenham on March 11.

The 10-year-old will be bidding to become the sixth three-time winner of hurdling’s premier event and the first since Istabraq — successful for Aidan O’Brien in 1998, 1999 and 2000 — and also the first not to achieve the feat in successive years.

Hurricane Fly captured his first Champion Hurdle crown in 2011 and became only the second horse to regain the crown when getting the better of the 2012 victor Rock On Ruby last year.