Hurricane Fly wins Rabobank Champion Hurdle

Hurricane Fly cemented his position as the number one with a brilliant victory in the Rabobank Champion Hurdle at Punchestown.

Ruby Walsh was pulling double on the Cheltenham Champion Hurdle winner, who led going to the final flight.

The 1-2 favourite, trained by Willie Mullins, simply oozed class as he bounded away to score by five lengths from his stablemate Thousand Stars, with Binocular third.

The start almost turned into a farce as no-one wanted to lead when the tape went up, but Tony McCoy decided to go on aboard Binocular.

He was unable to keep a healthy advantage, however, as he consistently jumped out to the left, allowing Menorah to take closer order and lead at the sixth flight.

But it was only a matter of time before Hurricane Fly, last year’s winner, came into the picture doing virtual hand-springs over his rivals.

He only had to jump the last to win with the minimum of fuss for a remarkable triumph.