Hurricane Fly makes his eagerly-awaited seasonal reappearance in today's BHP Irish Champion Hurdle at Leopardstown, where he will face four rivals.
Trained by Willie Mullins, the son of Montjeu was imperious throughout the whole of the last campaign, winning five Grade 1's on the bounce, including the Champion Hurdle at Cheltenham.
Ruby Walsh 's mount will be having his first outing since successful at Punchestown last May after Mullins sidestepped a number of engagements as he was not totally satisfied with his charge at home.
The Irish champion trainer also runs the admirable Thousand Stars winner of the Morgiana Hurdle earlier this term.
Thousand Stars could, however, finish only second to Dermot Weld's smart filly Unaccompanied in the Festival Hurdle at Leopardstown over Christmas.
With Unaccompanied's regular partner, Paul Townend, required by Mullins for Thousand Stars, Davy Russell rides for the first time. Oscars Well is without a win in three starts this season but Jessica Harrington will be hoping to see more from last season's smart novice. The field is completed by the Sabrina Harty-trained Kalann
While he expects Hurricane Fly to improve for the outing, Mullins has taken plenty of heart from a racecourse workout on January 5.
He said: "Everything has gone fine this week so he's ready to run. He did a lovely bit of work in Leopardstown and all his work after that has been good - fingers crossed that he stays right.
"He'd been disappointing me up to Leopardstown and having a good workout on grass just put him right, I think. He's schooled well over hurdles since and it is always good to see them away from home and see what they can do.
"This is probably one of his stiffest tests for his first run, but he likes Leopardstown and he's been giving us all the right signs, so we just hope he can transfer that on race day.
"He will have to improve (for the run). It would be very hard to bring the likes of him to Cheltenham without a run. This fellow is a Montjeu and he gets a bit wired up. A run and a big day out at a race meeting is probably essential."
Should Hurricane Fly fail to meet expectations, Mullins has an excellent deputy in Thousand Stars.
Some have suggested Walsh should have made more use of the horse in the two-mile Istabraq Hurdle, given he stays three miles, but Mullins felt there was little wrong with his decision.
He told At The Races: "Ruby did what he thought was right on the day given the circumstances. People might think he could have done something different but if you could take back every race you ever rode or ran, then that would be very simple.
"The fact is he did what he did on the day. Getting 10lb from our fellow, she (Unaccompanied) is a star mare. We will see what she can do for the rest of the season.
"I thought he ran a cracker and hopefully he can keep going and improve for the rest of the season like he did last year."
Weld is cautiously optimistic about Unaccompanied's chances of lowering the colours of Hurricane Fly saying, "She will be trained for the day and I'll be satisfied if she gets placed.
"I do think that it is very ambitious to think that she can beat Hurricane Fly, but she is a good, improving mare and I think the best is yet to come from her.
"Hurricane Fly is an outstanding horse and he will be extremely hard to beat, but I am very hopeful of winning the race."
Oscars Well won two Grade 1's as a novice last term and was last seen finishing third to Unaccompanied in the Istabraq Hurdle. Regular partner Robbie Power believes his mount has improved for that outing.
He said: "I am really looking forward to it and he has come on a lot since he ran at Christmas. I couldn't be happier with him and I am hopeful that he'll run a big race.
"Hopefully there will be something in the race that will give him a lead for a bit longer on Sunday - he ended up having to do a lot of the donkey work at Christmas."
