Champion Hurdle warm-up just started - five legendary winners of the Hatton's Grace Hurdle The Hatton’s Grace Hurdle is an early season Grade 1 race that can provide pointers for both the Champion Hurdle and the Stayers’ Hurdle. Run over 2m4f, it was established in 1994 and is named after Vincent O’Brien’s three-time Champion Hurdle winner. It’s run at Fairyhouse every year and plenty of excellent horses have won it over the last 31 years and we’re going to take a look at five of the most legendary. Istabraq There are few hurdlers to have reached the level on the legendary scale that Aidan O’Brien’ssuperstar hurdler did. Istabraq recorded three consecutive victories in the Champion Hurdle and only the foot and mouth outbreak of 2001 prevented him from making it four. He won this race in 1997 and 1998, firstly getting the better of Cockney Lad and beating Nomadic the following year. Limestone Lad stopped him from making it three the following year and Istabraq was sent off at 1/7 for that defeat. Limestone Lad Speaking of Limestone Lad, he is one of four horses to have won the Hatton’s Grace three times, triumphing in 1999, 2001 and 2002. The last of those successes came at the expense of the Noel Meade-trained Scottish Memories and Liss A Paoraigh was second in 2001. This horse was a bit of a cult figure in Ireland and he won the Morgiana Hurdle three times, the Christmas Hurdle twice and the Champion Stayers’ Hurdle at Punchestown in 2002. Not able to get his head in front at Cheltenham, he did place in two Stayers’ Hurdle bids though. Hurricane Fly Not many two-mile hurdlers have been as prolific at the top level as Willie Mullins’ Hurricane Fly. The son of Montjeu won a ridiculous 22 Grade 1 races throughout his career, which included a nine-race winning streak between April 2012 and January 2014. He won the Royal Bond at Fairyhouse as a novice hurdler, then a Grade 1 and also won this race in 2010. There were some smart horses in behind him that day, including the talented but ill-fated Solwhit, who went on to win the Stayers’ Hurdle at Cheltenham, and Colm Murphy’s very smart mare Voler La Vedette. Apple’s Jade The first of two mares to make this list, the Gordon Elliott-trained Apple’s Jade had an excellent career, in which she managed to win no fewer than 12 Grade 1 races, over distances varying from two to three miles. She burst onto the scene as a juvenile hurdler, winning two Grade 1s impressively at Aintree and Punchestown. Elliott’s mare won this race in three consecutive years between 2016 and 2018 and has more than earned her legendary status. Honeysuckle The Honeysuckle and Rachael Blackmore combination captured the minds and hearts of racing fans on both sides of the Irish Sea. She won 13 races at the top level and that included four Cheltenham Festival victories, with two of those coming in the Champion Hurdle. The daughter of Sulamani won the Hatton’s Grace three times and only lost twice during her entire career.
