Fly heads 18 in Champion Defending champion Hurricane Fly heads 18 entries for the Stan James Champion Hurdle at Cheltenham on March 11. The Willie Mullins-trained 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. After confirming his superiority over Rock On Ruby at Punchestown in April, Hurricane Fly made a triumphant seasonal debut in the Morgiana Hurdle at Punchestown in November - a record-breaking 17th Grade One success. He then extended that sequence to 18 by beating fellow Champion entries Jezki and Our Conor in the Ryanair Hurdle at Leopardstown last month. Although the number of entries is on the small side, the class of horse is as high as ever, with Nicky Henderson's My Tent Or Yours and The New One, trained by Nigel Twiston-Davies, heading the home team. The pair finished first and second respectively in the Christmas Hurdle at Kempton. My Tent Or Yours is to have a prep run at either Wincanton or Sandown. Henderson is keen to give the gelding another outing ahead of Cheltenham in March, in either the Betfred "Double Delight" Contenders Hurdle at Sandown on February 1 or the Bathwick Tyres Kingwell Hurdle at Wincanton two weeks later. "My Tent is very fresh and will need a run. You'd probably look at Wincanton, although it depends on the ground and there's Sandown as well," said Henderson. The Seven Barrows trainer has also entered Grandouet and Rolling Star among the 18 entries as he looks for a record sixth Champion triumph on March 11. "Rolling Star will come back here next week for the Betfair Hurdle, and we put Grandouet in there but the Arkle is his target. He'll probably run at Doncaster on Saturday week," he said. Jezki, owned like My Tent Or Yours by JP McManus, was considered unlucky in the Ryanair Hurdle and gets another crack at Hurricane Fly in the BHP Insurance Irish Champion Hurdle back at Leopardstown on Sunday week. "At the moment, the Stan James Champion Hurdle is very much the aim for Jezki," said his trainer Jessica Harrington. "He runs a week on Sunday in the Irish Champion Hurdle. He went to Cheltenham last year and was beaten by two very good horses (in the Supreme Novices' Hurdle). His jumping was probably a little bit sloppy on the day, but he gets two and a half miles and I see no reason why he won't run very well in the Champion Hurdle." Hurricane Fly is not the only classy performer Mullins has put in the Champion. The County Carlow handler is also responsible for Grade One-winning mare Annie Power, exciting French import Un De Sceaux and stable stalwart Thousand Stars. Ptit Zig is Paul Nicholls' sole entry, while his 2012 winner Rock On Ruby, now with Harry Fry, also figures but is expected to stick to novice chasing with the Arkle Trophy his target. "Rock On Ruby has been entered in the Champion Hurdle purely as a fall-back plan if we weren't able to get the experience in or weren't happy with how we'd progressed over fences," Fry told StanJames.com. "The focus is very much on chasing and hopefully a tilt at the Arkle but if you're not in it, you can't win it so it's purely a back-up plan. We're very much on target for the Lightning a week on Saturday but we just need a bit of help from the weather. That will be the determining factor at the end of the day and we're looking forward to seeing him out over fences again." Among other Champion possibles are Elite Hurdle scorer Melodic Rendezvous and Cinders And Ashes, winner of the 2012 Supreme Novices' Hurdle.
