Morgiana Hurdle: Celebrating Five Past Winners The Morgiana Hurdle is the first major test of the season for Ireland's elite two-mile hurdlers and it's set to take place at Punchestown this weekend. It has had Grade 1 status since 2006 and some legendary horses have won it over the years. First established in 1988, Willie Mullins has won it a whopping 13 times, while Paul Carberry is the race's leading jockey with six victories. We're going to take a look at five of the best horses to have won the Morgiana over the years and the list includes three-time winner Hurricane Fly. Harchibald - 2004 Few horses are as well remembered for their ability to throw races away as Harchibald was. Noel Meade's gelding would travel into his races on the bridle and find absolutely nothing once regular jockey Paul Carberry asked for a push. He won the Morgiana Hurdle as a five-year-old back in 2004, with former winner Back In Front finishing second and Macs Joy back in third. Harchibald went on to win the Christmas Hurdle the following month and was narrowly denied at both Cheltenham and Aintree. Hardy Eustace - 2008 Dessie Hughes' Hardy Eustace probably wasn't the most talented dual Champion Hurdle winner of all time but he certainly never lacked courage or tenacity. Morgiana glory came for him in 2008, where he comfortably got the better of future Champion Chase winner Sizing Europe. Hardy Eustace was towards the end of his hurdling career by this point, and it turned out to be the last success of his glittering career, which included five Grade 1 victories. Hurricane Fly - 2012, 2013 and 2014 Ruby Walsh was fortunate enough to ride an abundance of top horses during his career and the Willie Mullins-trained Hurricane Fly was probably the best two-mile hurdler he ever sat on. The son of Montjeu won 22 Grade 1s over hurdles and three of those came in this race. Only three runners lined up in 2012 and Hurricane Fly finished 12 lengths clear of Captain Cee Bee, after Go Native's last flight fall. Mullins landed the 1-2-3-4 the following year and Ruby Walsh's mount finished ahead of Marito, Mikael D'Haguenet and Midnight Game. His last success came at the expense of old rival Jezki the following year. Faugheen - 2017 Another one for Willie Mullins, Faugheen was one of the most popular horses around during his career, and rightfully so! He made all the running to beat Jezki by 16 lengths back in 2017, on what was his first start since Champion Hurdle victory at Cheltenham. The Rich Ricci-owned gelding embarked on a chasing career at the grand old age of 11 and still managed to win 2 Grade 1s, before being narrowly defeated at Cheltenham. State Man - 2022 and 2023 State Man has won two of the last three renewals of this race and the first of those came in 2022 and he managed to oblige comfortably, at odds of 4/9. Only Constitution Hill could beat him that season and he bounced back from Champion Hurdle defeat to win at Punchestown. His three rivals had no answer the following year and he went on to record another comfortable victory on seasonal debut. That was the perfect springboard for an unbeaten campaign, with the highlight coming in the 2024 Champion Hurdle.
