Decisions decisions
How to choose between one of the greatest horses of all time or a superstar in the making.
We might only be in the first week in January but racing fans are already beginning to mark their cards for Cheltenham in March.
Irish hopes will again center on the charges from the Willie Mullins stable with punters anxious to see what Ruby Walsh will decide is the best hope for the Stan James Champion Hurdle, the feature of day one.
Hurricane Fly thrilled Leopardstown with an epic win over Jezki in the Ryanair Hurdle over Christmas while Faugheen cruised to victory at Kempton.
Ruby has a massive decision to make between ‘the King’ or the ‘Crown Prince’ of Closutton and he admits it’s not going to be easy-especially after his two successful rides over Christmas.
He told Racing UK that it will be hard to pick between two fantastic horses:
‘I don’t know why Hurricane Fly runs so well at Leopardstown. The course is a bit like Cheltenham. When you go to the very inside like we did last week it is a different racecourse to the one when you are out close to the fences. He seems to handle both. I just think he knows where the winning post is, I suppose.’
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xZDhLE7jXis
Walsh’s choice is the envy of nearly every other jockey in the country and you would have to imagine that Paul Townend will be fairly happy with whatever horse he ends up on as second choice.
Walsh isn’t worried about the decision he and Mullins will have to make over the next two months:
‘It will be no tougher to decide between him than Kauto Star and Denman and I got that one wrong! The way I look at it, it is great to have two rides of that standard in a race. I’ll worry about it much closer to the time.’
Whatever decision is made we can’t wait to see which horses takes the hill first on what’s sure to be an epic showdown between two of Ireland’s finest horses.
H/T Sportinglife
