Morgiana Hurdle |
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| Grade 1, Punchestown 14:15 €80,000 added, 4yo plus, 2m, Class 1 |
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| Saturday 16th November 2014 | |
1 Hurricane Fly 15/8
2 Jezki 8/13F
3 Little King Robin 10/1
5 ran Distances: 2¼l, 15l, 20l
TIME 3m 52.50s (slow by 6.50s)
A near perfect ride from Ruby Walsh sees Hurricane Fly beat Champion Hurdle Jezki to win his 3rd straight Morgiana Hurdle at Punchestown
Barry Geraghty: "Jezki looked to me like a horse who would benefit from the run, but no disgrace - take nothing away from Hurricane Fly."
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Hurricane Fly brought the house down at Punchestown as he powered to a third StanJames.com Morgiana Hurdle.
Seemingly not the force of old at the end of last season, the Willie Mullins-trained 10-year-old returned to his best as he gained revenge on current two-mile king Jezki, his conqueror at Cheltenham and Punchestown in the spring.
Ruby Walsh was happy to sit in third for much of the journey as prolific mare Little King Robin opened up a big advantage in her usual front-running style, with Jezki in second.
The big two eventually loomed large and while a mistake two out could have caused problems for Hurricane Fly (15-8), he was soon back moving with menace.
As the principals settled down to fight it out, Hurricane Fly pinged the last and really picked up on the run-in, going away from Jezki at the line, winning with two and a quarter lengths in hand of the 8-13 favourite.
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StanJames.com Morgiana Hurdle
€80,000 added, 4yo plus, 2m, Class 1
5 ran
Going: Soft
| Dist | Horse / Jockey | Weight | Trainer | Age | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1st | Hurricane Fly (IRE) 15/8 R Walsh |
11-10 | W P Mullins | 10 | |
| 2nd | 2¼ | Jezki (IRE) 8/13f M P Walsh |
11-10 | Mrs J Harrington | 6 |
| 3rd | 15 | Little King Robin (IRE) 10/1 Mr B O'Neill |
11-3 | C Bowe | 6 |
| 4th | 20 | King of The Picts (IRE) 50/1 P Carberry |
11-10 | J P Shanahan | 5 |
| 5th | 55 | Lethal Weapon (IRE) 150/1 J S McGarvey |
11-10 | C Roche | 9 |
