Hurricane Fly won the Champion Hurdle at the Cheltenham Festival for a second time this afternoon.
The Willie Mullins-trained gelding won the race back in 2011 and had been tipped to emerge victorious last year. However, the nine-year-old was beaten on that occasion by Rock On Ruby.
For a while it looked as though the 2012 winner was going to get the better of Hurricane Fly again for large parts of today's race, having taken the lead from the start.
However, underneath Ruby Walsh, the nine-year-old moved through the field with three fences left clear and when he eventually hit the front, he went on to cross the line with very little challenge.
"From the word go he didn't travel like he can and he made a couple of mistakes but in fairness to him what he has is a big heart for a small horse," Walsh told Channel 4. "He's a cracking horse and I'm glad that he showed everyone what he can do."
Rock On Ruby was forced to settle for second spot, while Countrywide Flame came third.
Hurricane Fly is only the second horse to have regained the Champion Hurdle title, with the only other one to have achieved such a feat being Comedy of Errors back in 1975.
Liam Apicella
