Hurricane Fly turned what had been billed as the most eagerly-anticipated showdown of the season into a straight-forward show after one the all-time great hurdlers asserted his superiority in style at Leopardstown yesterday.

Faced with two young pretenders to his Champion Hurdle throne in Jezki and Our Conor, not to mention suspicions that age might finally be catching up with him, Hurricane Fly haughtily put both rivals and doubters firmly in their place in the €100,000 Ryanair Hurdle.

However, even winning a staggering 18th Grade One prize, the maintenance of a perfect seven-from-seven record around Leopardstown, and returning to his customary position near the top of ante-post betting for a third Champion Hurdle success at Cheltenham in March, couldn’t shake trainer Willie Mullins’s sang-froid about a performer he estimates to be a “once-in-a-generation horse”.

After Ruby Walsh brought Hurricane Fly from last of the five-runner to sweep past the opposition in imperious style, Mullins was pressed to describe the 11/10 favourite’s two-and-a-half-length success as his best ever performance, but the champion trainer was having none of it.

“No. I’ve seen him better, and I think he’s going to be better again. He could be better than ever because he came back in stronger than ever after the summer. That race should bring him along nicely. He’s something special, a once-in-a-generation horse,” Mullins said.

The idea of even more to come must be a frightening thought for his rivals, which include a pair of rising British stars in The New One and My Tent Or Yours, as Walsh already reckons there's never been a better hurdler – ever.

'Best of all time'
"I'd say he's the best of all time. He's won two Champion Hurdles and if things had been different he might have won a third," said the jockey who, nevertheless, left open a chink of hope for all Hurricane Fly's rivals at Cheltenham in March.

“I’d love if he can show the English crowds what we’ve been seeing here for years. For some reason he has never shown his absolute best over there. I don’t know why,” Walsh said. “But everything about this horse is special.”

Hurricane Fly hardly needed any help from his rivals yesterday but he got some anyway as Tony McCoy endured a torrid time at the top of the straight when left with nowhere to go on Jezki, who was resolutely kept on the rail by Danny Mullins on Our Conor.

Jezki came off noticeably worst after a number of failed efforts to barge his way out and it is to his credit that he rallied to such effect that he passed Our Conor on the run-in and closed on Hurricane Fly all the way to the line.

Many bookmakers were impressed enough to make Jezki as low as 5/1 to get revenge on Hurricane Fly at Cheltenham but Walsh was adamant the winner was actually idling in front and McCoy appeared to catch the popular mood too.

'Caught for pace'
"Just from the second last he got caught for pace when the other horse came around him. But Hurricane Fly came past us pretty easily. How we're going to go about beating him at Cheltenham I don't know," said the British champion jockey who later got his revenge on Walsh when Carlingford Lough beat Morning Assembly in the Grade 1 Topaz Novice Chase.

Our Conor wound up beaten less than half a dozen lengths on his first start against older horses and trainer Dessie Hughes said: “I felt coming here if he got to within a few lengths it would be a good run. It’s his first race over hurdles in eight months and his first against older horses. I was very happy with it, and I think he’ll come on for it.”

The problem is Willie Mullins is adamant so will Hurricane Fly who, for whatever about vulnerabilities at Cheltenham, looks invincible at home and will return to Leopardstown next month for the Irish Champion.

“I wanted to get him fit enough to beat Jezki and Our Conor but not absolutely fit, because we have the Irish Champion, Cheltenham and Punchestown to come. It’s a balancing act and I’m hoping we haven’t left everything here,” he said.

Mullins didn’t sound convinced himself on that score, and in terms of coolness under pressure, he didn’t lose anything to Walsh whose determination to play his card last during the race came up trumps even in a rare contest that combined pace with a tactical conundrum presented by the pace-setting Captain Cee Bee.

“When it works it’s great,” the jockey grinned ruefully afterwards. “When it doesn’t, people give out!”

Hurricane Fly mightn’t have given out at those that doubted him yesterday but as responses go, it was emphatic.