Hurricane Pat team take stock after impressive Sandown win

Hurricane Pat is set to bypass the Formby Novices’ Hurdle at Aintree on Boxing Day, but his owners are dreaming of the Cheltenham Festival after his impressive victory at Sandown.

The Gary and Josh Moore-trained five-year-old shone during the Tingle Creek Festival last weekend to cosily win a Listed race by five and a half lengths and maintain his unbeaten start to his hurdling career.

Through the Noel Fehily Racing Syndicate, the former jockey heads the ownership group of the gelding and he admitted connections are getting excited about the rest of the campaign.

“He’s come out of it really well, it was a very good run and we’re delighted with him,” said Fehily.

“It’s just brilliant. It’s very exciting for everyone involved, they are absolutely over the moon and everyone wants a nice horse, don’t they?

“He certainly looks to be a very nice horse and it’s exciting so we can dream about where to go next. It’s a lot better being involved with a good one than a bad one, that’s for sure.

“I’m very excited about where he can go for the rest of the season. I think in the spring time he will be an even better horse and there’s plenty to look forward to with him.”

A trip to Merseyside was mooted as the next appointment for the ever-improving bay, but Fehily revealed that the Grade One contest comes too soon for Hurricane Pat, who will not be seen until the new year.

“He will be very unlikely for the Formby, it will probably come too soon,” Fehily added.

“It will be more like the middle of January or some time around there, so we will look at something a bit later on for him.

“We are just giving him a few days to settle down and then we will have a chat with Gary and Josh and see what they are thinking.

“We did say that the Formby would come too soon and that we would be looking at the middle to end of January.

“Everybody wants to go to Cheltenham and if we think he is good enough to go there, we’ll be going. But he has to step forward again, we can’t get carried away just yet.

“We’ll have to see how he goes in his next run and he has to keep progressing to be a Cheltenham horse, but it’s free to dream isn’t it?

“We can dream of him being good enough and hopefully he is good enough, and that’s where we’d love to end up with him.”