It is an odd phenomenon but many sports fans struggle to become endeared to a dominant champion.

Of course fans seek excellence, but it is only when a tip-top performer is confronted with adversity and their character, as well as their talent, is truly tested that true legends are made. Muhammad Ali had Joe Frazier, Jack Nicklaus had Arnold Palmer and Roger Federer had Rafael Nadal, but for a long time, Hurricane Fly was simply too talented to be tested.

At one time, the recently-departed Solwhit was made look second-rate by Hurricane Fly, but the fullness of time revealed that Solwhit was top class in his own right. It wasn’t Hurricane Fly’s fault that nothing was good enough to test him with regularity and long odds-on processions are difficult for non-purists to warm to.

It has only been in the last year that the emergence of the strongest group of two-mile hurdlers in recent times, combined with The Fly’s advancing years, has seen him tested with greater regularity than ever. Indeed, he has been sent off at odds-against in four of his last five starts, which would have been unheard of just a couple of years ago. But it has been that increased competition that has seen The Fly rise to a level of universal popularity that seemed to evade him during his dominant years. So often, The Fly didn’t need to come off the bridle to win prestigious Grade 1s at his ease, but his last three successes have required him to show tigerish determination that he had only needed to call upon very rarely in the past and the public seem to have warmed to him like never before as a result.

So, how much does The Fly have left? Firstly, there is little doubt in my mind that we didn’t see the best of him at Cheltenham and Punchestown last spring. Compare his head carriage under pressure on Sunday to how he carried himself on those occasions and there is no comparison. The firmer ground is almost certainly what prevented him from showing his best on those occasions. On a softer surface, the evidence of the last year suggests that Hurricane Fly is still within a few pounds of his very best.

To me, that means Jezki and the rest will struggle to deal with him in the Ryanair Hurdle and the Irish Champion Hurdle at Leopardstown later this season. Jezki’s connections will be more than hopeful that their horse will be shown to much better effect under the firmer conditions that are likely to prevail in the Champion Hurdle at the Cheltenham Festival, but March is a long way away and Hurricane Fly, finally with the following he deserves, will be a very tough nut for him to crack at Leopardstown before then.

HRI LEADS FROM THE FRONT WITH OWNER INITIATIVE

Last week’s announcement from HRI regarding their upgrading of service to owners at the HRI-owned tracks (Fairyhouse, Leopardstown, Navan and Tipperary) was very welcome. This column has highlighted the deficiency in the level of dedicated service offered to owners at Irish racecourses on many occasions and this initiative, which will see each AIR card holder receive a complimentary light lunch option, as well as each winning owner(s) being invited for a complimentary drink after the race and receiving a copy of the race DVD, is a step in the right direction.

Of course, this initiative won’t change the world given such service is already a given at most tracks in Britain and at a few tracks in Ireland, but it is a welcome move from HRI to lead from the front in this regard. Hopefully, it will lead to the tighter-fisted tracks in Ireland upgrading their level of service to what are the most important financiers of racing, the owners. To put their often-overlooked contribution to the sport into context:

• The Horse & Greyhound Fund for 2014 was €54.2m.

• €25.3m of this came from betting tax generated from the stakes of the Irish betting public.

• Not including the cost of purchase of the horses, owners spend in the region of €220m on training fees and training-related costs every year in Irish racing.

In a nutshell, they are a hugely-important interest group in our sport and if racecourses need to have their arms twisted to offer them as little as a free meal and a DVD/drink if they are lucky enough to win, there really is something wrong.

DISTANCE ANOMALY AT WETHERBY

Speaking of racecourses, I hope those in charge of tracks all over Ireland have been paying attention to the recent fiasco surrounding race distances at Wetherby.

Following an investigation by my former colleague at Timeform Simon Rowlands, it was revealed that Wetherby had been racing over official distances that were badly short of what was advertised. A follow-up investigation by the BHA (are you paying attention, Irish Turf Club?) confirmed that the distances had been wrong for the last five years and have now been corrected.

This column has been highlighting this issue in Irish racing for quite some time and believe me when I say that there are no shortage of such inaccuracies at all levels of Irish racecourses that have not been publicly highlighted yet. I’m blue in the face from saying it, but while every track should aim to have every race distance as close to the official distance as possible, it isn’t the end of the world if they need to be a little bit short/long to accommodate starting positions/rail movements as long as the track is measured prior to racing the distance that will be raced over is published. The BHA recently made a rule change that obliges every track in Great Britain to do just that and the Turf Club should waste no more time in issuing a directive that does the same.

It is frankly embarrassing that racing cannot get something as fundamental as the distance of a race correct and the authorities need to take action to sort it out once and for all before more embarrassing inadequacies are highlighted.

SOUTHERN HEMISPHERE COVERING PAYS DIVIDEND

Following the win of the Pat Flynn-trained Almosthaditall in a handicap at Dundalk on Friday evening, the Twitter account of bookmaker Bar One Racing tweeted that the winner was in foal. This certainly raised my eyebrows, as fillies/mares that are in foal are only permitted to race for 120 days after they have been covered, meaning that at the very earliest Almosthaditall would have had to have been covered in mid-July, which seemed almost inconceivably late to be covering a maiden mare.

However, further investigation revealed that Almosthaditall was indeed in foal, but that she had been covered by Rock Of Gibraltar to Southern Hemisphere time (universal birthdate of August 1st rather than January 1st) and the intention is for her is to go into quarantine next month to travel to South Africa for her broodmare career.

It is certainly the first case I have come across of a mare winning in Ireland that is in foal to Southern Hemisphere time, but that’s the great thing about this game, you see something new every day.

REST IN PEACE DESSIE HUGHES

The first time I met Dessie Hughes was nearly 10 years. I had agreed to MC a Cheltenham preview in a hotel but, when I arrived, I discovered that, of all the panellists invited, only Dessie had turned up.

At that time I was a very nervous public speaker, so being asked to essentially conduct an hour-long interview with a legend like Dessie in front of a crowd was an intimidating prospect.

I shouldn’t have worried though as Dessie helped me along every step of the way. In every encounter I had with him after that, Dessie was always the same, an out-and-out gentleman who had time for everyone. The world of Irish racing and the world at large will be all the poorer for his absence.