AMONG the thousands who roared home Hurricane Fly at Leopardstown last Sunday were Frank and Liz Motherway of Yellowford Farm in Killeagh, Co Cork. A leading sales consignor, Yellowford is home to Hurricane Fly’s dam Scandisk, who the Motherways shrewdly bought for a mere €63,000 in November 2009 when the Hurricane was only a three-time Grade 1 winner. Just turned 20, Scandisk is expecting a Camelot foal in May, the stallion being a son of Hurricane Fly’s own sire Montjeu. Frank explained: “The nomination cost a few euro but it seemed to make sense. Camelot was a super racehorse who almost won the Triple Crown.” A Motherway family syndicate recently put a four-year-old Yeats half-sister to Hurricane Fly in training with Willie Mullins. She is named Avichi and the Motherways also have Scandisk’s three-year-old Yeats filly (named Blixt) and a yealing Yeats filly at home. The two-year-old Yeats gelding out of the mare was bought by Lady Jane Grosvenor for €120,000 at Fairyhouse last November and might well return to the Derby Sale in due course.

Who knows how many Grade 1 wins Hurricane Fly will have racked up by then. Frank commented: “It was very exciting to watch him last Sunday. We thought at halfway it was all over but he sure knows where the line is. In human terms, it was like a 40-year-old man winning a race against athletes in their mid-20s.”