KARL BURKE, best known for his exploits on the flat, has a star jumper on his hands in the shape of Intense Tango who landed the Grade 2 Mares' Hurdle in impressive style, with the promise of much more to come.

Ridden by Brian Hughes, the trainer was delighted with this win, saying: "Intense Tango jumped so well. She was so slick she was taking a length or two off the more experienced horses. She won´t go to Cheltenham, we´ll keep her to her own age group this season and the Glenlivet at Aintree is her target."

Over in Ireland, Hurricane Fly lit up Leopardstown last Sunday, winning a fifth Irish Champion Hurdle and a 22nd career Grade 1 Hurricane Fly.

It was not the 11-year-old's greatest performance, but it was the performance of a great.

Behind and nudged along leaving the back straight, Hurricane Fly trailed a horse good enough to win last year's Champion Hurdle in Jezki – and looked in trouble. But Walsh mined his mount's insatiable willingness to produce a tenacious display of the class and heart that has helped the son of Montjeu become the most successful Grade 1 horse in the history of the sport.

"He didn't travel as well as normal," was Walsh's assessment. "I was going as fast as I was able to and I was struggling before the bend. It was a testing race really.

"I was worried about how much Jezki was going to find but when I saw AP [McCoy - Jezki's jockey] go for his whip I knew I had him covered. I got more aggressive with him and when he started to pick up, then he stuck his head down like he does."

A bad mistake at the last, when already passed by Hurricane Fly, cost Jezki and McCoy second as Willie Mullins' other runner Arctic Fire came through to chase home the 11-10 favourite.

Newcastle raced on Wednesday and Fascino Rustico booked his ticket for the Betfair Hurdle on Saturday week with an easy victory at Newcastle in the Opening Novices' Hurdle.

Sent off the 11/8 second-favourite against John Ferguson's Zip Top, a former classy Flat horse and a good winner last time out, he was well in command at the finish.

Always highly regarded, the John Hales-owned seven-year-old is now with Dan Skelton having been with Paul Nicholls.

While the market leader made several mistakes at his hurdles, Fascino Rustico jumped with aplomb under Harry Skelton and came away after the last to beat the favourite by nine lengths.

"He'll go to Newbury now," said Skelton.

"He was fine immediately after the race and as long as he's good for the next week or so he'll run.

"The 5lb penalty he'll get for winning we needed actually as I don't think he'd have got in otherwise.

"He's take time to mature but Paul always thought a fair bit of him. Paul was unlucky not to win with him but it meant he was still a novice for us.

"I'm just very lucky to get a horse as good as him and I'm very grateful to John for sending him to me.

"He has plenty of size and scope but I'm in no rush to send him chasing."

It's a really important weekend in the jumping calendar for northern racing as Wetherby stage a quality card tomorrow before Musselburgh stage their Cheltenham Trials day on Sunday.

Both tracks will be delighted with the entries and it will be fascinating to see if the David Pipe trained Kings Palace shows up for the Towton Novices Chase.

Rated 156, he looks a future Gold Cup winner and many will fancy him for the RSA Chase at the Cheltenham Festival which is only six weeks away.

Up at Musselburgh, Clerk of the course Harriet Graham remains upbeat the meeting can defeat the elements, despite the threat of snow and ice.

She said: "At this stage, we are moderately confident of racing.

"It is, however, a very tricky forecast.

"I have spoken to the Met Office and they have pretty high confidence we will have a few more heavy snow showers in the next 24 hours.

"The snow is meant to have moved through by Friday, which will hopefully give us the chance to put down further covers.

"The take-off and landing areas are covered, but we have to wait for the snow to pass through before we can take any further action.

"Overnight temperatures are also due to get to around minus 1C, possibly minus 2C.

"It will be an interesting few days."