Anzadam primed for Newcastle after ‘lovely piece of work’

Connections of Anzadam expect to have a better idea of where he stands in the two-mile pecking order after he puts his unbeaten record in the line in a mouthwatering renewal of the BetMGM Fighting Fifth Hurdle at Newcastle on Saturday.

The French recruit has looked every inch a top-class horse in the making in winning his first two starts at Grade Three level in Ireland for Willie Mullins, the most recent of those coming in the Limestone Lad Hurdle at Naas in late January.

But he will face a far sterner test of his ability at Gosforth Park this weekend, with deposed champion Constitution Hill and another unbeaten rival in The New Lion lying in wait.

Speaking at Tramore on Tuesday, Patrick Mullins – assistant to his father – told Racing TV: “Anzadam did a lovely bit of work after racing in Punchestown on Sunday, Paul (Townend) was really happy with him.

“He’s going over there (to Newcastle) and its not going to be an easy task – it’s the Champion Hurdle bar Lossiemouth really and I always think it’s hard to travel for your first run, but we’ll know more after it.

“It’s going to be a proper race.”

With State Man sidelined for the season by injury, much attention has surrounded Lossiemouth, who looked as good as ever when dominating her rivals in the Morgiana Hurdle at Punchestown on her seasonal debut.

Paddy Power make the grey their 3-1 favourite to lift the title at Cheltenham in March, with The New Lion 7-2, Constitution Hill 9-2 and Anzadam a 6-1 shot ahead of this weekend’s key trial.

Reflecting on Lossiemouth’s comeback success, Mullins added: “I thought it was a fantastic performance. Irancy ran poorly and the other two were probably out of their depth, but she’s gone solid fractions and kept going all the way to the line – she didn’t let up anywhere.

“It was a fair pipe-opener and hopefully it will be on to Leopardstown at Christmas now.”

The following afternoon the champion trainer dominated the finish of the John Durkan Memorial Punchestown Chase, with the front-running Gaelic Warrior narrowly denying stablemate Fact To File in an epic finish.

“I wasn’t riding in it unfortunately, but I watched with a friend of mine out in front of the stands and it was as good a race as I’ve ever seen,” said Mullins.

“I was riding Gaelic Warrior out at home during the week and the ground was so bottomless I was making the running. I thought I went round really slow and I looked behind and I was 20 lengths clear of everyone else – he has a huge cruising speed.”

Gaelic Warrior is the general 6-4 favourite for the Ladbrokes King George VI Chase at Kempton on Boxing Day and the record-breaking amateur raised the possibility of Fact To File taking him on again.

He added: “It (King George) would (look the obvious target for Gaelic Warrior), he’d want to race a little bit more efficiently if he does go there. You’d like to think there’ll be one or two others that might go on and I think with a lead he probably would settle.

“It could be the King George for both of them, I don’t know. Galopin Des Champs will probably go to Leopardstown, so it would be fascinating to see the two of them go round there (Kempton).”