Fighting Fifth Hurdle: runner-by-runner guide and tip

Official Rating: 157. RaceiQJump Index: 8.5. Odds: 3-1. 

Four races have yielded four wins for Anzadam. He’s been impressing in shallower waters for his powerful team but is now going to plunge in at the deep end. 

He’s one of many exciting horses owned by Joe and Marie Donnelly. And with State Man out for the season; Lulamba switched to chasing; and the intention to keep Sir Gino over fences; he has become their designated candidate for the Champion Hurdle. 

Given the paucity of top two-milers in the division, he is a most welcome addition, for all that he has been more about style than substance. 

His debut win in France was gained by a nose from a modest rival, while the form of his second win on those shores, when getting weight, has not worked out well either. 

After switching to the yard of Willie Mullins - and having been off a year - he landed a minor event at Fairyhouse this time 12 months ago. A couple of months later, he brushed aside 11-year-old Beacon Edge in a three-runner edition of the Limestone Lad Hurdle on heavy ground at Naas. 

Talk of him then running in the Champion Hurdle came to nothing when a setback ruled him out for the rest of the season. 

His bare form is nothing to shout about but you can only beat what you are up against and Anzadam has not been extended. 

Paul Townend struggled to pull him up after the Fairyhouse success, when he beat the penalised Kala Conti by 6½ lengths, and sang his praises afterwards. The runner-up did not do much to boost his credentials afterwards, including when well held in the Mares’ Hurdle. 

Anzadam has also achieved little on the clock and lacks the big-race experience of the other principals. This is going to help us establish whether he can compete with those at the top table. 

Official Rating: 170. Jump Index: 8.1. Odds: 13-8. 

Would the real Constitution Hill please stand up? It seemed like an imposter had taken his place in the spring when he suffered successive crashing falls at Cheltenham and Aintree before a tame surrender at Punchestown. 

Having previously been unbeaten in ten starts and hailed as one of the great hurdlers of the modern era, it was a shock treble that has left us with far more questions than answers. 

Constitution Hill has always revelled in pushing the boundaries with his jumping but the leaps that led to his tumbles were inexplicably bad. The 2023 Champion Hurdle winner took off far too early each time and gave himself no chance of making it to the other side. 

We will never know what would have happened had he stood up. For what it is worth, he was taking along behind the leaders when exiting four out at Cheltenham, and still had every chance when departing two from home at Aintree. 

His trainer, Nicky Henderson, had hinted they would let him bowl along at the head of affairs a month later at Punchestown but, instead, he was held up and never got into contention. He could not even win the battle for fourth place with the 140-rated Break My Soul. 

The vet reported afterwards that Constitution Hill had grazes to his right hind cannon bone and was sore post-race. His stand-in jockey, James Bowen, deputising for the injured Nico de Boinville, said the gelding stopped quickly. 

Constitution Hill’s four-year journey has also included other well-documented setbacks and health issues, and, rising 9, some will believe that his best days are behind him. His peak rating of 175 has slipped to 170. 

However, he would be conceding stacks of weight if this was a handicap and it is too early to be writing him off, not least because he might have won at Cheltenham and Aintree had he completed. After those episodes, we can surely give him a pass for Punchestown, which can often be one meeting too many for some horses, let alone one turning up after such ugly exits. 

Henderson and his team have had the summer to hit the reset button and you can be sure the eight-year-old has had every test known to man and horse to see if he has any underlying issues. A recent racecourse gallop at Newbury went to plan and no red flags or concerns have been raised. 

And just look at his record when fresh. He won by 14 lengths at Sandown on his debut under Rules in 2021, and romped home by 12 lengths first time out in the 2022 Fighting Fifth. 

It was a similar story in the 2023 Christmas Hurdle at Kempton after 257 days off, and last season he returned from a year on the sidelines (and an interrupted prep) to beat a racefit Lossiemouth when landing a record-breaking third Christmas Hurdle. 

Father Time is stalking Constitution Hill, but we’ve rarely seen a horse blessed with so much ability as him, plus he remains lightly raced for his age, having had only 15 races. 

Sea Pigeon won editions of the Champion Hurdle when aged 10 and 11 in the early 1980s, while Royal Gait was 9 when scoring in 1992. Rooster Booster and Hurricane Fly have been other nine-year-olds to win the Champion in more recent years, when having far more miles on the clock. 

It will be fascinating to see what tactics are employed on Saturday. There are no habitual front-runners in the line-up, and the door is open to let him bowl along at the head of affairs without any distractions or jostling for position. He would also not to have to worry about being a hostage to fortune or being involved in a messy contest that develops into a burn up. I’d love to see De Boinville grasp the nettle. 

Official Rating: 151. Jump Index: 7.8. Odds: 66-1. 

Full marks to the connections of Nemean Lion for supplementing their reliable eight-year-old on Monday. That cost them £2,430 and they are guaranteed a minimum of more than £3,000 provided he completes. 

He’s won or finished second in 14 of his 24 races, being a fine flagbearer for the Kerry Lee stable. Highlights have included his win in the 2024 Kingwell Hurdle plus valuable triumphs at Windsor and Fontwell last season. 

He usually races over further than 2m these days and this mission looks beyond him, but you cannot blame Lee and her team for rolling the dice. The trainer, seeking a first success at Newcastle, had a 22-1 winner last week. 

Official Rating: 159. Jump Index: 8. Odds: 13-8. 

Watch how The New Lion won at Cheltenham

Team Skelton have had a glorious start to the season and now they unleash their pin-up boy. 

The New Lion is unbeaten in five starts and oozed class when beating market rivals The Yellow Clay and Final Demand in the Turners Novices’ Hurdle at Cheltenham in March. 

He again travelled and jumped fluently before quickening clear, fuelling hopes he could be a Champion Hurdle winner in waiting. 

Which is a little peculiar given he has never run over a shorter trip than an extended 2m 3f over hurdles. He does look a horse with a potent blend of speed and stamina, so dropping to 2m will not be an obvious advantage unless he’s got quicker over the summer. 

Measuring his form is not easy given his style of pouncing in the closing stages, although you can punch holes in it. 

The horses who chased him home in his first four races last season are now rated 104, 125, 137 and 143, while The Yellow Clay began this term with a disappointing odds-on defeat at Navan, while Final Demand’s emphatic win on his chasing debut this month merely confirmed he is simply going to be better over a fence. 

You could even argue that a rating of 159 flatters The New Lion, for all that he has the potential to go higher. 

My niggling concern, in terms of him going to the top, is that his older sister, Kateira, has similar attributes but finds little off the bridle. Is he cut from the same cloth, or the real deal? We will not know until Harry Skelton has to go searching for another gear. 

Incidentally, Dan Skelton had accumulated £1,173,707 prize money at this time last year courtesy of 91 winners from 457 runners. This time, he has £1,568,976 thanks to 75 victories from 393 runners. So, a 33.67% increase in cash from 14% fewer runners in his quest to take the trainers’ title. 

Official Rating: 152. Jump Index: 7.5. Odds: 20-1. 

What have Golden Ace and Constitution Hill got in common? Answer: they have both won editions of the Champion Hurdle by nine lengths. 

But that’s just about where the similarities end. Constitution Hill was lauded as one of the great Champion Hurdle winners in 2023, whereas Golden Ace was dismissed as one of the worst when taking the honours in March. 

But a win is a win. Golden Ace’s name will be in the record books for ever more, even if connections only ran in her in the big one when Lossiemouth was confirmed for the Mares’ Hurdle! 

She had every bit of luck going. Constitution Hill fell four out when travelling strongly, while State Man exited at the last with the race at his mercy. And Brighterdaysahead ran a stinker. 

Golden Ace was subsequently no match for State Man in Punchestown’s version of the Champion Hurdle but almost certainly ran as well as she had the previous month. 

Nobody gives her much chance of retaining her Champion Hurdle crown in March, and few will be in her camp for this weekend, either, after her below-par comeback at Wetherby when well beaten in a match against Kateira. 

She scoped dirty after the race, so had an excuse, but her stable continues in the doldrums. Jeremy Scott is 0/32 with his runners since the start of October and 14 of those have been sent off at single-figure odds. He has not had a winner since April. 

Never mind there are only five entries, there are multiple layers of intrigue to this race. Maybe it is my heart ruling my head, but I cannot desert CONSTITUTION HILL given his back catalogue and effectiveness when fresh. The New Lion and Anzadam both arrive unbeaten and with the potential to soar higher, but I’m going to resist the shiny new things and put my trust in Henderson reviving the fortunes of the 2023 Champion Hurdle winner.  The trainer is seeking a record-extending tenth victory in this race.