Lorcan Williams feels Golden Ace will need to be on her ‘A game’ if she is to retain her crown in the Bowmer and Kirkland Fighting Fifth Hurdle at Newcastle later this month.
The Jeremy Scott-trained eight-year-old, who landed the 2025 Unibet Champion Hurdle at the Cheltenham Festival, is one of 12 entries that have been received for the Grade One two-mile-and-one-furlong test on November 28th.
Last year, the daughter of Golden Horn sprang a 22/1 surprise in the £120,000 contest when taking a major step forward from her second in a match race in the Listed bet365 Mares’ Hurdle at Wetherby on her comeback last season.
And, after finishing third aboard Golden Ace on her seasonal bow last month in the Listed Panoramic Hurdle at Carlisle, which was re-routed from Kempton Park, the 27-year-old is confident she will put up a stern defence of her title.
Williams said: “I was really happy with her at Carlisle. She ran a great race. She just got tired halfway up the run in, but we were over the moon as she will come on for that. Like everyone has been saying, with the weather and stuff, we haven’t been able to get them on the grass and do that bit more, so she will improve for it.
“The race is going to be a lot more competitive, so she is going to have to be on her A game, but we are going there open minded hoping that she can run a good race."
With Kateira, Maestro Conti, Mydaddypaddy and The New Lion from the Dan Skelton yard among the entries, alongside the Joe Tizzard-trained Alexei, winner of the Grade Two Molyneux Hurdle at Aintree, Golden Ace is once again unlikely to be vying for favouritism.
However, Williams admits that he enters this year’s contest, which has also attracted her last time out conqueror Wilful from the yard of Jonjo and AJ O'Neill, and the Harry Fry-trained Idaho Sun, winner of the Grade One Formby Novices’ Hurdle on his last start, in more bullish mood.
He added: “We are a lot happier than we were last year as Wetherby didn’t go to plan. We were scratching our heads afterwards, whereas Carlisle this year was much more pleasing. We knew that she would come on for it, so to see her run a good race until half a furlong out I thought was fantastic.
“She has been a fantastic mare and is more than worthy of being in that company. We will give it a good kick and see how we get on. At the moment I wouldn’t look into the entries too much. We will wait until the declarations are confirmed and then make a plan in our head.
“She is definitely at her peak, and she has shown that she still remains hard to get by. She will run her race, and, if there are any kinks in the armour of any of her opponents then hopefully she can find them out," he added.
Fighting Fifth Hurdle - Paddy Power bet: 2 Mydaddypaddy, 9/4 Alexei, The New Lion, 5 Golden Ace, Wilful, 16 Idaho Sun, Maestro Conti, 25 Ebony King, Minella Study, Nemean Lion, 33 Kateira, 66 Indemnity
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