Our Podcast team look at some of the big talking points ahead of the BetMGM Fighting Fifth Hurdle at Newcastle.
Ed Chamberlin – We need a British winner
I’m really looking forward to this – and this is the race of the day. It comes 20 minutes or half an hour into our (ITV Racing) show on Saturday and I’m really looking forward to it. If I had a wish, and I love Marie Donnelly dearly, I really don’t want Anzadam to win.
If this season is going to be the humdinger we want it to be, the horse we could do with winning is Constitution Hill. He’s the one horse, and I’ll keep saying it even though people knock him and get bored about him and whatever, who resonates beyond our sport at the moment.
There are lots of columns written about him but that’s the reason. If jump racing has a pin-up boy it is him, but The New Lion might be the new kid on the block and blow them all away which, again for the narrative of the season, is great.
If Anzadam wins it’s 'Willie has everything' and 'will Lossiemouth even go for the Champion Hurdle' and that type of thing, so I’d like one of the two Brits to win it but I don’t know what’s going to happen, I haven’t got the foggiest, I don’t know how anybody can.
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Graham Cunningham - No-one really knows what to expect
I have a view on this and it’s a contrasting view to most people. This is not a knock on the race or the horses, but this is an absolutely picture-perfect illustration of the confetti-canon content era the racing media has made for itself now.
The New Lion is back in trip for his first race outside of novice company; Anzadam hasn’t been seen since beating the 11-year-old three-miler Beacon Edge at Naas in January; Constitution Hill fell at Cheltenham and Aintree and ran the worst race of his life at Punchestown. Yet everyone is lining up to say, ‘yes this is definitely going to win, yes that is definitely going to win'.
It’s going to be fascinating. We might see one major star in it, we might see two, we might even see three, but I haven’t got a clue what’s going to be happen because nobody, and I mean nobody, even those closest to Constitution Hill, can put their hand on their heart and say this horse is as good as he was a couple of years ago, because last spring was absolutely atrocious for him.
Ben Linfoot – Will Harry Skelton jump out and make it?
Has The New Lion got the speed for a test like this? That's what we’re going to find out but I think when we look at his races over two-and-a-half miles, he travelled so strongly that he looks like one of those Baring Bingham horses who can drop back to two miles and win a Champion Hurdle. That’s why we’re looking forward to his season so much.
Tactically, it’s fascinating. There’s not one confirmed front-runner in the race and I wonder if Harry Skelton might just think ‘right, let’s find out’ and go to the front and put pressure on Constitution Hill’s jumping and win the race that way.
We’ve seen how Dan Skelton’s horses have been coming out recently, Grey Dawning was primed at Haydock last Saturday, Kabral Du Mathan too, and it’s one scenario that could happen.
I think he has the speed for two, I think he’s the new kid on the block, and if I had to have a bet in the race, it would be on him.
Our writers on the Fighting Fifth
Billy Nash - Anzadam has plenty to prove
As Ben alluded to the tactics are fascinating, it’s the most interesting aspect of the race for me. I was wondering if Nico might decide to buck out Constitution Hill and give him no excuse and make him attack his hurdles. Would that make the difference to him? He has made the running in the past.
I was wondering if they’d do that but Anzadam likes to get on with it, he wears a hood and can be quite keen. He was keen in small-field races and you’d imagine they’ll go a stronger gallop on Saturday which might help him settle better, but it will be fascinating to see how it works out.
The New Lion shapes like a horse who won’t have any issues over two miles, but his pedigree is all stamina, he’s bred to stay three miles without any difficulty at all.
There are so many fascinating aspects to this race and GC is right, it’s not a race I’d like to have a bet in, but is one I can’t wait to see and we’re going to learn an awful lot more on Saturday and hopefully get one or two realistic Champion Hurdle contenders from it.
Anzadam looks a horse well worth his place in a race of this nature and you have to accept the fact that coming out of the yard that he’s in, they know what a Champion Hurdler looks like and they have plenty to compare him with at home.
The vibes have been very positive, apparently he worked really well again at the Curragh recently and if they think he’s a Champion Hurdle horse you’ve got to sit up and take notice but on what he’s done on the track, he’s got a lot to prove and has loads to find, but clearly they're seeing something at home that we haven’t seen on the track yet.
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