Saturday Review

It is fair to say we had a bit of everything on Saturday with no shortage of drama at Newbury and Newcastle. The 2023 Champion Hurdle winner Constitution Hill hit the deck for the third time in four starts in the Fighting Fifth Hurdle at the latter venue with his connections now contemplating retirement for the seven times Grade 1 victor. A circuit later, the previously unbeaten The New Lion did the same thing at the same hurdle and gifted another top level prize to the 2025 Champion Hurdler Golden Ace, who atoned for a dismal reappearance run at Wetherby four weeks earlier. It was a remarkable race for the wrong reasons. While Seven Barrows mull over the future of Constitution Hill, The New Lion remains a leading contender for hurdling's Blue Riband next spring. The jury remains out over the likely outcome had he stood on his feet but the fact is that Harry Skelton had yet to ask for maximum effort when departing the scene. Last season's Turners Novices' Hurdle winner doesn't lack gears - watch how he defeated The Yellow Clay and Final Demand in March - and he will be more at home being held up off a strong gallop in the Champion Hurdle. It was the first time he had front run and was left in the lead when Nico De Boinville's mount decided to step at the second flight. One conclusion we can draw from the race is the fact Anzadam doesn't look good enough to win a Champion Hurdle - Willie Mullins' ex-French gelding had every chance but couldn't get passed Jeremy Scott's stable star. Fair play to the winner, she doesn't look a gift horse in the mouth when presented with the opportunity and has a tremendous hurdling technique - see how quickly she flicks over the last couple of hurdles at Gosforth Park when the taps had been well and truly turned on. 

While Skelton suffered a reversal in the North East, Paul Nicholls former assistant registered another major success courtesy of Panic Attack in the Coral Gold Cup at Newbury. In doing so, the mare became the first horse to win the Paddy Power Gold Cup and Coral Gold Cup in the same season since Celestial Gold twenty one years earlier. The nine year old was only having her sixth start for the stable and carrying a four pounds penalty for her victory at Cheltenham two weeks earlier. The daughter of Canford Cliffs had failed to win in three runs over three miles plus beforehand but Tristan Durrell's mount saw out the distance well staying on strongly to defeat Three Card Brag by six and a half lengths. Back in fourth was Gorgeous Tom whose performance can be marked up following the shambolic start - there is no reference to the fact Henry De Bromhead's runner was left at the start in the Racing Post analysis when the tapes were finally lifted at the third attempt. Anyone who backed 14/1 The Doyen Chief didn't get a run for their money - Alan King's charge wasn't ready and any chance he had evaporated straight away. It was a similar story before the Grand Annual Chase at the Cheltenham Festival last March. The situation needs addresses because owners, trainers and punters are suffering. Why can't the runners take a turn and walk back another fifty yards before facing the tape once again rather than standing starts - horses are flesh and blood not machines which can be switched on and off. 

The Top 40 Prospects in One Jump Ahead has been on a longer losing run than Liverpool FC and the bad fortune continued in the opening Listed mares' novice hurdle at Newbury. Clondaw Park had reportedly been working the house down at home, according to spies in the Harry Derham camp hence she made her Rules debut in such a contest. Sat in behind the leaders in the two miles contest, everything appeared to be going to plan for the daughter of Walk In The Park turning for home. However, that all changed at the third last when Paul O'Brien's mount made a mistake and deposited her partner into the floor. Soft is probably the best word to describe the fall and frustrating for everyone concerned. It is impossible to say whether she would have won but one would like to think she would have given La Conquiere something to think about. 

Thankfully, the barren run ended later in the afternoon with Keep Him Company (11/4) winning on his Rules debut in the bumper at Fairyhouse. One of three runners in the race trained by Gordon Elliott, whose uncle the race is named after, the five year old came off the bridle early in the home straight but picked up well under Josh Williamson before stretching away - the further he went, the better he looked. His trainer suggested afterwards that the winning pointer will tackle a similar event over the Festive period. It is hoped he will go hurdling in the New Year and follow a similar path to stablemate Honesty Policy - he looks that type of horse and a very promising one.

The eyecatcher from the day is the penultimate horse featured on page 163 of OJA. Under a more forceful ride, I would suggest the result would have been different and connections may have bigger fish to fry later in the campaign. There are definitely races to be won with him.