The Fighting Fifth Hurdle (Saturday 2 December) is a Grade 1 Race that was introduced into the National Hunt Calendar in 1969, since when it has been won by fantastic hurdlers like Comedy Of Errors, Night Nurse, Birds Nest, Sea Pigeon, Floyd, Kribensis, Beach Road, Harchibald, Punjabi and My Tent Or Yours.
The race is run at a distance of just over 2miles at Newcastle, with 9 hurdles to jump. It is also traditionally the first-leg of the Hurdling Triple Crown, with the other two-legs being the Christmas Hurdle and the Champion Hurdle.
Trends This Century
- Winners have been aged 5 to 9, with 5-year-olds winning 7 of the 17 renewals
- Winners have been rated 135 to 164
- Nicky Henderson has trained 3 winners
- Paul Nicholls has won 2 of the last 3 renewals
- 12 of the 17 winners have been returned 9/4 or lower
- The Shortest-priced winner was Barton at 8/13
- The longest-priced winners were The French Furze and Go Native at 25/1
Main Contenders
Buveur D’air
Last season’s Champion Hurdler is going to prove mighty tough to beat if turning up anywhere near his best, and there’s every reason to believe he will do having won on his seasonal debut for the last two years. He readily accounted for the 2013 winner My Tent Or Yours at both Cheltenham and Aintree last season, and finished well-ahead of dual-winner Irving when the they met at Sandown. He’s also already rated higher than the highest-rated winner this century, which is no bad thing in a graded race, whilst he also seems happy on ground ranging from good to heavy. Meanwhile, Nicky Henderson’s 3 winners have all been odds-on.
Irving
The 2014 and 2016 winner is 9 now, but there’s no getting away from the fact that he’s produced his best performance in this race in 2 of the last 3 seasons, flopping in 2015 after making a bad early blunder. Looks sure to have the race on his agenda again, and goes well on ground that is almost unraceable if conditions are testing.
Apple’s Jade
5-year-old who has gone from strength to strength over 2½-miles after being beaten in this race by Irving last season, and looks a likely non-runner at this stage with connections having the option of going straight to the Hatton Grace Hurdle, a race she won last year.
John Constable
Disappointed on the flat last time, but was a seriously impressive winner off a mark of 150 and top-weight in a handicap prior to that. This requires another step up though.
My Tent Or Yours
The 2013 winner has not won a race since winning the 2013 Christmas Hurdle, but three runner-up finishes show he retains plenty of ability as he approaches his eleventh birthday. Possible winner if his stablemate Buveur D’air defects, but a risky proposition with his habit of finding at least one too good.
Summary
This looks at the mercy of Buveur D’air if connections take this easy looking option, but they do also have My Tent Or Yours entered, and taking odds-on is very risky at this stage. Therefore, the ante-post bet looks to be Irving each-way, as he looks sure to run in the race for the fourth consecutive year. Backing him bow also means we’ll secure 3-places on the each-way terms, in a race that could have very few runners come the day.
Tip: Irving each-way @