TV TIPS (SATURDAY)

14:05 Newcastle – The Fighting Fifth Hurdle

This Saturday, we await the return of the inaugural Betvictor Fighting Fifth Hurdle, the first leg of the triple crown of two mile hurdling and the race has certainly garnered a tonne of interest so far.

The top three horses of note seem to be the obvious choices of Samcro, Buveur D’air and Summerville Boy.

Summerville Boy looks like a great prospect based on last seasons exploits however with 261 days since his last run, it’s only natural to have some kind of reservations regarding his current abilities. Having said that, his record over hurdles is not to be sniffed at with two wins and three places from 5 runs over similar distances beating the likes of Kalashnikov and Mengli Khan in the Supreme Novices Hurdle. Noel Fehily is the jockey booking who seems to get the best results out of this partnership.

Irish raider Samcro has a more than impressive record when it comes to hurdles, winning four out of six starts and beating Black Op in the Ballymore Novices Hurdle. His confidence however has been knocked after falling at Punchestown in April and achieving a disappointing second in his most recent stint. He is a versatile horse and Jack Kennedy certainly knows how to get the best out of him, he cannot be ruled out if he keeps his cool and stays on task but he’s got a tonnes of questions to answer.

The obvious choice looks to be Buveur D’air with the horses trainer Nicky Henderson thriving in this environment and although he’s not ran since March I am confident he has been put to work behind the scenes. He took this title 12 months ago and has only been beaten by top class chaser Altior in his last eleven outings. His wins in both the Champion Hurdle (2017 & 2018) and Contenders Hurdle (2017 & 2018) were extremely commendable and rumour has it he’s in very good health. Likely to be a real blow for blow race between him and Samcro and as Barry Geraghty has yet to taste defeat aboard the horse it can only be a positive. If the horse has retained his ability from last years success, he has got to be the best contender in the field.

BUVEUR D’AIR (WIN) – NAP

ITV Racing:

Newbury:

13:50 – Ballymoy (WIN)

14:25 – Lisp (E/W)

15:00 – Black Corton (WIN)

15:35 – Lady Buttons (E/W)

Newcastle: 14:05 – Buveue D’Air (WIN) – NAP

15:20 – Beau Sancy (E/W)