INTRODUCING POWER

Graeme Rodway with his pound-for-pound assessment of how the very best chasers, hurdlers, trainers and jockeys measure up

MAKE no mistake, we have entered another golden era of jump racing and last season served only to confirm it. The crowds were back, the atmosphere was electric and the action on the track was scintillating but, in boxing terminology, who is the poundfor-pound king or queen?

In boxing, the famous American magazine The Ring hands out a belt to signify that it deems the wearer the best fighter in their division.

Here I aim to put that into action with my own set of power rankings, which will be updated week-on-week through the coming season on Racing Post platforms. These will rank horses in order of ability judged on their best form and denote the current champion in each division.

HURDLERS

The hurdles division is creating plenty of debate. The two-time Champion Hurdle winner Honeysuckle is set to face her biggest challenge against the young pretender Constitution Hill. But Constitution Hill is no contender – he should already be considered the champion.

It’s quite easy to compare Constitution Hill and Honeysuckle as they raced over the same course and distance, on the same day, just two hours apart on the Tuesday of last season’s Cheltenham Festival and there is simply no comparison. Constitution Hill is a class apart.

Constitution Hill ran a time 5.78 seconds quicker than

Honeysuckle –morethan26 lengths – carrying 4lb more in weight. He was more than 27 lengths ahead of Honeysuckle through the first three-quarters of their respective races and ran the last quarter just over a length slower.

On that form, Constitution Hill would have won the Champion Hurdle and probably by a long way. He therefore already takes the top spot, despite having run only against novices.

Honeysuckle’s consistency gets her the second spot, narrowly ahead of dual Stayers’ Hurdle winner Flooring

Porter, whose only effort among the top ten came at Cheltenham in March when he dictated the pace to land a second Stayers’ crown. He still ran a sound time though.

A lot has been said about the relative weakness of British hurdlers in comparison to their Irish counterparts, but I don’t think that is necessarily true and six of the top ten are British-trained.

Goshen is a top-class horse who simply doesn’t show his best at Cheltenham, but not many will beat him righthanded on soft going. He confirmed that when running away with the Contenders Hurdle at Sandown in

February, producing one of the performances of the season. He is set to go chasing and it will be interesting to see where he figures in a much stronger division.

And what about Epatante? She thrashed Grade 1 opposition in the Aintree Hurdle by 14 lengths and appeared to have Irish-trained perennial runner-up Zanahiyr cooked when he fell.

However, if there is one Irishtrained horse who might be underestimated, it is

Teahupoo. He produced one of the hurdling performances of the Irish campaign when slamming Darasso and Triumph Hurdle scorer Quilixios in the Red Mills Trial on heavy ground at Gowran Park.

He finished tailed-off last in the Champion Hurdle at Cheltenham and the Punchestown equivalent, but evidently didn’t show his true form in either race and is sixth on the list.

Not So Sleepy dead-heated with Epatante in the Fighting Fifth at Newcastle and is another often underappreciated. He will probably make his mark again on testing going in winter.

Klassical Dream beat Flooring Porter, albeit after being given a head start, in the Christmas Hurdle at Leopardstown and that performance noses out Cleeve Hurdle winner Paisley Park and Thyme Hill, who both went on to outperform him in the Stayers’ Hurdle at Cheltenham.

Constitution Hill is the only novice to make the top ten, but there are several sitting on the fringes who should be capable of progressing into the elite as the season gets into full swing.

State Man won the County Hurdle and followed up in the Champion Novice Hurdle at Punchestown. He is narrowly ahead of Supreme runner-up and Aintree Grade 1 winner

Jonbon, while Ballymore Novices’ Hurdle winner Sir Gerhard is just a place behind him.

Sir Gerhard might have been higher but for his defeat at the hands of Mighty Potter at Punchestown. That was Mighty Potter’s second Grade 1 win, but he didn’t make the top 20.

‘CONSTITUTION HILL IS NO CONTENDER – HE SHOULD ALREADY BE CONSIDERED CHAMPION’