2012 Fighting Fifth Hurdle Betting Tips Part 1

There’s only a very short field of contenders ready to line up for the 2012 iteration of the Fighting Fifth Hurdle at Newcastle. Very few marginal contenders look likely to try their luck here with the only horse that’s any way out of form looks to be Bothy, who is still Grade 3 placed in his own right. This one only contains six runners even two days before the final declaration stage so don’t expect some particularly long prices here, though you can expect some very dynamic match betting. 

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The one with plenty of buzz coming in is Darlan, who sees this race set up as a seasonal debut. He got the better of Captain Conan back in April after being bested by Cinders And Ashes at Cheltenham. The Nicky Henderson charge will retain AP McCoy for the mount and he has been said to be working extremely well in advance of this race. 

He’s demonstrated the ability to hit off of a lengthy freshening and the only real blemish on his scorecard is a falling effort at Newbury in the Grade 3 Betfair Hurdle. He was actually looking quite good in the race but fell two out when traveling comfortably otherwise. 

Don’t expect a heavy price on Darlan as this is definitely the buzz horse coming into the race - a prominent hurdling contender on a number of Ten to Follow tickets. 

Cinders And Ashes returns for a seasonal debut as well and he’s going to retain Jason Maguire in this race. A Grade 2 and Grade 1 winner at Haydock and Cheltenham, he only broke his maiden four races back but looks to have plenty of skill to flash in this race. He’s still young at five but you can’t dispute the fact that he’s won every single race since breaking his maiden at Aintree last December. 

He has a tendency to deploy a tracking trip and that will suit him in this race as well - particularly if the other main contenders go for it early on. You’ll notice that his win in the Supreme Novices’ Hurdle wasn’t really a pristine performance.