Big mover State Man 'now rates Constitution Hill's biggest threat'

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

Introducing the all-new Racing Post Power Rankings: do you agree with Graeme Rodway's picks?

Movers and shakers: chasers

We are right in the middle of the best part of the jumps season – bar Cheltenham – and the Betfair Chase is the biggest staying contest outside of the King George and the Gold Cup.

Protektorat produced a power-packed display to thrash his rivals by 11 lengths in the Haydock feature and that moves him up nine places to sixth. With Allaho on the sidelines, Protektorat is now one of the big dangers to top-ranked A Plus Tard in the staying division.

A Plus Tard was vanquished behind Protektorat but retained the top spot as he weakened quickly at Haydock and evidently didn’t show his true form. On last season’s Gold Cup win, he is still the one to beat at Cheltenham and the drift to 10-1 for that race is an overreaction.

The other big mover is last season’s King George winner Tornado Flyer, who earned the upgrade thanks to a neck second to Grade 1-winning novice Blue Lord in the Clonmel Oil Chase. He was conceding 4lb to the winner and almost got back up to win close home.

This was a superb effort that appears to have gone largely unnoticed and it should set him up nicely for a successful season.

Tornado Flyer is seven places higher than King George favourite Bravemansgame in 14th, but he will miss that target so it will be interesting to see where Willie Mullins sends him next.

Movers and shakers: hurdlers

Constitution Hill was already Top of the Pops before his 12-length demolition of Epatante in the Fighting Fifth at Newcastle and the performance confirmed his position ahead of Honeysuckle in the pecking order. He needs only to stay fit to dominate the division.

Honeysuckle will make her return in the Hatton’s Grace at Fairyhouse this weekend, but she will need to produce an impressive performance to regain second spot from State Man. He produced a stunning display in the Morgiana and the progressive youngster is up ten places.

Constitution Hill and State Man are both only five, but Honeysuckle will be nine in a month and I’m certain we are going to see a changing of the guard as the season progresses. With the wraps still on Honeysuckle, State Man now rates Constitution Hill’s biggest threat.

Goshen is back in the top ten following his victory in the Ascot Hurdle, when he made short work of some smart rivals. On a right-handed track, he is the second best hurdler in Britain.

Champ was the big mover lower down the ranks and his narrow defeat of Paisley Park in the Long Distance Hurdle at Newbury meant he ascended seven places. That is three behind the legendary Paisley Park, who I’m convinced is still the better horse of the pair. Paisley Park will probably be capable of reversing the Newbury form on softer ground at Cheltenham.

Not So Sleepy’s heavy defeat behind Constitution Hill means he falls from 14th to 20th on the list.

Read this next:

Names to note, including a potential Cheltenham Festival dark horse

WIN hospitality for four on Gold Cup day at the Cheltenham Festival 2023! It's simple and free to enter – all you need to do is download our brand-new app, open the home screen and wait for the pop-up to make your entry. Download here.