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

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 pound-for-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 – more than 26 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 right-handed 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 Irish-trained 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 under-appreciated. 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.

Chasers

If you thought that the hurdling division was exciting then just take a look at the chasers. This is a golden generation and A Plus Tard gets the Racing Post title of chasing champion.

I thought I had seen the performance of the week when Constitution Hill won the Supreme at the festival, but A Plus Tard’s Gold Cup triumph trumped it. I’ve never seen a horse run through the line with such gusto at the end of the Gold Cup and he did it in a quick time too.

A Plus Tard found trouble in running when turning in, but put more than 18 lengths on the 2021 winner Minella Indo from the home turn in one of the most devastating displays ever seen in the Gold Cup. It was a freakish performance that is unlikely to be topped for a while.

Cheveley Park Stud have the first two as they also own another freakish talent in Allaho, who went two-and-a-half-mile pace for three miles in the Punchestown Gold Cup and had his rivals legless in behind. He was out on his feet himself and ran the closing stages slowly in comparison to the other chases on the card, but by then he had already blown the race apart.

Allaho produced a similar performance in the Ryanair at Cheltenham to give him two of the top three runs of the season on my rankings and he’d be a worthy champion in a normal year.

What about the race of the season? That surely came at Ascot in January when Shishkin and Energumene went head-to-head in a much-anticipated clash between the star two-mile novices of the previous season and it was Arkle winner Shishkin who won a gruelling battle.

Energumene jumped and travelled best, so much so that in-running punters on Betfair backed him to a low of 1.13 to win the epic tussle. However, they underestimated Shishkin’s guts and determination, and the Nicky Henderson-trained star dug deep to win going away at the line.

Maybe Shishkin dug too deep as he never travelled before being pulled up early on in the rematch at Cheltenham, which Energumene won, and Shishkin wasn’t seen out again. That allowed Energumene to take advantage and land the Punchestown Champion Chase as well.

Shishkin’s victories at Ascot, and previously in the Desert Orchid at Kempton, ranked higher on my scores than Energumene’s Cheltenham or Punchestown wins so it wasn’t a difficult decision to give Shishkin third place ahead of Energumene. Let’s see what this season brings.

Incidentally, Energumene only scraped fourth ahead of Royale Pagaille. It might surprise a few that he is that high up, but there aren’t many better when the ground is testing and he produced one of the runs of the season to win the Peter Marsh at Haydock under 11st 10lb, conceding upwards 16lb to subsequent big handicap winners Sam Brown and Fortescue.

Fakir D’Oudairies is often the forgotten horse of the two-and-a-half-mile division. He is caught in the shadow of the outstanding Allaho and was beaten by him three times last season, but he won his other three starts including the Grade 1 Ascot and Melling Chases.

Galvin was the best of the Christmas winners. The Savills scorer at Leopardstown achieved more than King George winner Tornado Flyer and went on to finish fourth in the Gold Cup.

Clan Des Obeaux takes his place in the top ten courtesy of his win in the Bowl at Aintree and his second in the Punchestown Gold Cup, when he was the only horse to give Allaho a race.

It was a strong season for the novices and, such is his reputation, Galopin Des Champs is favourite for the Gold Cup next year. He would have thrashed Bob Olinger in the Turners at Cheltenham but for dramatically coming down at the last and that performance was comfortably the best from a novice last season, but it’s still a little way off Gold Cup class.

Galopin Des Champs confirmed himself the supreme novice chaser around when landing a Grade 1 at Fairyhouse in April, but L’Homme Presse was comfortably next best behind him.

L’Homme Presse ran away with the Scilly Isles at Sandown and followed up in the Brown Advisory at Cheltenham, when he had subsequent Aintree Grade 1 winner Ahoy Senor behind in second. L’Homme Presse had those places reversed when he was third at Aintree, but I’d trust Cheltenham form over Aintree efforts and Ahoy Senor doesn’t make the top ten.

The Arkle went to Edwardstone and he is the best two-mile novice from last season, but only narrowly ahead of his Aintree conqueror Gentleman De Mee and both are on the fringes of the top ten. However, with Shishkin and Energumene around, they will face a vintage crop.

Graeme Rodway’s trainer and jockey power rankings are based on a 365-day rolling snapshot of trainers whose runners ran to an RPR of 140-plus on their previous start

Trainers

Do you have a go-to trainer? Having spent a lot of time around genuine racing fans and punters alike, I’ve come to realise that almost everyone has a yard which they hold dear.

It’s a bit like supporting a football team and, once you’ve made your allegiance, it stays with you forever. When I was young my dad used to follow Jenny Pitman’s horses blind and, as I grew to love the sport, I became fond of a Paul Nolan runner – particularly Accordion Etoile.

In modern-day jump racing there is no debate. Willie Mullins is the best around and by a long way. He is dominant to such an extent that I’ll be surprised if anyone can knock him off the top spot in my Power Rankings this season, but those underneath him may surprise a few.

The places below Mullins are likely to be more fluid and change as the season progresses but, writing in the middle of October on the back of the summer season, Joseph O’Brien is a clear second. Busselton’s victory in the Kerry National at Listowel helped cement that position.

Nigel Twiston-Davies, Alan King and Venetia Williams all come in ahead of the power pair Nicky Henderson and Paul Nicholls, but Henderson and Nicholls have yet to hit full stride.

Henderson in particular has the calibre of stable capable of challenging Mullins for top spoils as the season develops. Nicholls, meanwhile, might not have a Constitution Hill or Shishkin in his yard, but he has a number of high-class horses who can help him challenge for a 14th champion trainer title.

Tom Lacey might catch a few eyes sneaking into tenth ahead of bigger names like Henry de Bromhead, Gordon Elliott and Dan Skelton. It will be interesting to see whether Lacey can continue to hold that place as the summer fades and the sport’s stars emerge from hibernation.

Of course De Bromhead, Elliott and Skelton are unlikely to be out of the top 10 for long. De Bromhead, in particular, will be one of the favourites to challenge Mullins come March, with the likes of Honeysuckle and A Plus Tard at his disposal. However, it might be Elliott who will make bigger gains during the early part of the season as he unleashes his battallion of budding and established stars.

Jockeys

How do we best judge jockeys? That is one of the more difficult questions to answer because the amount of success a rider enjoys is correlated with the class of horse they regularly ride.

I have been known to argue – maybe mischievously – that horseracing is like Formula One. In motor racing the fastest car wins more often than not – not the best driver – and there is a strong argument that the same happens in horse racing. The best horse wins – not the best jockey.

However, the best jockeys get it consistently right more often than others and, while Paul Townend regularly rides the best horse, he also makes the fewest mistakes and is the leading jockey right now. Like Mullins in the trainer list I’ll be surprised if he’s usurped from the top.

There isn’t a lot between the next five in the rankings behind him and I’d expect Nico de Boinville to throw down a serious challenge to Aidan Coleman for second when Nicky Henderson’s string hits top gear in winter. And how high can amateur Patrick Mullins go?

No Rachael Blackmore? She is another who is likely to climb the table as the season takes shape but on recent form Stan Sheppard, working for the red-hot Tom Lacey, is riding better.

Champion jockey Brian Hughes just missed out on the top ten along with other big names like Jack Kennedy, Harry Cobden, Davy Russell and Harry Skelton. It will be interesting to see whether they can break through once their star rides start returning from summer breaks.

Read Graeme Rodway’s Power Rankings every week from November 15 on racingpost.com

Members' Club subscribers can read more from The Big Jump Off:

Constitution Hill v Honeysuckle: 'I'll be getting stuck in at those prices'

'He just screams Grand National to me' - Tom Segal's ante-post jumps tips

'I'll be surprised if he is as big as 14-1 should he go there' - ante-post picks

Patrick Mullins: Autumn in Closutton. So many questions. So few answers. For now . . .

Ruby Walsh: 'The pretender against the champion - that's what makes every sport so good'

Ante-post expertise: 'He's 20-1 for that, which is twice as big as it should be'

The perils of projecting Flat ratings to hurdles

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The jumps season is coming! Pick up your copy of The Big Jump Off, packed with everything you need to get you excited for the 2022-23 National Hunt season. Free in the Racing Post on Monday, October 17, it's got 72 pages of unbeatable content including ante-post tips, guest columnists, divisional analysis and much more. You can order your copy from the Racing Post shop here.