The end of season Anglo-Irish jumps classifications were released on Wednesday, and there’s plenty of big names towards the top, and a lot of Irish dominance, just as you’d expect.
When it comes to the chase division, the top spot has been shared by the 1-2 home in the Cheltenham Gold Cup, winner Inothewayurthinkin and second placed Galopin Des Champs.
Over on the hurdles division, despite his last flight blunder to lose the Champion Hurdle, State Man has come out on top of the rankings.
While everything looks good to me, it’s another stark warning to UK racing, as their numbers continue to suffer. In the chasing top 10, there’s just one UK runner listed, and that’s 10th placed Jonbon.
A little more success over hurdles, but not much, as we have two listed, Constitution Hill in 3rd place and The New Lion in 8th position.
2024/24 Season Chase Classifications
| Position | Horse | Rating |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Inothewayurthinkin | 176 |
| 1 | Galopin Des Champs | 176 |
| 3 | Fact To File | 173 |
| 4 | Gaelic Warrior | 170 |
| 5 | I Am Maximus | 170 |
| 6 | Marine Nationale | 170 |
| 7 | Il Etait Temps | 169 |
| 8 | Nick Rockett | 169 |
| 9 | Grangeclare West | 168 |
| 10 | Jonbon | 168 |
I don’t think anyone will be surprised to see the top two sharing the number one ranking here. Inothewayurthinkin was best in the Gold Cup, and laid down a real marker for the future, but Galopin Des Champs was electric earlier in the season, and has of course won two Gold Cup’s before this season.
Elsewhere, a little lower down, Fact To File is in third place, he was brilliant in the Ryanair Chase, and it’s going to be interesting to see where he goes next season.
The rest all put up good performances, but it’s incredibly disappointing from a British perspective to see Jonbon only 10th. Yes, he failed in the Champion Chase, his big moment, but he was very strong before that, and had he won at Cheltenham, I’m sure he would have been much higher on the list.
2024/25 Season Hurdles Classifications
| Position | Horse | Rating |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | State Man | 167 |
| 1 | Bob Olinger | 164 |
| 3 | Constitution Hill | 162 |
| 4 | Teahupoo | 162 |
| 5 | Home By The Lee | 160 |
| 6 | Brighterdaysahead | 159 |
| 7 | Lossiemouth | 159 |
| 8 | The New Lion | 159 |
| 9 | Final Demand | 158 |
| 9 | Hiddenvalley Lake | 158 |
| 9 | Kopek Des Bordes | 158 |
The leading hurdler is probably where we’ll see a little more debate. While the entire season doesn’t revolve around Cheltenham, we usually see a Cheltenham winner at the top, this year we don’t.
Of course, if he’d stayed up at the final flight, State Man would have won the Champion Hurdle, but he did bounce back in great, and authoritative style when winning at Punchestown in May.
Bob Olinger came in second, fair after winning the Stayers Hurdle, but the rest of the list are horses that have disappointed us at least once this season, and that’s probably more about the state of the current hurdling division, rather than the individual horses.
Constitution Hill, just as he’s done all season, will no doubt split opinion here and get people talking, and what comes next for Constitution Hill will be the talking point of the summer I think.
Failing at the big three, Cheltenham, Aintree and Punchestown, but still being classed as the third best hurdler in training. For me, I’ve no huge issues with it, not because I’m a big fan, but simply because there’s no one ready to take over that spot, not yet anyway.
