2022-23 Timeform Jumps season awards featuring El Fabiolo, Constitution Hill and Lossiemouth

Novice hurdler – Impaire Et Passe

I think the collective wisdom outside of Timeform would be to give this gong to Sky Bet Supreme winner Marine Nationale – he’s unbeaten, it’s a great story with an up-and-coming rider, an owner-trainer full of character.

But on Timeform ratings it’s Impaire Et Passe, who won over the longer distance of the Ballymore at the Cheltenham Festival. Nothing against Marine Nationale who is a very valid option for a Champion Hurdle if Constitution Hill does something different, but so too is Impaire Et Passe, who is slightly more in the mould of a Ballymore winner of yesteryear.

He could easily drop in trip, he looks full of pace, and his defeat of Gaelic Warrior looked strong at the time, and even stronger now following Punchestown.

Juvenile hurdler - Lossiemouth

What might have been for Lossiemouth at the Dublin Racing Festival was very much a case of dominance re-assumed in the Triumph Hurdle when the market spoke for her.

Stablemate Blood Destiny effectively disappeared from the scene and after seeing off old rival Gala Marceau that day, she took their own private battle to 3-1 in good fashion at the Punchestown Festival, not long after the Cheltenham form had been boosted at Aintree when Triumph third Zenta won for – guess who – Willie Mullins.

Novice chaser – El Fabiolo

For pure aesthetics you’d go a long way to beat The Real Whacker, who has cleared roughly 55-60 fences in his chasing career and not made a semblance of a mistake.

But in terms of ability, and that’s the question I’ve been asked to tackle here, El Fabiolo simply has to get the vote. Brilliant at Cheltenham, where he saw off Jonbon and just as authoritative against old rival Dysart Dynamo at the Punchestown Festival, in a week where not every Cheltenham winner found following up a doddle.

Two-mile hurdler – Constitution Hill

This could obviously be a question simply of ‘best horse’. Because the leading two-mile hurdler, not just of this season but of basically every season in modern times, is Constitution Hill.

I must admit, I was left slightly underwhelmed and questioning what was really there at the end of the Aintree Hurdle when stepped up in trip. But it may just have been that, on the back of the huge effort at Cheltenham, a long season in terms of the time in training not necessarily the number of runs had taken the edge off him.

However, it’s the Cheltenham performance from 2023 (replay below), and the Cheltenham performance in the Supreme in 2022, that mark him out as very special and let’s just hope there’s some creative campaigning this season which means we don’t just get a trio or more of runs in races where he’s a class apart.

Two-mile chaser – Energumene

I was all set to crown Edwardstone the leader in this division, and Energumene scrambling home from veteran stablemate Chacun Pour Soi at Punchestown might have given that view a bit more credence, but it’s hard to ignore the fact that for two seasons in a row Energumene has been the one to punish mistakes and poor performances from others rivals to win back-to-back Queen Mother Champion Chase titles.

It's a while since he gave Shishkin all he could handle in the Clarence House at Ascot but on balance, even if he doesn’t show it all the time, Energumene’s peak level is the best on Timeform ratings in the two-mile chase category.

In the end, the main danger to this title probably wasn’t Edwardstone – it came from his own stable in the hugely talented novice El Fabiolo.

Staying hurdler – Sire Du Berlais

How could this not be Sire Du Berlais, who caused a surprise according to the betting when reviving in the Paddy Power Stayers’ Hurdle to enhance a remarkable Cheltenham Festival record in March, prior to following up at Aintree.

That was another amazing performance which hardly looked likely as close to home as the second-last before the turbo kicked in. He even went down on his sword at Punchestown – so three massive efforts this spring, and a CV that goes down in modern times as one of the most impressive when it comes to Cheltenham Festival consistency.

You can probably guess which Festival race I backed him in – yes, the 2022 Pertemps Final off a generous mark when he effectively got wiped out when badly hampered by a faller before halfway.

Staying chaser – Galopin Des Champs

The Punchestown Festival’s position in the calendar has led to a good few shocks in the premier staying chase at the meeting in recent years and we had three big prices who went in through the 2010s with the likes of Carlingford Lough, China Rock and Follow The Plan all upsetting the odds.

And maybe Fastorslow is in the same category, albeit his improvement feels a bit more believable, but it’s the horse who finished second – Galopin Des Champs – who clearly wasn’t fully over his Cheltenham exertions, and probably not seen to best advantage either under different circumstances.

He gave Bravemansgame a far more convincing defeat in the Cheltenham Gold Cup and it’s worth crediting the fact that Punchestown was the first time he’d tasted defeat when completing a race over fences. He may have lost that particular battle but he’ll surely win the war when he returns next season, still with age on his side.

I’m sure we all hope he does a bit better in his bid to defend the Cheltenham crown than A Plus Tard managed this season.

Biggest improver – The Imposter

A nod to the big improvers on the Timeform scale throughout the season and there are lots of potential examples.

Maxxum made great strides, Iroko was similar for Oliver Greenall and Josh Guerriero, culminating with victory in the Martin Pipe at Cheltenham.

But the real hero in this particular category for me is one further down the grades – a horse named The Imposter, who just kept winning. There was a dead-heat in the middle of it all but he races with an aggressive style yet still kept a bit back for himself which helped him stay ahead of the handicapper.

His campaign was remarkable and he kept doing enough, not winning by wide margins on the whole but improving his Timeform rating bit-by-bit to some tune, his rating going from 65 to 108.

Other candidates and special mentions to Soul Icon, Final Orders who won six times and the likes of Coolvalla whose first win was off an official mark of 90 and his last was off 130 – he improved his Timeform rating through that period a full 50lb.

Special mention for a horse that I’ve seen several times on the track. Half Shot has been running solidly since Iain Jardine got him in April 2022, he’s run 10 times since then – he’s won three, he’s mixed hurdles and fences, he’s raced over distances from 19 furlongs up to 32 furlongs, he’s run to or close to his Timeform rating on nine of those occasions despite being out of the weights three times.

He's just struck me as, at his level, one of the most in-form horses of the entire season, tanking through his races. I don’t think three wins quite does him justice but he’s definitely worth an honourary mention.

Trainer to follow – Laura Morgan

Finally, a nod to the trainers – Timeform keep their own trainer rankings – and I think the rise of Laura Morgan is one that bears closest scrutiny. In horse terms she’s been very progressive, her numbers and winners have improved in each of the last four seasons and has broken the 40-barrier for the first time through 2022-23.

And watch out in particular for her work with chasers, horses that may not achieve a huge amount over hurdles. She sources them well and seems to know the right types to really flourish over fences.

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