Micky Hammond’s hopes are high for Cornerstone Lad in Fighting Fifth

The Middleham trainer was speaking after Mary Lofthouse’s versatile horse recorded an eyecatching win on the Flat at Redcar on Tuesday.

Cornerstone Lad came to prominence when winning last year’s Grade One Fighting Fifth under an enterprising front-running ride by Henry Brooke that left Buveir D’Air, the former Champion Hurdle winner, with too much to do.

The horse then put up an even better performance to finish a close third, conceding weight, in Haydock’s Champion Hurdle Trial in January.

But Hammond believes the horse’s disappointing run in the Champion Hurdle itself, when pulled up by the aforementioned Brooke, was a one-off.

This comes after Cornerstone Lad was fourth at Redcar last month in his comeback run before prevailing this week under Billy Garritty who rides with increasing confidence under both codes.

“He improved nicely from the first run at Redcar to the second run and we know he will improve again,” Hammond told The Yorkshire Post. “He’s been schooled over fences this autumn and it’s always been the intention to go novice chasing with him at some stage.”

However Hammond believes the Fighting Fifth Hurdle is a worthwhile proposition – provided there’s sufficient cut in the ground for a horse who thrives of heavy conditions.

Meanwhile last year’s one-two Lostintranslation and Bristol De Mai are among 10 entries for the Betfair Chase at Haydock on November 21.

The Nigel Twiston-Davies-trained Bristol De Mai claimed the Grade One prize in both 2017 and 2018, but was denied the hat-trick by Colin Tizzard’s Lostintranslation 12 months ago.

Bristol De Mai was only ninth in the Gold Cup, but can be expected to be more of a force back on Merseyside.

Nicky Henderson has entered his Gold Cup runner-up Santini, while Paul Nicholls has both dual King George hero Clan Des Obeaux and Topofthegame in contention.

Clan Des Obeaux was fourth in the 2018 Betfair Chase, with long-absent stablemate Topofthegame expected to instead head for the Ladbrokes Trophy at Newbury the following week.

Nicholls said: “Clan Des Obeaux is in great form at home and will head for the Betfair Chase. Physically, he seems to have improved on years past. Two years ago, we went to the Betfair Chase just to put our toe in the water to see if he could run in graded races and he ran a really good race. He then went on to win the King George.

“He will be ready to put up a good performance at Haydock – there is no point going there thinking he is going to need the run. He will be ready and then that is nice timing for him to go to Kempton again on Boxing Day.”

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