Kempton at Christmas could be calling for Nemean Lion

The Christmas Hurdle is one of several options on the table for Nemean Lion, following his third-place finish in an incident-packed renewal of the Fighting Fifth Hurdle at Newcastle on Saturday.

Kerry Lee’s stable star was a late addition to the Gosforth Park Grade One – and while his cause was aided by the high-profile falls of Constitution Hill and The New Lion, the eight-year-old turned the £2,430 supplementary fee into £15,623 behind Champion Hurdle heroine Golden Ace and the previously unbeaten Anzadam, missing out on second by a neck.

Constitution Hill has won the last three editions of the Christmas Hurdle and with his future now uncertain, Lee will consider rolling the dice once more at Kempton on Boxing Day if underfoot conditions are in his favour.

She said: “I was absolutely delighted with him, he ran a great race.

“You’re never too optimistic going into a Grade One of that calibre, how can you be when you’re taking on Constitution Hill, who is rated 19lb higher than us, at level weights?

“It was a long old day, starting at 4am. We didn’t have massive expectations, so we were really chuffed, albeit it wasn’t very nice to see the good horse fall.

“We’ll be keeping all the options open now going forward. Going into last weekend we were looking ahead to the races he won last season at Windsor and Fontwell, but they are quite a way off and it would be good to get another run into him while we’ve got the ground.

“He’ll have an entry in the Christmas Hurdle and if that were to come up soft we’d look at that. If not then we’ll look at Cheltenham on New Year’s Day (Relkeel Hurdle), there’s also a race at Windsor on New Year’s Day and we’ll just keep going forward like that until the cards fall our way.”

Nemean Lion was disappointingly pulled up in the Stayers’ Hurdle at last season’s Cheltenham Festival and a return to three miles is not on the agenda.

“I never wanted to go three miles really, it was just a case of trying things,” Lee added.

“We’ll put a line through that one and stick between two miles and two-five, ground depending. I personally think the horse is better on a flat track and I certainly wouldn’t rule out going to France if we need to go to find the right race.”