Bear enters champion picture

Straw Bear emerged as a genuine Champion Hurdle contender with a smooth success in the Grade One wbx.com “Fighting Fifth” Hurdle at Newcastle.

Nick Gifford’s five-year-old was just touched off in the Supreme Novices’ Hurdle at the Cheltenham Festival last season but looks to have improved in the interim as Tony McCoy never had an anxious moment on board the heavily-backed even-money favourite, who scored by five lengths.