Fighting Fifth likely for Rendezvous Trainer Jeremy Scott says it is likely Melodic Rendezvous will swerve the Coral Hurdle at Ascot on Saturday and instead run next weekend at Newcastle. The seven-year-old gelding is one of seven possible runners for the Grade Two in Berkshire, and threw down an early marker for the Champion Hurdle at Cheltenham next March following his accomplished success in the Elite Hurdle at Wincanton. But Scott accepts his inmate is a more viable contender for the StanJames.com Fighting Fifth Hurdle on Saturday week - should the leading protagonists for the Coral Hurdle stand their ground. He wrote on www.jeremyscottracing.com: "The Coral Hurdle at Ascot on Saturday reopened so we thought we'd stick an entry in for Melodic Rendezvous, see who else entered, work out who is likely to run, and make a decision from there. "It appears that Zarkandar and Willie Mullins' horse, Annie Power, are both likely to run. "Zarkandar is rated higher than us and Annie Power will have the mares' 7lb allowance. "Off Melodic's current rating of 155 they would be hard to beat. "It's a two-mile-three-furlong race, and he's only run over two miles or two miles and one furlong, so the likelihood is that we will go for the Fighting Fifth, unless Zarkandar and Annie Power don't run, to see whether he is true Champion Hurdle class. "My Tent Or Yours is the horse that will take all the beating in that race (Fighting Fifth), and if he beats us by a country mile, then we know we will need to have a rethink. "It's only with the benefit of hindsight that we will know if we've done the right thing."
