4 days ago
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Constitution Hill is on course for a mouth-watering early season showdown with The New Lion, the Champion Hurdle favourite, after a thrilling gallop at Newbury.
The last time Constitution Hill had been seen in public was at Punchestown at the beginning of May. He was thrashed by State Man that afternoon, having previously suffered two horrible - and totally unexpected - falls in the Champion Hurdle at Cheltenham and the Aintree Hurdle.
Nicky Henderson, the legendary trainer, understands that Constitution Hill carries the status as the most popular horse in the country and has been determined all summer to restore the gelding’s confidence and nurse him back to full physical potential.
It is why the workout over a mile-and-a-half early on Tuesday morning was critical. At this event, staged by Coral, 12 months ago, Constitution Hill was lacklustre behind galloping companion Sir Gino and was subsequently ruled out of a trip to Newcastle for the Fighting Fifth Hurdle.
But Newcastle is most definitely on Henderson’s agenda now after Constitution Hill, partnered by regular jockey Nico de Boinville, scooted clear of stablemates Therapist and Act Of Innocence to delight a throng of more than 400 hardy souls who had turned up for the event.
‘On we go!’ said a clearly relieved Henderson. ‘That went according to plan and everything has been very straightforward with him. He has got slinkier; he has strengthened up. I always thought he was very square, very solid horse but he looks very handsome and very happy now.
Constitution Hill looked back to his best as trainer Nicky Henderson took him to Newbury
The runaway Champion Hurdle favourite shocked punters when he fell with four hurdles to go
‘Going to Punchestown was entirely my fault. It was a brutal experience. It was over that day when the tapes went up. He turned around, away from the tapes, and looked up at the stands. It was almost like he was saying to me: “Dad, I can’t do this again!”
‘He had never turned his head away from anything, I can assure you. But that’s what he said that day. We had to overcome all sorts of problems, trying to look inside his head and see what is going on. We have tried to unravel them and hopefully we have.’
Henderson gave a candid insight into the work that has gone on behind the scenes at his Seven Barrows yard to reviving Constitution Hill, including a secret gallop at Worcester Racecourse when - incredibly - he almost ended up working with The New Lion, who is trained by Dan Skelton.
‘I have no idea what he worked with that morning,’ said Henderson. ‘Nobody knew. It’s lucky that he didn’t run 30 minutes earlier because he would have been with The New Lion! They wouldn’t have known it was us because he went under the name ‘Harry’!
‘He’s always lived under that name. We had to send him to the vets a couple of time and I didn’t want anyone to know, so we called him ‘Harry’ to stop the interns saying: “Gosh, Constitution Hill has been here!” But Worcester was terrific. Nico held him up then he passed 10 horses in 10 strides.
‘I accept it is going to be very interesting at Newcastle. There will be improvement and Dan’s horses are running very well. He has got to have a school over hurdles and he will work again next Monday but we are ready to go. We just want his jumping to be polished. Let’s see what happens.’
On an informative morning, when 30 horses from stables such as Paul Nicholls, Olly Murphy and Harry Derham worked at different intervals, Henderson’s powerful grey Hyland - who is a contender for the Coral Gold Cup here in 10 days - caught the eye. He was ridden by big race ride James Bowen.
