The Unibet Champion Hurdle clash that everyone in racing wanted to see is going to happen next week, but who will come out on top? Andy Stephens studies ten vital factors and gives his verdict
Ten out of ten for a horse who is ten out of ten over hurdles and beaten ten Grade One winners along his journey: Jonbon, Kilcruit, Epatante, Not So Sleepy, Voix De Reve, Sceau Royal, State Man, Vauban, Sharjah and
. Constitution Hill’s flawless record includes eight triumphs at the highest level, and he’s won his races by an aggregate of 104 lengths. Nico De Boinville, his jockey, has rarely had to reach for his Pro Cush to ask for more effort. The one exception was when he made his return at Kempton over Christmas after a year off. He has an official rating of 175, the same that Hurricane Fly (who won 17 Grade One races) achieved, and just 1lb lower than triple Champion Hurdle winner Istabraq peaked at.
Brighterdaysahead: Score 9
She’s achieved nine wins from her ten races, with her only blemish being when runner-up in a steadily-run Mares' Novices' Hurdle at
last season. That raised some doubts about her effectiveness over 2m, given that she had previously won over 2m 5f on heavy ground and subsequently won the Mersey Novices’ Hurdle at Aintree over 2m 4f. However, she’s been kept to around 2m this term and excelled, especially since connections have provided her with a pacemarker (King Of Kingsfield) to ensure a good tempo. She outmuscled Stage Man in the Morgiana Hurdle at Punchestown in November and never better than when trouncing the opposition by 30 lengths in the Neville Hotels Hurdle at Leopardstown last time. She’s 3/3 in Grade One races and has finished ahead of four Grade One winners: Jade De Grugy, State Man, Sir Gerhard and Mystical Power. Her official rating is 163, but she also gets a 7lb sex allowance.
CHELTENHAM FORM
Constitution Hill: Score 10
Three visits to Prestbury Park have yielded three commanding victories. Constitution Hill was awesome when trouncing Jonbon his stablemate, by 22 lengths in the Supreme Novices’ Hurdle in 2022, and did not come off the bridle when hammering
by a long-looking nine lengths in the Champion Hurdle 12 months later. His latest success, in the Unibet Hurdle on the New Course at January, was also gained in effortless fashion, despite a scare at the final flight.
Brighterdaysahead: Score 8
Whichever way you cut it, she got beaten at the Festival last year when connections were similarly bullish beforehand. Her conqueror, Golden Ace, is any price you like to win the Champion Hurdle and seems more likely to head for the Mares’ Hurdle. It is universally accepted that a slow pace led to Brighterdaysahead’s downfall, but champions usually find a way to overcome adversity. And she didn’t.
WHAT THE CLOCK SAYS
Constitution Hill: Score 10
Had the stop watchers drooling when winning in a time that dipped almost 5sec under standard in the Supreme three years ago. It remains a course record and was 5.78sec quicker (about 23 lengths) than Honeysuckle recorded when landing the Champion Hurdle later that afternoon. He also dipped almost 3sec under standard when landing his first Fighting Fifth Hurdle, and he gained his historic third Christmas Hurdle in a time 7sec quicker than the previous year, despite the ground being similar.
Brighterdaysahead: Score 10
You don’t get paid extra for clocking extravagant times and Brighterdaysahead did little in her first nine races to get the pulse racing. It was a different story at Leopardstown last time, though, when her pacemaker, King Of Kingsfield, set strong fractions and she picked him off before surging clear. Brighterdaysahead fired off six successive sub 14-second furlongs between furlongs three and eight, and then put in a mighty 13.73sec penultimate furlong, when all her rivals were wilting. She was understandably getting a bit weary by the finish (her Finishing Speed Percentage was 98.37%) but her winning time was 4.8sec under standard, on ground described as good to yielding. The previous time the race had been run on good to yielding, Sharjah triumphed in a time 9.8sec slower (in other words, the best part of 40 lengths slower).
JUMPING
Constitution Hill: Score 9
We all recognise him as being a fast, flashy jumper, and that’s backed up by RaceiQ, the data specialists who measure his entry/exit speeds and much more. They have allotted him an overall Jump Index score of 8.8 out of 10, which reflects his past five efforts. I reckon that may well be higher had they been able to log all ten of his races, so am rounding that up to 9. His scores in his past five runs have been 9.1, 9, 9.1, 8.8 and 8.6 (in a race run at a crawl he was unable to fully express himself). In terms of lengths gained, he has grabbed anything between three and seven lengths. Of 42 hurdles measured by RaceiQ in his past five races, he has jumped best of the whole field on 24 occasions. He’s sometimes drawn gasps by standing off a long way (like at the final flight in the 2023 Champion Hurdle) and he got in a tangle at the last when scoring last time, but he still lost little or no momentum.
Brighterdaysahead: Score 8.4
She’s a big mare and has not always been the most fluent, but that has not stopped her getting from A to B without losing much momentum. Her RaceiQ Jump Index score is 8.4 out of 10, with her scores this season being 8.2, 9.1 and 8.5. She’s generally gained between five and seven lengths in the air. Of 47 hurdles measured by RaceiQ, she has jumped best of the whole field on 21 occasions. Her connections have made no secret of the fact that they view here as a chaser, with fences beckoning next season.
TACTICAL VERSATILITY
Constitution Hill: Score 10
He can take a keen hold and generally tracks the leaders or makes his own running. We’ve yet to see him dropped out in rear and asked to pass everything, and I’m guessing we never will because “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it”. He’s won slow-run races, like last time, and those run at a ferocious end-to-end gallop, such as in the 2022 Supreme. Like Frankel, who revelled in dishing out drubbings, he is not one for half-measures. And the fact that he’s happy doing his own thing at the head of affairs, if required, means Nico De Boinville need never come back in and report that “we got beat because they went too slow”. He can be the master of his own destiny.
Brighterdaysahead: Score 9
We saw last year that Brighterdaysahead is vulnerable over 2m if the gallop is on the steady side. However, she’s entitled to have strengthened up since then and, in any case, her connections have eradicated that potential stumbling block by giving her a pacemaker in the shape of King Of Kingsfield. But the problem with best-laid plans is that they can go wrong. What if King Of Kingsfield has to miss the race, doesn’t fancy going an honest pace, or blunders away his rider at the first hurdle? That could put a very different slant on things.
THE GROUND
Constitution Hill: Score 10
They say the best horses “go on anything” and he’s living proof it. He’s won on all surfaces ranging between good and heavy, without seemingly having any preference. He was once a non-runner at Ascot because of good ground and missed another gig at Sandown because of heavy going, although on both those occasions, he was due to be making his intended seasonal return and Nicky Henderson merely keen for conditions to be somewhere between the two.
Brighterdaysahead: Score 9
Like Constitution Hill, she’s won on all types of surfaces. That said, she’s a strong stayer and, with that in mind, you would have to think that Gordon Elliott and company would like soft ground on the big day to bring her stamina into play. That’s the way ground is described now, eight days out, but this week looks like being dry and sunny.
PREPARATION
Constitution Hill: Score 10
You’d have to say that since Boxing Day, when he won on his return at Kempton, things have gone without a hitch for a horse whose laidback demeanour means he is never going to waste much energy. Henderson’s instinct after that outing was to head straight for the Champion Hurdle but Constitution Hill came out of the race so well that he was back in action at Cheltenham a month later. And then came his fluent workout at Kempton last month. Never mind that he was up against two inferior stablemates, it was hard not to be impressed with the way he glided clear without turning a hair. He gave all the signs of being a happy, healthy horse, primed for the big day.
All the vibes from Cullentra have been positive, with Gordon Elliott delighted with his mare’s wellbeing. He got three runs into her in the space of two months in the first half of the season before hitting the pause button. She will be returning refreshed after a 72-day break. One niggle, and it’s a minor one, is that she put in a big shift at Leopardstown last time and we don’t know whether that has left any mark. However, connections resisted a tilt at the Irish Champion Hurdle, in early February, to give her more time to recharge her batteries.
AGE & SEX
Constitution Hill: Score 10
“He’s eight now”, I’ve heard it said by a few fretful that Father Time may be tapping him on the shoulder. It’s true that most two-mile hurdlers have hit their peak by this time, but keep in mind that Constitution Hill is extremely lightly raced for his age, and that he’s yet to get in a single eyeballs-out battle where he may have glimpsed the dark side. This century, there have been seven horses aged eight or older who have won the Champion Hurdle: Istabraq, Rooster Booster, Hardy Eustace, Brave Inca, Hurricane Fly, Annie Power and Honeysuckle. They’d all had much more racing. Istabraq was having his 35th race under Rules, while Rooster Booster (28th), Hardy Eustace (22nd), Brave Inca (23rd), Hurricane Fly (30th), Annie Power (16th) and Honeysuckle (15th) had also been much busier. And of course, apart from his lighter schedule, we have rarely seen a horse blessed with as much ability.
Honeysuckle won two editions of the Champion Hurdle
Brighterdaysahead: Score 10
It’s her sixth birthday on Saturday, and she has finally got all her teeth! She should be approaching the peak of her powers as a 2m hurdler. Six of her age group have won the Champion Hurdle this century, all of them since 2009. Two five-year-olds have also won since 2008. In other words, eight of the past 17 editions have been won by horses aged 5 or 6. The Champion Hurdle was first run almost a century ago, but only six mares have won it. Yet four of the past nine renewals have been scooped by the female of the species, in the shape of Annie Power (rated 162 going into the race), Epatante (159) and Honeysuckle (twice, rated 161 before victory number one). The introduction of a 5lb weights allowance for mares in the 1980s helped change the scenery a little, and that was increased to 7lb in 2004.
TRAINER
Constitution Hill: Score 10
Nicky Henderson is Britain’s most successful trainer at the Cheltenham Festival, with 73 winers and counting. And that haul includes a record nine Champion Hurdle victories, the first achieved with See You Then 40 years ago. Henderson knows better than most exactly what it takes to win at the biggest meeting of the year and his blank last year, when many of his horses had well-documented health issues, was his first since 2008. If Constitution Hill is beaten, it is highly unlikely because he has pulled the elastic band too far beforehand or left him short of work.
Brighterdaysahead: Score 10
Gordon Elliott has few peers, including when it comes to readying one for Cheltenham. He has accumulated 40 Festival victories since 2011, with 23 of them coming in non-handicaps. He came as close as he’s ever done to landing the Champion Hurdle last year when Irish Point jumped the last upsides State Man before coming off second best. He has said he's never had a stronger contender for the race, although that rather overlooks that he had another mare for the same owners, Apple’s Jade, who looked an outstanding candidate for the 2019 renewal. She lined up with a rating of 166, having won the Irish Champion Hurdle by 16 lengths on her previous start, but trailed home a disappointing sixth.
JOCKEY
Constitution Hill: Score 10
Ask ten racing fans who the best jockey riding in Britain and Ireland is right now, and you might well get ten different answers. I’m not sure Nico de Boinville would get many votes for No 1, probably because he takes few outside rides and we don’t get to see him as often as some of the other big names. He’s had 205 rides this season (181 for Henderson), the least of anyone in the top 20 in the Jockeys’ Championship, and considerably fewer than such as Sean Bowen (767). But that means De Boinville is fresher than most and his strike rate of 24 per cent this campaign (38 per cent on favourites) is up to his usual standard. He’s a calm character and I’m struggling to recall a big race where you might have been able to point a finger at him for defeat. He’s 10/10 on Constitution Hill, 8/8 on Jonbon, 4/4 on Sir Gino, plus was 18/21 on Altior, 14/21 on Shishkin, and 4/5 on Sprinter Sacre, not to mention superb on Coneygree in the Gold Cup, and when runner-up on Might Bite in the 2018 edition. Wonderful horses, no question, who plenty would have won on, but he’s played his part in moulding many of them. It’s a privilege riding horses like Constitution Hill, but there’s huge pressure and a weight of expectancy, too. De Boinville seems to thrive on it. He’s had 16 Festival winners.
Kennedy is back in time for Brighterdaysahead (Healy Racing)
Brighterdaysahead: Score 10
Jack Kennedy is one of the most gifted around. Exhibit one: his first Festival win was aboard the quirky Labaik in the 2017 Supreme Novices’ Hurdle, a horse renowned for not starting, yet alone winning. Exhibit two: his victory aboard Mount Ida in the Fulke Walwyn Kim Muir after she had traded at 999-1 in-running early on. The 25-year-old has a dozen Festival wins to his name and would surely have more but for injuries getting in the way. He has been desperately unlucky in that regard, suffering a sixth broken leg at Fairyhouse in November. It’s been a race against time to get back for next week, but he was given the all-clear by his surgeon on Friday and returned to the saddle at Leopardstown on Monday. With the benefit of hindsight, he probably should have kicked on earlier aboard Brighterdaysahead when she got beaten at Cheltenham last year. But lessons were learnt and he’s not one for making the same mistake twice.