Constitution Hill a big Champion Hurdle drifter after Newbury workout

Constitution Hill was a big drifter in the ante-post markets for the Bet MGM Fighting Fifth Hurdle and Unibet Champion Hurdle on Tuesday morning after failing to fire in a racecourse workout at Newbury. 

The unbeaten seven-year-old had, trained by Nicky Henderson, had been a general 6-4 to regain his crown at Cheltenham in March but was pushed out to 4-1 after playing second fiddle to Sir Gino, his stablemate, in a spin at the Berkshire track course’s annual gallops morning. The layers then decided that was perhaps an over-reaction, trimming him back to 3-1. 

Lossiemouth, brilliant winner of the Mares’ Hurdle last season, usurped him as Champion Hurdle favourite with several firms. She is no bigger than 11-4, and as short as 9-4 in places.

Constitution Hill was also eased in the betting for the Fighting Fifth Hurdle at Newcastle on Saturday week. Having been a general 8-11 for that race, he is now available at 13-8.

Nico De Boinville shook up Constitution Hill in the closing stages of the gallop but didn’t get much of a response, whereas Sir Gino, last season’s outstanding juvenile, finished hard on the bridle under James Bowen.

His connections looked downcast afterwards, with smiles and animated chat in short supply.

Racecourse workouts can be a notoriously poor guide to the wellbeing of any horse, but it will have done little to encourage Constitution Hill’s bulging Fan Club that he is fully over his travails of last season, when he ran only once after a series of issues. 

This spin was nowhere near as bad as Constitution Hill’s public humiliation at Kempton in February, when his lacklustre display was a precursor to him missing his defence of the Champion Hurdle.

But it was nowhere near as good as his workout at that track a couple of weeks before he won the Champion Hurdle in 2023, having been off since Boxing Day. That day he sat about ten to 15 lengths behind two other stablemates, who were admittedly doing their own thing, before sauntering clear of them.

On this occasion, with his return at Newcastle looming, it was surprising that he couldn’t get upsides his four-year-old stablemate, a horse officially rated 23lb inferior who is scheduled to switch to chasing this season. De Boinville and Bowen can both ride at about the same weight.

Henderson told the assembled media: “He’s fine. Absolutely 100 per cent. If there was any problem, I would say straight away. Speaking to Nico just now, we’re going to school him on Friday and work on Sunday.”

He added to the Racing Post: "I hope we’re going to see the usual Constitution Hill [at Newcastle]. It was great and we got the work into him. He's done a lot more today than he did with Jonbon a couple of weeks ago and he needed this gallop.

"He's ready for action. That made him work and it's why we're here. People need to remember this horse has had bad luck. There's nothing wrong with him, he hasn't been injured. It's all part and parcel of the game.

"He's had a good blow. He'll do a bit of work at the end of this week as he's not had a school yet. He hasn't jumped a hurdle, but I don't think he needs to. It just keeps his eye in."

De Boinville appeared on Sky Sports Racing and said Constitution Hill was merely short of peak fitness, having not had a run for almost 11 months.

“He felt great until about the two (furlong marker) and then he’s had a really good blow," he said. “He’s come off looking like he’s had a really good piece of work. It’s soft ground out there and he just needed it a bit, but that will bring him on.

“Turning into the straight, he really locked on and I was just having to say ‘whoa, we’ve got four furlongs to run’ so all the ability is there, it’s getting him up to full fitness.

“Today will bring him on an awful lot, we’ve got one more piece of work to go, he’ll probably school this week and then we’re ready.”

When he was asked if he felt a different horse to the Kempton gallop, De Boinville said: “Too right. At Kempton I was struggling going into the back straight, I could have pulled him up there and then and probably should have done, but today was great – Sir Gino is a very good horse himself.”

Constitution Hill has won all eight races he has contested, being hailed as one of the greats after runaway wins at the Cheltenham Festival in 2022 and 2023.

However, he has run just once since signing off his 2022-23 campaign with victory at Aintree, when easily landing the Christmas Hurdle at Kempton at the end of last year.