Henderson to ‘stick to the plan’ after Hill awarded rating

Nicky Henderson sees no reason to deviate from the plan after Constitution Hill was given a “perfectly fair” official Flat rating of 101 by the British Horseracing Authority following his all-weather victories at Southwell and Kempton.

Switched to the level after falling in three of his final four races over obstacles, Nicky Henderson’s former champion hurdler made a spectacular start to his new career at Southwell in February and while last week’s Kempton success was not as visually striking, he ultimately won with plenty in hand.

Henderson told the Press Association: “The mark is round about what we were thinking and now we have that there, so we have the options.

“It’s perfectly fair, I’m sure it’s not easy to rate a horse like that and it’s fine.”

Henderson had indicated his preferred next move with Constitution Hill would be Newbury’s Group Three John Porter Stakes, with the master of Seven Barrows keen to learn more about what level his former Champion Hurdle hero can achieve on the level at his local track on April 18.

He added: “I don’t think it’s changed our thinking and at Newbury he’s going to be taking on horses rated quite a bit higher than him, but we’ve got to press on.

“He is nine and we haven’t got time. We’ve got the first bit done and now we’ll stick to the plan, I see no reason why not.”

Explaining the assessment of Constitution Hill, BHA handicapper Adam Barnes suggested it was his Southwell debut where he blitzed his rivals by upwards of nine and a half lengths, rather than his Kempton follow-up, that has been the major contributing factor to his three-figure rating.

Speaking on the BHA podcast on Tuesday morning, Barnes said: “His Southwell win was a very visually impressive performance and the form has a really solid look to it.

“The horses in the places were both previous winners who both had penalties and they give the form plenty of substance. He got quite a high figure for that run, which is what his opening mark will actually come from.

“It’s hard to say exactly what he had in hand at Southwell. The bare form would have been a low to mid-90s performance and I’ve added half a dozen lengths of poundage on top of that, just because of the style of the win.

“He’s going to be rated 101, which is a high figure for a horse coming out of novices, but could potentially turn out to be a lenient figure for a horse like him with the ability we know he’s got from being such a high-class hurdler and he retains plenty of that ability.”

Barnes also explained Constitution Hill may need to up his game by around 10lb to play a major role in the John Porter, where he could meet established names of the summer scene, such as William Haggas’ pair of previous race winners Hamish and Al Aasy.

He continued: “It will be interesting to see how high he can go in the Flat sphere. Connections have mentioned the John Porter as a possible next target, that is a well established Group Three, and generally you’d want to be running to around 110 plus to get really involved in a race like that.

“Over the last decade winners have ranged from around 106 up to 115. William Haggas has mentioned horses like Hamish or Al Aasy could go there and they’re rated 117 and 115, so that gives you an idea of the kind of level he’ll need to be at to win a race like that.

“I think a Group Three like the John Porter is a realistic target to find out where he sits. If he were to win that then obviously they can look at bigger Group-race targets, or if he were just to run well without winning a race like the Ebor would be a possible target as well. That low-100s figure would probably be ideal for a race like that.”