It is one step forward and two steps back in relation to the fitness of the outstanding talent that is Constitution Hill.
The brilliant 2023 Champion Hurdle winner has not raced since last year’s Christmas Hurdle at Kempton.
The race is on yet again for the Nicky Henderson-trained star, who has won all eight of his outings under rules, to make that engagement this year after missing this week’s Fighting Fifth due to a nerve injury on his leg.
The warning signs have been flashing red for some time in regards to Constitution Hill. He’s had more disappointing racecourse gallops than actual races in the last 18 months.
The first cause for genuine concern was at Kempton in the build-up to the 2024 Champion Hurdle where he was lethargic in a public gallop.
The unbeaten Constitution Hill with trainer Nicky Henderson at home at Seven Barrows
Former Champion Hurdle and Supreme Novices’ Hurdle winner has been off track for 11 months
His breathing was a major worry and he missed the Cheltenham Festival. A serious bout of colic then floored him at a time when the whole Henderson yard were under the weather.
The summer was spent nursing him back to health. Henderson has consistently been adamant that the best two-mile hurdler in recent times was on his way back.
Upbeat bulletin after upbeat bulletin later, he went to Newbury earlier this month for another bitterly disappointing racecourse gallop.
His stablemate Sir Gino worked all over him and Constitution Hill looked lethargic. Yes, the enthusiasm appeared to be there but the engine was still spluttering.
The markets reacted promptly and there was nothing Henderson could say to allay the fears of some shrewd punters as Constitution Hill went from 8-13 to 7-4 for the Fighting Fifth and 4-1 from 7-4 for the Champion Hurdle.
Put it this way, there was enough concern in the disappointing piece of work for some to have both short and long-term fears over whether this horse has retained its ability.
Usually it pays to trust your own eyes, block out the external noise and trust your own judgment on matters when your own money is on the line.
The cynics have won the short-term argument.
Constitution Hill in full flight to win the 2023 Champion Hurdle at Cheltenham
Sir Gino took in the Fighting Fifth instead and Constitution Hill was sidelined yet again.
The latest of many updates from Henderson was a typically positive one and offered an excellent explanation in what was precisely bothering Constitution Hill.
Put it this way, you’d be doing well in getting a scan in an NHS hospital before Constitution Hill. Nobody can say these horses aren’t looked after.
This will-he-won’t-he run soap opera dominated the build-up to the 2024 Cheltenham Festival. It was the same in the Fighting Fifth and will happen yet again before Christmas with potential for a fourth chapter in the saga in the 2025 Cheltenham showpiece.
The whole prolonged episode is becoming thoroughly tiresome and it’s dangerously threatening the legacy of his on-track achievements.
Henderson has almost been too helpful in giving chapter and verse about the life of Constitution Hill over the last 12 months that some of updates have been met with a combination of indifference and derision.
The eyes of hardened punters believe he’s not the force of old.
Those with no vested financial interest firstly just want to see the day when this brilliant horse race again and secondly run to a standard that is close to his best.
Until that day comes or not, there isn’t really much else we need to know about Constitution Hill.
PANTO SEASON STARTS EARLY FOR LANGER DAN CLAN
There’s been a running joke for about two years about the campaigning of Langer Dan on Racing X, formerly known as Racing Twitter.
It involves a horse that can’t run to save himself in the winter but is magically reinvented into Pegasus in spring. Pantomime season arrived early when the 160-rated Langer Dan took a walk in the market from 11-8 out to 5-1 in Friday’s farcical four-runner Long Distance Hurdle at Newbury.
Langer Dan finished a distant third. Running to market expectations is the polite way of putting it. This horse has shown next to nothing for two whole seasons before amazingly sparking into life at the Cheltenham Festival, winning two Coral Cups off a mark of 141 on both occasions.
Connections celebrate Langer Dan’s success at last season’s Cheltenham Festival
Look, everyone that follows racing on a daily basis is aware of market moves and the odd piece of jiggery pokery to make the game pay is tolerated by most punters.
We’ve all been burnt by being on a horse that’s drifted like a barge and scuppered by a blot that is hammered in five minutes before the off. That usually happens at a lower grade or in races with little or no form to go on.
It should not be happening in four-runner Grade Twos with a horse rated 160+. Connections of Ahoy Senor were hauled in front of the stewards when he finished third in the Old Roan Chase at Aintree last month for a quiet ride off top weight over a trip too short.
Given the background of Langer Dan and his deplorable effort that quickly showed why he stunk the market out beforehand, it was quite astonishing the stewards failed to do likewise on Friday.
PERFORMANCE OF THE WEEK… The disappointing run from chief market rival Mystical Power dampens enthusiasm slightly but SIR GINO was wickedly impressive from the second-last to the line in winning the Fighting Fifth Hurdle at Newcastle.
A late replacement for sidelined stablemate Constitution Hill for this Grade One, Sir Gino won with great authority and the four-year-old’s jumping was sharper as the race developed.
He’s a top-class horse and this could represent a changing of the guard moment in the Nicky Henderson yard and the Champion Hurdle division. He proved he has the speed, can handle quick conditions and jumps sharply. Given how fresh he was in the first mile, there is plenty in the locker as well.
SELECTION OF THE DAY… KLARC KENT (7-1, William Hill) ran a blinder when fourth in the Scottish Grand National at 50-1 last season and his subsequent effort at Punchestown can be forgiven as it came too soon.
His three-length defeat to Senior Chief, who is now rated 151, off level weights in February reads extremely well.
The choice of Paul Townend, this stayer trained by Willie Mullins ought to have more to offer this season off a mark of 130 and can play a big part in today’s Porterstown Handicap Chase at Fairyhouse (1.05).
