"It's off to Newcastle" - Henderson pleased with Constitution Hill despite Fighting Fifth drift
Nicky Henderson took Constitution Hill for a gallop at Newbury ahead of the Fighting Fifth Hurdle. Despite drifting betting odds, Henderson expressed satisfaction with the workout. Videos of the gallop stirred debates online, but Henderson remains confident. Constitution Hill will continue training and school before heading to Newcastle. Meanwhile, Sir Gino, also trained by Henderson, will likely skip the Fighting Fifth for a novice chasing debut at Kempton, with ongoing schooling yielding promising results. Bookmaker odds have adjusted, with Mystical Power now leading bets for the hurdle.
- Constitution Hill gallops at Newbury ahead of Fighting Fifth
- Nicky Henderson pleased despite drifting odds
- Sir Gino might not race at Newcastle; chasing debut planned for Kempton
Nicky Henderson seemed pleased with Constitution Hill's gallop at Newbury today, despite his star drifting in the Fighting Fifth Hurdle betting.
Ahead of his comeback in the Fighting Fifth Hurdle at Newcastle, Nicky Henderson took Constitution Hill to Newbury for a racecourse gallop. Nico De Boinville's mount worked alongside Sir Gino, who is also entered in that Grade One at Newcastle, and it was the younger horse who impressed most, with Constitution Hill seemingly struggling to keep pace with Henderson's four-year-old.
The Twittersphere went crazy as videos of this gallop emerged. Some even went so far as to say that Constitution Hill won't see the racetrack ever again. When quizzed by the press at Newbury, Henderson didn't see perturbed by his stable star's display.
"It's good for him to get out there." Henderson said, "I'm glad we had that rain, it's softened up the ground very quickly. I was ringing George (Hill, clerk of the course) on Sunday saying "Help, will it be alright to gallop on?" and he said "don't you worry, it'll be fine"."
"It did make him do some work, which is good. He has to do work. We've got ten twelve days to go and he hasn't jumped a hurdle yet, but now the ground is softening (he can)."
"I'm not going to teach him anything by jumping hurdles. Yeah, it gets your eye in, which can help, but hopefully he can jump with his eyes shut."
"He'll have another school. He'll probably do a little bit of work over the weekend, then it's off to Newcastle."
When asked whether Sir Gino could join Constitution Hill in the field this weekend, Henderson reitterated that novice chasing remains the plan for his Grade One-winning juvenile.
Henderson continued, "We're going to go chasing. He's still in the Fighting Fifth, but unless something goes wrong (with Constitution Hill), he won't be declared for Newcastle on Monday. We could keep him in until the last moment. He's there are the back-up team, and it's a pretty strong back-up team I can tell you"
"He's very, very good. He's a seriously good horse. Unfortunately he was one of the ones who had to miss out at Cheltenham and he just got back in time to go to Aintree."
"The plan is for him to make his novice chasing debut at Kempton. Now we've had the rain, we've got alternatives."
"We tried him once over fences, just to see, and he said "yeah, I can do that boss, it's easy" and then the schooling has got a little more serious over the last fortnight.
A 4/7 favourite yesterday, bet365 now quotes odds of 13/8 on Constitution Hill to win the 2024 Fighting Fifth Hurdle. Such was the favourite's drift, Willie Mullins' Mystical Power now heads the betting with some firms at 6/4. Brighterdaysahead, Golden Ace and Brentford Hope all shortened into single-figure prices.
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