Henderson monitoring Ascot ground ahead of Constitution Hill return

Selective watering taking place as conditions quicken on Friday.

Nicky Henderson will make a late call on Constitution Hill’s intended return to action on Saturday after admitting conditions at Ascot have dried out more than he would have liked.

The Seven Barrows handler has long since identified the Coral Hurdle as the intended starting point for his potential superstar, who is favourite for the Champion Hurdle after a faultless novice campaign which ended with a 22-length success in the Supreme at Cheltenham in March.

After admitting to having concerns about the fast ground in Berkshire at the start of the week, those fears appeared to have been allayed after heavy rain eased conditions on Wednesday.

However, the official going dried back to good to soft, good in places ahead of and during racing on Friday and while an area of the track will be watered overnight, a final call on whether Constitution Hill lines up will be made on Saturday morning.

Henderson said: “We will have to see what the morning brings and make a decision.

“I think you have three of the best horses in England (Constitution Hill, Edwardstone and L’Homme Presse) due to run on the card tomorrow and we are all a bit in the same boat.

“There was nothing wrong with the ground today, it was beautiful ground and that would not be a worry, but it’s dried back from soft yesterday and who knows what it will be tomorrow.

“We will have to walk the course tomorrow – Nico (de Boinville, jockey) will be there before me – before making a decision, and these decisions are not easy but our job is to do our best by the horse.

“We are desperate to run and I think everyone is pretty keen to see him too, but when you have a horse as good as this, why would you take any chances?”

Should Constitution Hill be given the green light to take his chance, he will be long odds-on to dispatch of his four rivals.

Henderson has not made any secret of what the Blue Bresil gelding can do on the Lambourn gallops, describing a handful of workouts as “frightening”, while a recent schooling session had him purring.

He said: “It (schooling) was extraordinary because every horse we have now has got to learn to jump a white hurdle and we have tons of them who, when you show them a white hurdle, they’re like pigeons scattering, just when they first see one – and then it’s bang, bang, bang.

“This horse just turned straight in, jumped five hurdles all on his own and was just like an arrow. It was the first time he’d seen a white hurdle and the first time he’d seen any hurdle since the Supreme.”

Constitution Hill is set to step up from two miles to the best part of two and a half at Ascot, but his trainer does not see it as a concern.

Nicky Henderson at Warwick earlier in the week
Nicky Henderson at Warwick earlier in the week (David Davies/PA)

“I don’t think the trip will worry him. He was narrowly beaten in a point-to-point and the beauty of him is he’ll switch off,” Henderson added.

“If he was a free-running horse I would be frightened to death, but not with this fellow. He’ll go to sleep, I think, for as long as Nico (de Boinville, jockey) wants him to and he can switch him on as early or late as he wants to.”

Ascot clerk of the course Chris Stickels hopes overnight watering will ward off any further quickening of the ground in the Ascot straight.

He said: “We’re putting five millimetres of water on an area of ground between the last two fences that is currently good and we feel would be faster than good tomorrow if we didn’t water.

“It is very surprising (having to water after 41mm of rain in the last seven days), certainly I have never known the ground dry out as quickly at this time of year.

“But having said that, we’ve had the driest six months here I’ve ever known.”

The horse rated the biggest threat to Constitution Hill by bookmakers is Brewin’upastorm, who unseated Sean Bowen at the first flight on his reappearance at Aintree a fortnight ago.

Trainer Olly Murphy has been happy with his stable stalwart since, but is under no illusions about the task he faces this weekend.

Brewin'upastorm in action at Cheltenham
Brewin’upastorm in action at Cheltenham (David Davies/PA)

He said: “He’s in good form, obviously he’s facing a near impossible task beating Constitution Hill, but he schooled well under Aidan (Coleman) who is back on him because Sean is going to Haydock. There’s good place prize money and we’ll do our best.

“It (Aintree) didn’t take anything out of him and he’s schooled well since.

“You can’t be afraid of one horse, they do get beat, albeit very unlikely – we’ll give it our best shot.”

Following a bitterly disappointing chasing debut here last month, the enigmatic Goshen is sent back hurdling by trainer Gary Moore.

Goshen returns to hurdles
Goshen returns to hurdles (Bradley Collyer/PA)

The six-year-old likes a right-handed track but must concede 3lb to the red-hot favourite and is rated 13lb inferior.

“He’s in great order. We could have run in another novice chase at Kempton on Monday, but he can get more prize money for being placed at Ascot than he can for winning at Kempton,” said the trainer.

“He likes Ascot and somebody has got to give Constitution Hill a lead, haven’t they?

“We’ve got to give him a bit of weight as well, which is bonkers, but there you go.”

The Alex Hales-trained For Pleasure and Uhtred from Dan Skelton’s yard complete the line-up.

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