Henderson hoping for Christmas masterclass from Constitution Hill

PA Sport Reporters
December 26, 2022 3:45 pm

‘There’s a certain amount of responsibility and a certain amount of trepidation about it’.

Nicky Henderson is feeling a mixture of nerves and excitement as the brilliant Constitution Hill prepares to strut his stuff once more in the Ladbrokes Christmas Hurdle at Kempton.

The five-year-old looked a star in the making last season, with 14 and 12-length Sandown wins followed by a scarcely believable 22-length romp in the Supreme Novices’ Hurdle at Cheltenham.

And having seen his charge pick up where he left off in the Fighting Fifth at Newcastle last month, Henderson recognises anything less than fireworks on Boxing Day will leave many underwhelmed.

“He seems to be absolutely fine. He did a bit of work last week, Nico (de Boinville) rode him then and Sean who rides him all the time is very happy with him,” the Seven Barrows handler told Unibet.

Constitution Hill is FABULOUS in the Betfair Fighting Fifth Hurdle at @NewcastleRaces! pic.twitter.com/6GlpVJxAJn
— At The Races (@AtTheRaces) November 26, 2022

“It’s difficult because everybody is getting to the point where only one thing will satisfy everybody, so he’s going to have to keep producing these ridiculous performances. Let’s hope he can.

“You are very lucky to find horses like these. It was the same with Sprinter Sacre and Altior so there is no point bemoaning the fact people want to know about them, I’m enjoying it and I hope Michael (Buckley, owner) is too.

“The trouble is these horses are so fickle, everything has got to keep going the right way. His last three performances were pretty amazing by any standards and he’s got to keep at that level and keep in one piece too – that’s where we come in.

“There’s a certain amount of responsibility and a certain amount of trepidation about it.”

The biggest threat to Constitution Hill appears to be his stablemate Epatante, who is no slouch herself as a Champion Hurdle heroine and dual Christmas Hurdle winner.

Epatante winning last year's Christmas Hurdle — Epatante winning last year’s Christmas Hurdle (Steven Paston/PA)

But she was 12 lengths behind Constitution Hill when bidding for a third Fighting Fifth last month – and after an intended tilt at Cheltenham’s International Hurdle was scuppered by the weather, Henderson has little option but to let them lock horns once more.

He added: “Epatante is in very good form herself. She won this last year by miles and is a very good mare.

“Having missed the International, we are almost forced to run her – there’s nowhere else to go.

“I was quite keen to try her over further, but they (owner JP McManus’ team) were quite keen to run again and the prize-money is good, so they’ll take each other on.

“At least they can’t say we are ducking and diving!”

Metier winning the November Handicap at Doncaster (Nigel French/PA)

Alan King saddles stable stalwart Sceau Royal, while Harry Fry’s Metier reverts to the jumping game after winning the November Handicap on the Flat at Doncaster.

“We were delighted with that run back on the Flat at Doncaster and we’ve been waiting for his conditions,” Fry told Sky Sports Racing.

“Like so many others, plans A, B and C have gone out the window. We were training him for Ascot last weekend and he was in at Lingfield on Monday, which was sadly lost to the weather as well.

“This was not necessarily high up on our list of races, but he’s ready to run and needs to run. We’re taking our chance and with a clear round, hopefully we can pick up a bit of prize-money.

“He won so well at Lingfield last year on their valuable Winter Million card and we’re hoping to go back there with him.”

Chris Gordon’s outsider Highway One O Two completes the line-up.