Constitution Hill produces ‘special’ Tolworth performance

Henderson ace in cruise control for Grade One glory at Sandown.

Constitution Hill lived up to his tall reputation with a brilliant performance to land the odds in the Unibet Tolworth Novices’ Hurdle at Sandown.

Sent off the 2-5 favourite for the two-mile Grade One contest after making a striking winning debut over the same course and distance five weeks ago, the Nicky Henderson-trained five-year-old put in a top-class display.

However, Henderson was not at the track to see his sixth winner of the race as he is in self-isolation at home after testing positive for Covid-19.

Conditions may have been much heavier than on his debut, but Constitution Hill coped admirably with the heavy ground under a confident ride by Nico de Boinville.

Jetoile made the running until the second-last flight, where Constitution Hill took over and was soon in command. Clear at the last, the Michael Buckley-owned winner went on to score by 12 lengths from the game Jetoile.

Constitution Hill was cut to 9-4 from 7-2 with Betfair and 2-1 from 7-2 with Coral for the Supreme Novices’ Hurdle at the Cheltenham Festival – where he looks set to clash with equally-exciting stablemate Jonbon.

De Boinville said: “This is some horse, I couldn’t believe when I looked round how far clear I was. That was bottomless ground, but he’s made light work of it.

“He’s such a likeable horse, he’s so easy, and I believe there’s more to come. He’s very, very straightforward.

“We knew he was good from what he was doing at home, but it’s always nice to see it translate to the track and now he’s backed it (debut) up.

“It was a great performance, he’s push button – he’s a jockey’s dream.

“He was fantastic there today. I was blown away by that – that was special.”

On a showdown with Jonbon, De Boinville said: “I’m sure they’ll meet at Cheltenham, all being well, and that will be a great match up. They’re very different horses, with very different dispositions, but it’s exciting and it’s exciting for the yard.”

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