FEATURE CONSTITUTION HILL
FEATURE CONSTITUTION HILL
“Here is this dream and it is still alive. We have got to make the most of it while it is still alive, and we pray everything goes right for him.” Henrietta Knight, trainer of three-time Cheltenham Gold Cup winner, Best Mate “I think racing and the country like to have a horse they can associate with and he is that horse. He will capture the imagination of the people rather like Best Mate did. He was the people’s horse and I think that is what Constitution Hill is becoming. “He is on everybody’s lips and he is the first horse that is mentioned when it comes to Cheltenham. “He has not run many times, but what he has done has “He has never really been asked a serious question, as he has sprinted clear of the opposition. He appears to jump lovely, and he really seems to enjoy his racing. “He is very important for Jump racing, and for the sport as a whole. He is the young pretender, and I think it is very important we have a horse like this. been spectacular. I think it is the ease with which he has been winning his races that makes him stand out. “Nicky is a top trainer and he deserves a really good horse like this again. It is lovely for him, and it definitely adds to the story. Constitution Hill is becoming the people’s horse and Nicky is the people’s trainer.” Ed Chamberlin, ITV Racing Presenter “People often ask me what is our job on television, and the answer is we want to make racing as popular and as welcoming as we can, but to do that you need those hooks and there is no better hook than the horse itself. “We’ve been very lucky since we took over on ITV, as we have had three big ones in Enable, Stradivarius and Tiger Roll. They have really captured the public’s imagination, and Constitution Hill could be the next horse to do that. “But we mustn’t get carried away, as he is a long way off it, however, he has this stage on Champion Hurdle day for people to go ‘wow’ and as Mick Fitzgerald keeps telling me this horse has got that wow factor. “I’ve a football background and I love telling stories that capture the sports fans’ imagination. That is what Cheltenham does. These are probably the four most popular days of the year – they are four days that resonate far beyond racing. This is the stage where Constitution Hill has got to go win a Champion Hurdle before we can begin to talk about him as a great. “With Nicky Henderson you have got an extraordinary communicator who is so eager to please. He is a guy
Sprinter was the most beautiful horse you would see, and he knew it. He went everywhere with that swagger. “Constitution Hill doesn’t do that. He eats, he sleeps, he gets up and does what work you ask him to, and he goes back to bed. It is all very straightforward. “This isn’t a beauty parade, so it doesn’t matter, but if it was, I’m afraid they would finish in front of him, but he is growing into a fine horse and he is starting to get the idea that he is a bit different. “I like the involvement in a horse like this, as you feel like you have achieved something, and people want to be part of a horse that has touched them somewhere. “Horseracing is still a great sport and there is a great
community. It is a great game that a lot of people enjoy. They appreciate very good people and very good horses. “Everybody wants to know what he is up to in the village (Lambourn), but
“Horseracing is still a great sport and there is a great community involved”
“Hopefully, Constitution Hill can live up to his reputation and deliver that success under Nico that we all want to see happen”
there are other horses here, and in other yards, just as important that have big days ahead. “We all want him to be this superstar, but we have been lucky having the Sprinters and Altiors, however you never get blasé about it. “We are lucky they have found their way to Seven Barrows and that we get to mind them and all we can do is our very best. “Michael (Buckey, owner) has been with us since the year dot and he has been a wonderful supporter. “We’ve had good times and bad times and we’ve had a lot of fun, but there have been tears and laughter too.
“There is no doubt he is a talented horse and if you picked one of the jump horses you would love to own or train, he would be the pretender you would pick that could be the superstar. “In sport, they often say some of the most difficult things are the simplest. He is simple in terms of he isn’t complicated in how he races. He jumps out and seems to do whatever you want. You can drop him in, make the running. He looks like a bit of a push button job and when you press the accelerator, he comes alive. “He looks like he just freewheels away and when you put your foot down, he picks up. He is a pretty economical jumper and on the whole, he is faultless, what you have seen so far. “I think what it does do, with him being trained by Nicky Henderson, from an owner and jockey point of view, is that it doesn’t put you in a weaker position, as he has trained more Champion Hurdle winners than anyone else. “It would be exciting walking into Cheltenham on Tuesday morning knowing you were going to ride him. “You want to walk in there with the nerves running through you, as you want to feel the pressure of riding the horse like that, as it is the greatest privilege you can have in racing. “Hopefully, Constitution Hill can live up to his reputation and deliver that success under Nico that we all want to see happen.”
that you can go on a journey of emotions with, before, during and, in particular, after the race. “Very soon he is going to be training public property in Constitution Hill, but he is in the best possible hands. Greatness and resonating with the public comes from longevity as much as anything else.” Sir Anthony McCoy, 20-times champion Jump jockey, who won the Champion Hurdle on Make A Stand (1997), Brave Inca (2006) and Binocular (2010) “We all see horses and sports people that have moments of brilliance, and Frankel’s 2000 Guineas (in 2011) was one of the wow moments. “As jump horses, you have to achieve a lot to elevate yourself from the back page to the front. There have only been few jumpers that have been capable of doing that – other than Desert Orchid, Red Rum, Kauto Star and Best Mate there have not been many. “I look back at the hurdlers in recent times and Hurricane Fly is the best most recent one while Istabraq is the best one I’ve seen in my time. What Constitution Hill has done the last two times has had the wow factor about it in the ease in which he has won. “He has beaten a good mare in Epatante a couple of times, but after the Champion Hurdle we will get a different reading, as if he is able to do the same to them, to those rivals, then he might be able to get on the front page.
Henrietta Knight
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CHELTENHAM.CO.UK 11
THE FESTIVAL PREVIEW MAGAZINE
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