FEATURE SPOTLIGHT ON HORSES
NICKY HENDERSON
JONBON “He has only been beaten twice, both times at Cheltenham. Once by Constitution Hill and once in the Arkle, but I don’t think that was him in the Arkle. His jumping was very good all the way through last season, except for Cheltenham where he didn’t jump as well as he can. “There were just a few things we ironed out before his next two races, but they weren’t complicated things, as he was a miles better horse at Sandown than he was at Cheltenham. “He was very good at Aintree, then I did a very un-Henderson like thing, which was to bring him out a fortnight later. I wanted to find out if he was a two-miler or not. “I was leaning towards going two- and-a-half miles with him at Aintree, but the two-mile race was much weaker, so we decided to stay at two miles. After that I was thinking ‘crikey you are a two-miler, so let’s really find out’, and the only way to do that was to take on the older two-milers. “I think I even surprised JP (McManus, owner) when I said I’ve got a plan, but he was up for it and the horse had looked fantastic all winter. I wanted to see how he compared to the two-milers and he answered the question, so we know where we start. I would have said that all roads lead to the Tingle Creek to start with.”
CONSTITUTION HILL “It couldn’t have gone any better last season. Things went ridiculously smoothly. This is what you can do with a horse in a season if you are lucky enough not to miss one single day’s work. He never had a snotty nose, he never had a cough, he never trod on a stone. Nothing went wrong. “The only thing that varied was the ground was too quick at Ascot and we just moved him back a week. It did cost us, as we had to finish first and second instead of winning two. “His domination of the Champion Hurdle last season was a performance that was as dominant as you have ever seen. It was that one turn of foot and the race was over. It’s possible Constitution Hill could be the best horse I’ve trained. We are very lucky to have him. He is becoming a public horse and I’m the curator. “Of course, there is pressure on me. He has to perform, because anything bar something spectacular doesn’t satisfy, so that is what we have got to
deliver. He was flawless throughout the whole of the last campaign. We have now got to decide which way we are going to go. If we go hurdling it would be the same plan. But the International Hurdle has now been moved to Trials Day, which means if he went down that route he would get an extra race. That would be good for all of us, as everybody says we don’t see enough of these horses. “By changing that programme I’ve another race we could go for if we stick to hurdles. If we decide to go chasing, it is pretty obvious you work back from the Arkle. You will probably find yourself going to the Kingmaker and the likes. It is what Jonbon did last season. You could go two-and- a-half with him if you wanted to but you would probably hang around the two-mile mark. “The plan, which you have to have, is luck on your side. We can all talk about dreamland of how it is going to go, but you have got to be lucky to carry out a plan as precisely as that.”
“It’s possible Constitution Hill could be the best horse I’ve trained. We are very lucky to have him”
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