Constitution Hill sets out on redemption trail at Newcastle

While it might not be the last chance saloon for Constitution Hill in the BetMGM Fighting Fifth Hurdle at Newcastle, should he meet with a fourth successive defeat it will feel close to it.

This time last year it would have been unthinkable that the previously unbeaten 2023 Champion Hurdle hero would lose one race, never mind three. But following heavy falls at Cheltenham and Aintree it looked like the last thing he wanted to do at Punchestown was be a racehorse.

In Nicky Henderson, however, he has a trainer who has forgotten more than most will ever know about bringing horses back from the brink. Sprinter Sacre anyone?

“Everything has gone well and when he went to Newbury everything went well. He’s ready to rock and roll and he’s done plenty and I can’t do much more without a race,” said Henderson.

“If Nico (de Boinville) wanted to front run, I wouldn’t have a problem with that. It probably looks like there isn’t a lot of pace in the race and we’ll have a think.

“He was great at Newbury in his gallop, he was happy before it and he’s happy after it. His schooling has gone well and his work has gone well.

“Nico didn’t want a pacemaker, it might get a bit messy tactically with only a few runners, but I’m sure we’ll know what we need to do when the time comes.”

Henderson said of the intensive schooling Constitution Hill has undertaken: “We don’t have the padded hurdles (that Newcastle have) at home, we have the old wooden hurdles and he loves jumping them.

“But Barney (Clifford, clerk of the course at Kempton) kindly brought us a heap of his padded hurdles last week because I was thinking of maybe going to Kempton and maybe having a pop over a few hurdles, but with the Newbury gallop as well, he didn’t really need two away days.

“Barney brought the hurdle to the horse rather than me bringing the horse to the hurdle.”

Dan Skelton has enjoyed a tremendous start to the season, even by his high standards, but he has made no secret of the fact his brightest hope of all is The New Lion.

Unbeaten and bought by JP McManus before Cheltenham, he fought off The Yellow Clay and Final Demand to win the Turners Novices’ Hurdle – but is coming back to two miles for the first time since his racecourse bow.

Skelton told Ladbrokes: “His training has gone well, we’ve done plenty with him at home, but we think he will improve a bit ahead of this one.

“We’re looking forward to getting his season started, and I’m interested to see how he copes over two miles because he’s never gone two miles over hurdles before. I think he will travel well though; everything I’ve ever seen from him suggests he should cope with the drop in trip.

“But of course, he’s coming up against Constitution Hill, who Nicky says is back to his best. So if that is the case, then of course he’s going to be extremely difficult to beat, because when he was at his best, he was unbeatable so it’s going to be a hard race.”

Adding further spice is Willie Mullins’ unexposed Anzadam. He rose to near the head of the Champion Hurdle betting when winning at Naas in January, but injury prevented him from running again last term.

Assistant trainer Patrick Mullins said: “It’s hard to know how good he is, because he’s quite a keen horse and he’s quite a fragile horse, so we haven’t really got to look under the bonnet – we’re always kind of minding him.

“Any time we have put the foot down a little on the accelerator there’s plenty there, but we’ve never really got to properly look.

“We’ll find out on Saturday, but whatever he does there has to be huge improvement, I think.”

His jockey Paul Townend added: “He seems in great form and it looks a cracking race, we’ll know a lot more after it.

“He worked nicely at Punchestown. On strict form he’s an awful lot to do to get up to Constitution Hill, but he can only beat what he’s been up against and he’s done that so far.”

After a below-par reappearance at Wetherby the current champion, Jeremy Scott’s Golden Ace, is on a retrieval mission, while Nemean Lion was supplemented on Monday and completes the field.