vowed to “unravel the mystery” following Constitution Hill’s lacklustre display in the Boodles Champion Hurdle at
.
The former undisputed king of the two-mile hurdling division arrived for his first run in Ireland since his point-to-point days with something to prove, having fallen when trying to regain his Champion Hurdle crown at Cheltenham and then coming to grief at Aintree.
He was all the rage to get his career back on track as the 8-13 favourite, but there were early warning signs for his supporters as he briefly shied away from the starting tapes and then gave the first flight plenty of air and landed steeply.
The eight-year-old did make some ground in the back straight under James Bowen, who was deputising in the saddle for the sidelined Nico de Boinville, but the Seven Barrows superstar had no more to give from the home turn and eventually trailed home a very lacklustre fifth, beaten 27 lengths.
Henderson said: “It’s disappointing, but it’s a tough game.
“It was sad he had to be beaten that way because you could live with going down in a battle. He was beaten two out and James looked after him.
“Something has obviously gone wrong because that’s not him and our job is to try to unravel the mystery. He’s got such a great mind, nothing worries him, but you can’t look inside his head.
“He’s very uncomplicated, unflustered and his work was good. He was travelling well turning in, but then it was like flicking a switch.”
At the request of the raceday stewards,
was examined by the Irish Horseracing Regulatory Board veterinary officer after the race and was found to be sore and have grazes to his right-hind cannon bone.
The post-race reaction was far more positive from trainer Jeremy Scott, whose stable star
proved her shock Champion Hurdle success at Cheltenham was no fluke with a fine effort to finish second to the front-running
.
Golden Ace profited from the State Man’s final-flight exit at Prestbury and while she was unable to lay a glove on him in the rematch, Scott was understandably proud of her performance in defeat.
He said: “I’m gutted we weren’t good enough to win, but I’m delighted with her.
“She was staying on at the end and today she probably needed a little bit further, ideally.
“I was so impressed with the way she jumped today, she travelled really well, she just didn’t have that kick that the winner had, but I think the first three have all run very well and it’s quite nice we’ve got as close to State Man as we have, because I rather felt everyone assumed we’d be beaten a mile.
“If you’d had the Cheltenham hill in front of you, that might have just sapped the stamina of State Man, who knows? I feel slightly more vindicated anyway.
“She might not start next season quite so early, but we’ll see how she is in the autumn and take it day by day. I couldn’t be happier with her today anyway, without winning.”