Phil Turner on Constitution Hill and why jumping is the name of the game

The increasing use of “Jump Racing” instead of “National Hunt Racing” may have been influenced by political correctness factors, but it’s hard to argue which is the stronger brand – in the words of the Ronseal advert, the former “does exactly what it says on the tin!”

Indeed, the recent trials and tribulations of jump racing’s current headline performer, Constitution Hill, has brought into sharp focus the fact that jumping is the name of the game.

Constitution Hill, of course, has won the last three renewals of the Christmas Hurdle, his convincing defeat of Lossiemouth when completing the hat-trick last winter arguably the highlight of the 2024 festive racing period. This Boxing Day, however, the eight-year-old will be in his box at Seven Barrows instead of at Kempton, his career very much at a crossroads (even in doubt) after failing to complete on his last four starts, a tale of woe which has included three high-profile falls.

There has much debate about this fall from grace, with theories ranging from doubts about the gelding’s eyesight to blaming the white-marked padded hurdles now in use on all UK jumps tracks. Constitution Hill’s trainer Nicky Henderson has been a vocal critic of the new-style hurdles, preferring to use more traditional obstacles for schooling purposes – although, ironically, he was loaned the new white ones to school Constitution Hill over during the build-up to his short-lived reappearance in the Fighting Fifth Hurdle.

At first glance, last season’s Champion Hurdle at Cheltenham could be viewed as evidence that the new-style hurdles are catching horses out given that it featured the unprecedented scenario of two previous champions, Constitution Hill and State Man, falling in the same race.

That is a very small sample to be drawing those sort of conclusions, though, and a delve into the history books reveals that falls have long been an occupational hazard for top hurdlers, whatever the style of obstacle used.

Of the 41 horses to win the Champion Hurdle since 1970, no less than 20 of them fell at least once during their hurdling careers – a group which would tip into the over-50% bracket if Brave Inca’s unseat in the 2005 Aintree Hurdle is also included.

In addition, Binocular and Epatante were the only two of Henderson’s six Champion Hurdle winners to feature in the non-faller group - the yard’s 2009 winner Punjabi even had to bounce back from an X-rated fall at the second last in the Christmas Hurdle ten weeks prior to Cheltenham.

This surprisingly high percentage of fallers is more a reflection of the cut-throat nature of top two-mile hurdling than anything else, the type of jumping required to compete at that exalted level leaving little or no margin for error. In fact, the vast majority of those forty-one champions were excellent jumpers who simply paid the price on the rare occasion they met a hurdle wrong.

The 1977 Christmas Hurdle was a case in point when Night Nurse, still the highest-rated hurdler in Timeform history, suffered a terrible fall of his own when asked for a big jump at the last, an incident which ended the career of his then-regular rider Paddy Broderick.

Jonjo O’Neill partnered Night Nurse to victory on his next run at Doncaster the following month and reported that the Kempton spill hadn’t left a mark: “You would be thinking about preparing to take off and all of a sudden he would be off. He would take the obstacle in his stride, not rising very high, just zipping over it at tremendous speed. Then in a flash it all happened – he would land and switch on an extra engine, which accelerated him away from the hurdle the instant he touched down. That was where he won his races.”

That description could also have been used for much of Constitution Hill’s hurdling career, with rapid jumping a feature of his imperious unbeaten first ten starts under Rules. Alas, those three falls since then suggests something has left its mark, the fact that two of them came before the race had begun in earnest hinting at ingrained issues for now.

As a result, plans for Constitution Hill are on indefinite hold, with connections even toying with the idea of a tilt at the Flat, no doubt encouraged by the exploits of Willie Mullins’ recent Breeders’ Cup Turf winner Ethical Diamond. Instead, stable-companion Sir Gino will deputise for him (plus his owners’ State Man) on Boxing Day, when he’ll be bidding to provide Henderson with a fourteenth win in the Christmas Hurdle – the yard has won seven of the last eight renewals.

Sir Gino will have a 364-day absence to overcome, his own career having hit the buffers since a successful visit to Kempton last winter due to being struck down by a life-threatening infection. It could be argued that a bigger issue could be the switch back to smaller obstacles given that Sir Gino had looked every inch a top-class chaser in the making when last seen, the decision to fast-track him to fences an indication that connections were firmly of the opinion that was where his future lay.

In Richard Austen’s excellent book At The Festival, top jockeys of yesteryear were at pains to stress the specialist jumping qualities required to be a top hurdler as opposed to a top chaser.

“With a top hurdler you don’t see them take off or land – jumping-wise, he was as fast as anything I ever sat on,” was John Francome’s verdict on Sea Pigeon, whom he described as a “gazelle” - despite the fact he’d also suffered three falls in a long hurdling career prior to Francome teaming up with him.

The late Dessie Hughes concurred when reminiscing about dual champion Monksfield (who never fell): “The Champion Hurdle horses take very little out of themselves – they measure them and jump them very quickly and get away at the other side. It is a totally different method of jumping to a horse jumping a fence.”

Happily, Henderson has some experience with successful code-switchers, as Buveur d’Air was reverted to the smaller obstacles after two novice chase wins, a decision prompted by injuries that season to the two previous Champion Hurdle winners Faugheen and Annie Power.

It proved an inspired decision, with Buveur d’Air winning the next two renewals of hurdling’s blue riband event. Like Constitution Hill, however, mistakes crept into his repertoire as he grew older – he was an early faller when bidding for his Champion Hurdle hat-trick, whilst a bad mistake at the second last was to blame for his shock defeat in the 2019 Fighting Fifth (when a 13/2-on shot).

Ironically, that latter incident could be viewed as a prime example why the old-style birch hurdles needed to be phased out, as Buveur d’Air sustained a very serious splinter injury which required surgery that night and resulted in a 420-day lay-off – he was restricted to just three more career starts, all unsuccessful.

Another champion hurdler to taste victory at Cheltenham after an aborted novice chase campaign was Morley Street, whose career sheds some light on what could be in store for Constitution Hill should connections switch him to the Flat.

A jump-bred gelding who began his career in bumpers, Morley Street lowered the colours of St Leger winner Michelozzo when making a belated Flat debut at the age of six in a minor event over two miles at Goodwood – a race his connections were primarily using as a prep run for a tilt at the short-lived Breeders’ Cup Chase.

A short-head second in the following year’s Doncaster Cup when readying for a return trip to the US prompted connections to have a more serious stab at the Flat with him as a nine-year-old, which will be Constitution Hill’s age in a few days time. Alas, his limitations in that sphere were soon exposed when taking on a host of choicely-bred younger horses from top Flat yards, with Morley Street finishing well held in both the Sagaro Stakes and Gold Cup at Ascot.

The first of the 41 champions in question, Persian War, actually hailed from a good Flat family yet didn’t come into his own until sent hurdling, despite sharing some of Constitution Hill’s clumsy tendencies – he fell at Cheltenham (when a 6/1-on shot) during the early months of his first Champion Hurdle-winning campaign.

His career also highlighted the difficulties in translating form from the Flat to the jumps and vice versa. Reflecting on Persian War’s third Champion win in 1970, when defeating classy Flat performer Major Rose by a length and a half, regular rider Jimmy Uttley said: “Even though Persian War was never a good jumper, those eight flight made all the difference – on the Flat, we’d have been streets behind Major Rose.”

Two flights proved too much for Constitution Hill on his recent reappearance despite extensive work on his jumping during the off-season. Even so, the law of averages suggest his best chance of remaining a headline performer will be over hurdles as opposed to the Flat - tellingly, he is currently available at 16/1 for the 2026 Champion Hurdle and 50/1 for the Gold Cup at Ascot. Alas, a leap of faith (sure-footed or not) is required to make either bet at present…

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