Our Ben Linfoot wonders what is next for Constitution Hill after his defeat in the September Stakes at Kempton on Saturday.
“Hendo! The saga goes on.”
Matt Chapman succinctly summed things up on ITV Racing as he approached a clearly despondent Nicky Henderson at a sunny Kempton Park on Saturday afternoon, moments after Constitution Hill finished fourth of five in the Group 3 William Hill September Stakes.
This was not the run of a horse who you’d fancy for a Melbourne Cup. Needing to finish in the first three to pass just one of the many criteria for Flemington, a 21,000 mile round-trip is not now in the offing.
But what is?
Looking at Chapman with what looked like a feeling of dread, Henderson fronted up well. But you could easily detect the disappointment.
“We always said today would tell us what to do next,” he said. “I don’t think you’d want to go under a mile and a half for sure, 12, 13, 14 [furlongs] looks the range of what you’d do.
“I do think he’s going to come on from that, it looked that sort of way. He got there as if it was going to happen, but from a furlong out… it will sharpen him up.”
Our interviewer was keen to know if we’d see Constitution Hill again quickly.
“I would’ve thought so, yep,” said Henderson. “He’ll be eligible to run in handicaps now. It will be interesting to see what the reaction to that mark is, it will allow him to run in some very lucrative handicaps in England, Ireland, anywhere.
“We’ll see how long he blows for, that’s the important thing.”
Jockey Billy Loughnane thinks he needs to step up in trip.
“He ran a nice race,” he said. “He broke clean from the gate and found a beautiful rhythm outside the speed.
“He relaxed really well, he drafted into the race really nicely and I felt like I was going to go close.
“I think he’ll take a big step forward. He obviously hasn’t run for a while and I think he will come forward.
“I don’t know if going up in distance on the Flat will help, that might just suit him. He’s got a good rhythm and he can maintain that tempo for a long way, so stepping up in distance could help as well.
“I think he’ll have no problem staying further. He’s obviously run over further over hurdles and it was a tough race today. This was good opposition and he has run with a lot of credit after a bit of a lay-off.”
For all the disappointment, Loughnane makes a very good point. This was a good race and Constitution Hill has finished on the heels of 117, 114, 111-rated horses while shaping as though he needed the run.
Given his proximity to those horses, he might even find himself going up a couple of pounds from his current rating of 101 on Tuesday.
After 164 days away from the racecourse, it’s safe to say he probably did need this and with races like the November Handicap in mind, this might well have been a nice tee-up job.
Soft ground, a strong tempo, not had a hard season, Constitution Hill could well be a player in the Doncaster contest with this run under his belt, if he’s pointed there.
But do you keep going with Constitution Hill for an end of season turf handicap like the Town Moor finale?
Or could he still be better than that? Over 1m6f, could he be a Group horse fully fit?
While Henderson went to Kempton for answers, he has only come away with more questions.
The only thing to do is run him again, fairly quickly, to get the answers he so desperately craves.
Like Chapman said. The saga goes on.
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