We asked our experts if Constitution Hill will land the Group 2 Gran Premio del Jockey Club - S.I.R.E. Trofeo Pio Bruni at San Siro on Sunday.
After much deliberation following his first Flat defeat when fourth to Pride Of Arras in the Group 3 September Stakes at Kempton early last month, trainer Nicky Henderson and owner Michael Buckley identified this Sunday's Gran Premio del Jockey Club as a suitable target for the nine-year-old former Champion Hurdle hero.
The opposition to Constitution Hill is headed by the William Haggas-trained Dubai Honour who is 2/1 favourite with Paddy Power.
The globe-trotting eight-year-old has only raced twice this year, finishing third at both Newbury and Chester, having been sent off the odds-on favourite when well held in last month's Listed Stand Cup Stakes on the Roodee when last seen.
Further British interest in the race comes via the Wathnan Racing-owned Silawi (6/1) from the Newmarket yard of Hamad Al Jehani, the George Scott-trained Phantom Flight and Venetian Prince for Andrew Balding.
The race will be broadcast live on ITV Racing at 15:00GMT amongst their coverage of Aintree's Old Roan Chase card.
Will Constitution Hill win in Italy on Sunday?
No - he looks to have his limitations (Ian Ogg)
Constitution Hill will, obviously, need to improve and the big question is whether a turf debut on testing ground will be enough to bring about the necessary progress from the nine-year-old.
Dubai Honour is only a year younger but the 2/1 favourite with Sky Bet and Paddy Power is a proven international performer and one who has about half a stone in hand of Constitution Hill on official ratings. William Haggas' runner is by no means the only runner that Constitution Hill has to beat with the 2024 winner Straight entitled to improve on his fourth behind Goliath and Dubai Honour given it was his first outing in a year.
Chestnut Rocket is a proven performer at this level while this is an easier task than many Silawi has been set and Andrew Balding is represented by his Italian Derby winner Venetian Prince who could relish getting his toe in again on his return to this venue on his attempt to follow in the steps of stablemate Eydon who won last year's renewal.
The excitement surrounding Constitution Hill is entirely understandable but there was little in his run at Kempton (bled from the nose) on his first real test as a Flat horse to suggest that he can be anything more than competitive at this level. He was by no means disgraced in the September Stakes but it did point to his limitations at this stage of his career and those limitations should be underlined.
No - but I do think he'll run well (Ben Linfoot)
I think it’s a good bit of placing from Nicky Henderson, who you wouldn’t think would be an expert in the Flat programme, never mind in Italy. Constitution Hill needs to improve but it’s a fairly weak race for the grade and with £200,000 on the line for first place it’s a nice pot for a Group 2.
A peak form Dubai Honour might be a tough nut to crack but he has not looked at his best this year, so it wouldn’t be a surprise if Constitution Hill improved past him. The bigger threats could well be younger improvers like Venetian Prince and Newmarket raider Silawi, who is a proven globetrotter.
I’d say Constitution Hill has a similar chance to those two, but the configuration of the track should really suit him and could well see him improve on his all-weather form. Rain in the week has eased conditions and the long straight can help his style and blunt the horses ridden for a turn of foot.
If he’s on his A-game his stamina could well come to the fore and I wouldn’t be surprised to see him win, or at least run very well, but the only time he travelled overseas over jumps was to Punchestown and he ran a shocker. You’d have to hope it wasn’t the travelling over that was the underlying reason for his poor form that day.
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