Constitution Hill flies to spectacular success in Fighting Fifth Hurdle

Constitution Hill produced the electrifying performance all of racing had hoped for on his seasonal debut in the Grade One Fighting Fifth Hurdle at Newcastle on Saturday. He powered 12 lengths clear of Epatante, a former winner of the race, on a tight rein to take his unbeaten record to four starts.

Nicky Henderson’s five-year-old was an 11-8 chance for the Champion Hurdle in March on Saturday morning but he was odds-on to deny Honeysuckle – who is unbeaten in 16 starts – a third successive win in the race as soon as he crossed the line.

Nico de Boinville, Constitution Hill’s rider, decided to make the running against his four opponents and both travelled and hurdled supremely well throughout the race. He began to ease away from a hard-ridden Epatante after the second-last, with de Boinville still motionless in his saddle, and flew the last hurdle so slickly that he barely seemed to leave the ground.

Constitution Hill is now top-priced at 8-11 for the Champion Hurdle, with Honeysuckle, from Henry de Bromhead’s yard in Ireland, out to 4-1 to complete her hat-trick.

“This is a bit of a freak, he really is,” Henderson said. “Half the beauty of him is his temperament. He gets lapped at the walk, he gets lapped at the trot, if I pulled out 30 horses and he was in the middle of them, you wouldn’t pick him out in a million years.

“But because he’s just so wonderfully geared in his head, you can do what you like, drop him in, make the running, it doesn’t matter. He just does it for you.”

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Constitution Hill is now likely to run over the Christmas period, with the Matheson Hurdle, at Leopardstown on 29 December, a possibility along with the Christmas Hurdle at Kempton Park on Boxing Day, a race that Epatante, his stable-companion, has won twice in the last three years.