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Which still leaves them with plenty of European options.
You need a different trainer for those targets and yes, I think he likes his Flat racing. Why not run him on decent spring ground?
He has no idea of the racing calendar or what month of the year it is
I bet animals know the time of year a lot better than humans do. Humans just understand watches and calendars….I said ago when there was talk of the flat to move him to a flat trainer.
The more I know the less I understand.
It makes sense. A new Flat trainer would be more objective. Henderson is too emotionally invested in and protective of the horse and I think his worrying is rubbing off onto Buckley.
It won’t happen, though. Buckley is too close to Henderson and I doubt he would ever move the horse away from him.
Back in 2022 Mr. Buckley had two useful Flat horses in training with William Haggas: Florida and Protagonist. The former was even gelded, but never ran over hurdles. I think he has some decent options if he wants to…..
Thanks ERL. I recall seeing Haggas interviewed on RTV last October and he mentioned how Buckley had a horse in training with him. He has also had horses with Jamie Osborne.
There is a sort of precedent with Henderson. I think it was last year, the Bamfords bought a horse (the name of which escapes me) which had either won or been placed in the German Derby. It was sent to Henderson for a juvenile hurdling campaign but it didn’t really work out. The horse was switched back to the Flat but was moved from Henderson to the Gosdens.
OK, Gosden trains a lot of horses for the Bamfords, so I suppose that was quite an easy move to make in that case. But Buckley does have Flat trainers as well. I believe it makes more sense to move Constitution Hill and properly train him as a Flat horse, not have him subject to Henderson’s fretting about whether or not the ground is absolutely pitch perfect.
Send him to Richard Hannon, he’d be running in the Lockinge as a pacemaker to Witch Hunter
Gaelic Warrior Gold Cup Winner 2026
I think it was last year, the Bamfords bought a horse (the name of which escapes me) which had either won or been placed in the German Derby.
I think it was Palladium, the one Lady Bamford (you might know her as the billionaire behind her family’s organic food empire and spa) bought for over a million Euros (1.4 I think)…
For me the Yorkshire Cup should be the next port of call but with Hendo he will likely make a further song and dance within the usual dog and pony show over the ground, so I am hoping the weather dumps enough rain on the Knavesmire to take that excuse off the table.
Chester should be suitable if they do the same as last year. It had been warm and sunny, with little rain for weeks but they still managed to produce good to soft ground.
I think for a horse that has never known anything but galloping tracks with nice long straights, it would all end up happening a little too quickly for him on a course like Chester where you are on the turn for most of the races, even if they could produce the exact ground Nicky is looking for (whatever that is).
York has an almost 5F long home straight much like Newbury whilst Newcastle (Northumberland Plate maybe???) has a 4F straight and even Southwell and Kempton (on their 12F course) has a 3F straight, Ascot has just about a 2½F long home straight which you would have to be careful about not getting too far back on him if you were thinking of running him in something like the 12F Cumberland Lodge or the 16F Long Distance Cup on Champions Day.
I did just remember that at the Guineas Meeting you have the G2 Jockey Club Stakes over 12F which in three of the last four years has been run on good ground and won by a 110, 104 (by the 9yr old Outbox) and 106 rated horses respectively………..if they actually got good ground again this season, would that be actually good enough for Hendo?
I expect Henderson will say The Dip is unsuitable on the Rowley Mile.
Murphy and Moore have both publicly stated the horse is a 12 furlong type, so I can’t see them going up in distance.
With the ground an issue, Unibet Nicky will have to run him in the Unibet September Stakes.
Newmarket isn’t as undulating as Cheltenham; did Henderson pull him out of the Supreme or the Champion Hurdle?
People here love to eschew facts to have a pop at Hendo.
I doubt he will want to run him through The Dip on “fast” ground. And the field will be travelling faster than hacking around at Cheltenham.
From the “Racing Post”:
Specifically:
“On the Friday of the Guineas meeting, the Betfred Jockey Club Stakes would require Constitution Hill to race in and out of the Dip, something he would surely not be asked to do without considerable give underfoot.”
Presumably the Post is eschewing facts to have a pop at Hendo as well.
“did Henderson pull him out of the Supreme or the Champion Hurdle?”
He would have run him on concrete in the Supreme or CH. Trainers handwring about ground a lot but very few don’t run a winning chance at the Cheltenham festival due to the ground. Fact to File and Waiting Patiently are two I can think of but very few miss it unless they were really targeted towards Aintree anyway.
Surely the Ormonde Stakes would allow a ready made excuse if he was beaten? Clearly a number of people think he can’t win at Chester so it would then temper any expectation of him at Group 3 level.
Of course if he won or ran well he might then be classed as a serious flat horse. There’s nothing to lose either way.
I do get annoyed when some trainers pigeon hole their horses when there is little evidence to back it up. CH can act on good ground and where’s the evidence he couldn’t act at a tight track? I’m pretty sure CH could have won a National Spirit at Fontwell.
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