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“He’s trained by Nicky … They won’t”
They will if he loses again. Shishkin was one of his cotton wool wrapped darlings, till he got beaten- later in his career the trainer said this:
“The first thing I said to Nico [de Boinville] was, ‘Surely we go to Ireland?’ and he said, ‘Surely we will’. He’s only had three runs all year – a non-event at Ascot, a King George he didn’t finish, a doodle around Newbury and today. He’s a ten-year-old – he has to sing for his supper now, hasn’t he?!”
Greenasgrass, I said ”shouldn’t only” as obviously one flash in the pan run like Brighterdaysahead doesn’t mean greatness. She’d also been well beaten at Cheltenham already and a fit State Man would have beaten her in November also. ”I like to move it” did a similar run at Wincanton but was average at best.
Constitution Hill has never been beaten nor looked like being beaten bar the fall today.
Hopefully he’ll go to Punchestown , State Man with his headgear looks the most likely horse to give him a race now …
Pick 3 on Saturday champion 2025/2026
Some stupid comments on this thread.
“Only an opinion”, HDLG / Ruby etc.
Value Is Everything“Constitution Hill has never been beaten nor looked like being beaten bar the fall today.”
Give it time and a few more runs. He hasn’t had enough chance to be beaten. After winning the Supreme by a monster distance he was tucked carefully away after a punishing campaign of 3 novice runs, instead of going to Aintree or Punchestown.
After winning his champion hurdle he did go to Aintree, and beat Sharjah and Zanahiyr not terribly impressively, then was tucked away again instead of going to Punchestown, where State Man bounced back from his sub par Cheltenham run to beat those two thoroughly.
If Galopin des Champs had a racecourse gallop instead of the John Durkan, and got put away immediately after the Gold Cup, he would be considered an infallible wonderhorse. He is adding greatness by running plenty and IMO his G1 placed efforts at Punchestown -and a win, don’t forget- add more to his legacy than standing in his stable IMO, even though a string-of-1s fetishist would probably think it takes the shine off. (Having said that, if he puts in another monster performance on Friday, I do hope he gets tucked away till the John Durkan next year..3 mile chasing is not like popping 2 miles over wee plastic hurdles).
Just because Mullins and Townend say State Man was well below form when beaten out of sight by Constitution Hill, doesn’t mean they are right.
Value Is EverythingOn the subject of hurdles … they appear to have way more plastic in them now than ever. Horses hooves clouting this plastic must surely increase their risk of falling.
Hurdles used, let’s say, in the 1970s, seemed less hazardous.I was just going to ask about hurdles. First of all, thank goodness Constitution Hill and State Man appear to be ok. Do jockeys organise horses at hurdles or do they just take aim and hope the horse knows what it’s doing? And also, with there being so many different types of hurdle, does it confuse the horses? I’m sure they had orange in them not long ago, but now they’re white. I assume the plastic protects their legs but are they more likely to step at the hurdle?
There have been research that strongly suggests horses see white far more clearly than they do orange – hence the change.
Not only is plastic a better protector than wood. Horses could get leg infections from the wood used in the hurdles, hence more plastic is used nowadays.
Value Is EverythingThree facts about CH:
1. A very suspect jumper of hurdles.
2. Won very weak Christmas Hurdles.
3. Three decent Novice Hurdle wins don’t make him an all-time great.Greenasgrass.
Not that drivel about State Man not being at his best in the 2023 Champion Hurdle again.
I’m a huge fan of the horse and have praised him when many online have slated him.
However, in my opinion, he was bang on form that day but just got beaten by a far superior animal.
State Man met Vauban on 4 occasions that season and guess which day he beat him furthest. The Champion Hurdle of course.
Townend and Willie are sore losers especially when it comes to Henderson horses for some reason.
Sure Lossiemouth and Ballyburn weren’t at their best at Christmas either as how else could they have possibly been beaten by the much inferior CH and Sir Gino.
They’re getting to be as bad as O’Brien who always has an excuse at the ready on the flat.
It’s funny how the narrative changes after a fall. A few months ago Ruby Walsh said Constitution Hill is the best jumper of a hurdle he’s ever seen, but now he’s a poor jumper supposedly.
I love the horse, think he’s the best hurdler I’ve ever seen. But he’s only won one Champion Hurdle in three seasons, yet after the 2023 race the expectations were that he’d simply go and win four in a row. Sometimes being the best doesn’t necessarily equate to being the greatest, I guess.
I’d love to know what Buckley thinks because after his supreme he was talking about Champion Hurdles, Champion Chases, Gold Cups. He must be disappointed to have the most talented horse of his generation and not having more big races in the bag.
I’d say he’s one of the best jumpers of a Hurdle I’ve ever seen but doesn’t appear to be as slick over the new style hurdles on the 2 occasions he’s faced them this season.
At Kempton he was absolutely rapid over the traditional style but much more ponderous over the new style at Cheltenham.
He seems to jump higher over the new style and also appears more likely to dive at them.In the 2023 Champion Hurdle he was absolutely blistering fast over the traditional hurdles.
I personally think the new style hurdles look like crap and should never be used at a top track like Cheltenham, Sandown, Kempton, Newbury, Ascot etc
That’s a really interesting observation. How do you know if a track has new/old style? Just from watching the race back, or is it declared somewhere?
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