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Let me understand this: if he has scoped badly, this means he could have some virus in his body.
Now, wouldn’t that be a concern for the horses that worked with him today, especially if they were in the same horse box????Are other horses around him not at the same risk as well?
That’s why the Nicholls’ team bolted for the gates.
The more I know the less I understand.
Any prep he would have had (bar going to Ireland) would have seen him likely hose up on the bridle given the state of the English challengers around. He most likely would have expended only slightly less effort at home on the gallops doing a serious piece of work!
The Kingwell Hurdle (which I believe was 21 days after the Bula) may have been a potential option for him and like the Bula it is also a G2, so he would have been asked to conceed a few lbs to horses he has a hell of a lot more than a few lbs in hand of and being that it was 3 weeks after the Bula that surely would have given him time to sufficiently recover from his initial dirty scope.
Alas it ended up being run on heavy ground, so even if he had been entered they would have most likely pulled him out anyway. It would also have been the first time outside of his debut run at Sandown where he would have raced outside of G1 company. I personally find it very hard to believe they had any intention of actually running him in the Bula and the dirty scope just gave them a sufficient reason not to.
Overall, I do think this is more of Hendo’s overly cautious mindset in finding reasons not to run him too many times (whilst at the same time bemoaning lack of opportunities
) rather than CH being a horse that is not able to back up a run after only a 3 week or less break…..however, if he really is too fragile to do that, then to me he has no right to be mentioned as an all time great hurdler as toughness/durability are parts of what makes a horse’s greatness.“The position of the Boxing Day Christmas Hurdle means trainers need to have a fairly quick turn around if they are to give a safe space of time leading up to the Champion.”
Perhaps I have misunderstood, Ginger – but State Man ran and won at Christmas and then won at the DRF. I doubt it has done his Cheltenham prospects any harm.
I agree with the comments that Henderson had no intention of running the horse in the Bula. But if that egg and spoon race at Sandown he used to run Buvuer D’Air in still existed, I have no doubt he would have run Constitution Hill in that.
“Any prep he would have had (including going to Ireland) would have seen him likely hose up on the bridle”
Fixed for accuracy. Let’s not pretend that State Man would get a peak Constitution Hill out of second gear- we all saw what happened at Cheltenham last March.
It’s a pity that Constitution Hill looks increasingly likely to miss the Champion Hurdle and I don’t believe that Henderson will risk him if he isn’t completely happy with the horse’s wellbeing.
Stuart Edmunds took Marsh Wren over to Thurles last week and she won a Listed Mares Chase, defeating a short priced favourite trained by Elliott.
That arduous journey over the Irish Sea did not seem to take too much out of her.
While I believe a peak Constitution Hill would again beat State Man, I do not think the latter has ever got the credit he deserves.
Had The Hill never been born, I would consider State Man an above-average Champion Hurdle winner.
Even if Constitution Hill makes it to Cheltenham, his preparation will have been less than ideal, I could see the pair remaining close in the betting and quite possibly close in the race too.
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It's the "Millwall FC" of Point broadcasts: "No One Likes Us - We Don't Care"Henderson’s apparent attitude of only caring about Cheltenham and his wealthy owners might be a bit more palatable if he was not sponsored by a bookmaker. There he was on RTV yesterday, resplendent in his Unibet sponsored jacket.
Where does he think Unibet gets its money from to pay him?
I hope Constitution Hill makes it to Cheltenham but I have a sneaking suspicion that he may not. My main concern is that, following the course of antibiotics he’s on, his good gut bacteria will be hugely reduced which, automatically, puts him at risk with a weaker immune system.
My first thought too, Rob. My dog has a nail bed infection and may be on antibiotics for quite a while. Apart from the fact that such infections are very difficult to clear my main concern is that the antibiotics will totally mess up her gut biome which then affects the body in other ways. Given that racehorses are so prone to stomach ulcers etc even a short course of antibiotics could have a knock on effect.
State man would’ve beaten epatante and likely beaten honeysuckle in both her renewals too given the proximity of sharjah
He’s good enough to have won the majority of recent renewals
He definitely doesn’t get the credit he deserves
And he always seems to run his race too
An admirable horse
Glad – I certainly think he would have had to exert a little more effort had he gone to Ireland for a prep than he would of if he had stayed at home to face what constitutes his English rivals.
While I don’t think State Man at his best beats CH at his best, I do think taking last year’s race fully at face value in ragards to State Man’s performance being as good as he is, is wrong. The more I re-watch that race from two out and see Townend’s lack of actual effort in even trying to go with CH, the more I think there may be some (just some mind you) validity to them saying he was’t at his best on the day. Had Townend got after him or gave him a smack and CH had still pulled clear then I would accept that he had no answer but he didn’t even do that, it was barely even hands and heels riding.
Don’t get me wrong, I don’t think he would have won if he was on his ‘A” game but I do think he is capable of at least getting CH off the bridle……any more than that and we are probably looking at an underperforming CH.
That all being said, I do find it hard to believe that after taking a course of anti-biotics that CH will have sufficient recovery time internally (as he very may well look fine from the outside or in himself) to be close to his optimum, it might well depend on how close he is to 100% to get away with it.
It will likely just depend on how brave Hendo is feeling to roll the dice and go with a under 100% CH, if it were any other race then he would have already been declared a non-runner but being it is the Champion Hurdle and how much they think they have in hand it wouldn’t surprise me if he did run (unless it is very clear that he hasn’t fully recovered) as they can always have Cheltenham be his final run of the season and just put him away to fully recover for next season.
The real truth of the matter is that they probably won’t really know if he has recovered until the race starts as they clearly had no idea he was under the weather before the Kempton piece of work.
Henderson sounds pretty positive today.
No fever so just the slight infection to clear up. Begins exercise tomorrow again.
The main worry is probably going to be the after effects of the anti biotics. There’s no way he’ll be at his absolute best if he runs and he’ll need to be at least 95% to beat State Man.
Final,
In the past 25 years. The only ones I’d have clearly above him are Istabraq, Faugheen and Constitution Hill.Regards the rest. I thinks he’s as good as anything and better than a lot of the winners.
“Henderson’s apparent attitude of only caring about Cheltenham and his wealthy owners might be a bit more palatable if he was not sponsored by a bookmaker. There he was on RTV yesterday, resplendent in his Unibet sponsored jacket.”
Bookmakers are allowed to sponsor trainers? That seems ripe for corruption. Granted, this is me coming from parimutuel-land so I’m not as familiar with how the bookies operate.
It is allowed although you would have thought he could have found a better or more neutral sponsor to partner with than an actual bookmaker – as they say the optics of it all doesn’t look great when gambling is intrinsically linked with horse racing.
) rather than CH being a horse that is not able to back up a run after only a 3 week or less break…..however, if he really is too fragile to do that, then to me he has no right to be mentioned as an all time great hurdler as toughness/durability are parts of what makes a horse’s greatness.
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