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They seemed to think the blood test was a better indicator
Think the next one of them is Monday?Gaelic Warrior Gold Cup Winner 2026
He said they were going to scope today and a blood test Monday.
The more I know the less I understand.
The hold up is Nicky is probably typing up the results on his pc to print off. Then take a photo of the printed copy before uploading it onto Twitter…🧐
Gaelic Warrior Gold Cup Winner 2026
Anything but a perfect blood test result on Monday and he’s out. If his bloods are perfect, they’ll still have to giving him a testing piece of work later in the week. I still think he’s a major doubt.
The blindingly simple truth here for me is, never mind mucus, scopes, blood tests or whatever, the horse got hammered in a gallop at Kempton to the extent that he was virtually pulled up in the closing stages.
Given this is the best Champion Hurdler in countless years and that he has always had a reputation for working very well at home too (not all do) it means one of only two things.
Either he’s not the horse he was or he was seriously unwell.
He’s too young to have “gone” so soon after his Christmas Hurdle demolition job, so I’m going with seriously unwell.
I’m no vet but, even though he sounds like he is recovering, I don’t see how he can be 100% again by Tuesday week, let alone in time for a serious gallop next week.
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It's the "Millwall FC" of Point broadcasts: "No One Likes Us - We Don't Care"If he does line up (and it is a big if) every bookmaker on the track will want to lay him, won’t they? When will they ever have a better chance of getting him beaten?
I really do think it is debateable whether he will even start favourite now.
I would go as far as to say that, if Constitution Hill runs and wins despite all of this, even if it’s only by a nose, it will arguably be his greatest career performance so far because I just don’t see how a horse can be pulled up last of three in a gallop then win a Champion Hurdle a couple of weeks later.
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It's the "Millwall FC" of Point broadcasts: "No One Likes Us - We Don't Care"This time last year we or most of us were full of expectation twelve months on for one reason or another the chat has changed. I hope he shows and routs the field.
The more I know the less I understand.
Nico would hopefully have known early that something was wrong. The longer he’d have travelled the worse it would be
He’s still quite short on Betfair considering the scale of it allGaelic Warrior Gold Cup Winner 2026
It’s all guesswork but I think it’s one of those times when what the public wants distorts the betting market at the expense of reality.
If it was State Man with the ailment and in a fight against time he’s be 20+ on the machine, I reckon.
Constitution Hill is the significantly better horse on all known form (including last year), but I think it’s his popularity and “greatness” aura compressing the price.
For aesthetic reasons, I’d like to be wrong but, out of: not running, running and getting beat, and running and winning I’d have running and winning the outsider of three.
Chuck in running and routing the field as he did last year and I’d say that your absolute “rag” in a four-outcome event.
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It's the "Millwall FC" of Point broadcasts: "No One Likes Us - We Don't Care"“If it was State Man with the ailment and in a fight against time heโs be 20+ on the machine, I reckon.”
If it was State Man noone would know until around the Friday before the festival when Willie tells everyone he scoped badly and won’t run. ;o)
I bet we wouldn’t have found out from Henderson either if it had been on the gallops in Lambourn. We only knew so quickly because it happened in public and was filmed.
I am absolutely certain Nico would have been told at Kempton not to be hard on him if he’s not right… Going into the gallop Hendo’s stable form made it blindingly obvious it was a distinct possibility.
Just as stable form going into Cheltenham will show whether there’s much hope of a Constitution Hill victory… If he gets there at all. It’s not just a slight dip in form, it’s massive. They’re not just running below form but way below form. There are varying degrees of viruses and a return to form can seem like an overnight thing sometimes. But the fact so many runners have been pulled up recently suggests this may well be a severe one.I would not back any Henderson horse until the yard returns to form. Suspect many of his runners will be non-runners too, as more horses show signs.
Just hope this brilliant horse gets there.
Value Is EverythingIf I hadn’t backed Constitution Hill at 12/1 and 7/2 to win zero and one more Champion Hurdle and got 6/1 about State Man too (just thought he might be closer this year) I’d be on the machine, laying the 3 (2/1) CH for my max.
I think it’s a terrible price, win or lose, because I reckon he has to run to within a stone of his best to beat State Man and I just don’t see him doing that based on what happened at Kempton just a few days ago.
The Champion Hurdle is less than two weeks away – not exactly been the ideal preparation (massive understatement), has it?
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It's the "Millwall FC" of Point broadcasts: "No One Likes Us - We Don't Care"I think a lot of people are of the opinion that even a fair bit below his best, that would still be good enough to beat State Man based on last year’s race.
The only thing is that when you are talking about a respiratory issue, it doesn’t matter how good the engine is if you can’t get the fuel (or air in this case) pumped efficiently into it to power it – so you really don’t have to be very much off 100% in order to quite badly underperform.
He could outwardly show all the signs that he has fully recovered and the blood test could also be normal but until you (so to speak) put the proverbial gun to his head (in his case a serious piece of work probably no later than the middle of next week) only Nico will really know but he has the added dilema of if he feels ok how much does he feel he needs to push it because usually a gallop at home won’t come anywhere close to replicating what he will face in a race…let alone a Championship race at that.
A relatively stiff piece of work (compared to what he would have normally a week out from Cheltenham) could end up causing the issue to flare up again and thus ensuring he is withdrawn and possibly ending the rest of the season there and then.
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