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Anzadam has loads to find in any case. A year on the sidelines and he’s only beat Beacons edge and Kala Conti. Still a good addition if he comes over and adds intrigue to the race.Hendo has done it again. I am now convinced that CH is back to his best… again and will trounce these new pretenders.
Correct he does, but he’s a 5yo. Even for one so lightly raced, i feel it’s weird him only being 5. He would never be a long term ante bet with his fitness record, but there looks like some engine there. Form needs improving but Conhill + TNL also have question marks.
For example, The New Lion won in March shaping like a stayer to me. He also only beat The Yellow Clay 3/4l. I don’t take Final Demand’s run literally. To me TYC is no star. Won a Lawlor’s win JDV ran no race + the ones in behind aren’t great.
Twitter: Jackh1092
Hindsight is 20/20 so make the most of it!I can see the argument questioning If The New Lion is a 2 miler , we also don’t know how good the Mullins horse is , we’ll get plenty answers on Sat , I’m in the lion camp , I think he’s the real deal while the hill in afraid has a number of questions to answer , one thing I’m fairly sure of though is that once the hill comes off the bridle there not going to be much there…
If the Mullins horse in this is a proper Champion Hurdle horse why isn’t he taking the State Man route? It’s the same owner. Why did Lossiemouth run in the Morgiana instead and they send him here? He’s either just another Mystical Power type i.e. not good enough or Mullins has the best Champion Hurdle horses and has split them up. Hard to forget the Constitution Hill run in Ireland despite the recent positive gallop reports so The New Lion may be good enough coz the other 2 ain’t. Time will tell.
A race to watch with interest but I won’t be having a bet.
Of course, Constitution Hill wins if he is back to his best – but that is a huge “if” and far too much of a risk, even as he drifts out towards 2/1.
I doubt Anzadam is at the top of the Mullins pecking order if he is running here.
As for The New Lion, I am just not convinced he is a two miler. A Challow Hurdle winner and he needed every yard to win at Cheltenham. And The Yellow Clay didn’t exactly boost the form recently.
My hope is Constitution Hill wins because it would be good to see him back – but it requires a real leap of faith after his last effort.
I’d like to see Constitution Hill thump them even though The New Lion and The Yellow Clay are top of my new hurdlers list.
The more I know the less I understand.
I would like to see Constitution Hill win as well but I am concerned about his jumping. His last four runs have seen two falls, a near fall and the last race where his jumping fell apart.
On the “Road To Cheltenham” last week, a statement by Henderson was read out where it sounded like they had been working on the horse’s jumping technique. It sounded worrying for a horse which was once electric over the hurdles. It was like a golfer talking about rebuilding his swing, something which seldom works.
If he is back to his best, he picks them up and carries them. But when did he last show that best? December 2023?
It’s not so much if Constitution Hill is back to his best, it’s whether he stands up. The whole race revolves on that question, so couldn’t have a bet. I wonder if they have tried him over a fence?
To me his hurdling technique is exactly the same as it was when he was beating everything in sight, he took liberties during that period as well, he was scant inches away from the same type of fall at the last when he won his Champion Hurdle and you could probaly picked out others times when he let fly like that in other races back then and just managed to get the right side of the hurdle.
The best super slick hurdlers always have a much smaller margin of error at their flights and it would appear that last season that finally caught up with him……most of us are of the opinion that he just isn’t the same horse that he was in his novice and Champion Hurdle years (due to his health issues taking a toll) and even that small drop in ability may now mean that he doesn’t quite have the same scope to let fly at his hurdless as he once did in his full pomp.
It was noticeable that his mistakes were more as a result of the horse seemingly changing his mind and putting down just as he started coming up off a long stride and as a result of the lost momentum he would end up with his front hooves landing on the hurdle halfway up it and thus giving him no chance to recover. His natural instinct is always to go long and it will be hard to change that mindset to shorten up at his age now and that combined with him maybe not having quite the same scope at his hurdles could mean that the chances of him falling are now just going to be higher.
Hope he proves me wrong but given the reported clean run he has had in the off season there can’t be the same excuses given if the jumping errors still keep happening.
Hendo on absolute fire currently so there’s no excuses for CH here. If he retains even 90% of his ability, he wins.
Fair play to de Boinville also. I thought he was finished at the top level but he’s been brilliant recently and looks back to near his best.
“Fair play to de Boinville also. I thought he was finished at the top level but he’s been brilliant recently and looks back to near his best.”
I thought he did well on Impose Toi. There was a close up camera shot early in the race and I thought the horse looked unhappy, kind of snatching at the bit and didn’t seem to be in a good rhythm. Nico sat quietly and let him build his way into it instead of getting impatient and bullying him. Good ride.
What will tomorrow’s race tell us? If CH wins, one might argue that Anzadam is not that high on the Mullins’ hurdling list and The New Lion could be better at 2m5f.
I’m hoping for a true jumping test and a decent end-to-end gallop. It would be great to see if CH can retain his ability from two-three seasons ago, but he’d need a true test to prove that.
At around 2/1 he is a very decent price…… maybe.Even if he wins tomorrow it’s not all over , Jesus you cant write of 2 younger hurdlers just like that , the yard maybe in better form but let’s be brutal here 2025 has been a disaster for Henderson , 2024 little better , Skelton is the one who’s flying in all honesty and his star is out tomorrow , I hope he puts the hill myth to test once and for all
Can’t bear to watch CH jump these days I’m afraid. I’ll be watching it from behind the sofa…
“the hill myth”
So winning the Supreme by 22l and demolishing State Man by 9l, unextended, didn’t happen? 🤔
And that’s without even mentioning that tour de force in this race three years ago and the three Christmas Hurdle wins.
All a “myth”, apparently.
….. 3 years ago , that’s the point , too many are living in the last , he was a very talented horse but sorry common sense says he is unlikely to return to that form
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