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I can see the angle on Jonbon being a spoiler , while Henderson kept saying he couldn’t split them he must have known CH would have to many gears , DD falling may add the question mark regarding the form but then look at where Kilcruit is ? , CH is in my eyes an above average supreme winner , if CH and Honeysuckle both go to the champion next gear she,ll be 9 , some of her zip we,ll be going , she,ll need to try and out stay him but he travels so well , yesterday was near training in public , he jumped the last as if trotting round seven barrows
Surprised anyone is being even mildly critical of the form. It was one of the very best performances I have ever seen at Cheltenham.
I have no doubt that Jonbon is well above average. He has been beaten by 22 lengths. The horses behind had fair form and they could not go the pace from the start.
I can fully understand why the Henderson team went down the novice route, given the horse’s lack of experience. However, if he had run in the Champion Hurdle I have no doubt he would have won it. His time was far faster than Honeysuckle. She was all out to beat Epatante by 3 1/2 lengths and the runner up would have been closer but for stumbling after the last.
I am fairly sure Henderson knows that Constitution Hill is superior to Epatante than a lot more than three lengths.
The hint was there when he destroyed might I , lol all with woe with the Irish wining everything …. all the while the best hurdler and chaser safely tucked at seven barrows
My (admittedly very amateur) hand timing from the replays has Constitution Hill covering from the second last to the line over a second faster than Honeysuckle and also a bit quicker than the flat-out Brazil in the juvenile handicap. Considering that they had gone fastest in the Supreme Novices, that is some finishing effort- and he was hardly ridden out.
It must be borne in mind that Brazil carried 11st 9; Constitution Hill carried 11st 7 and the mare 11-3, so the juvenile form looks very decent as well.
Possibly the greatest performance I’ve ever seen from a novice hurdler.
The time was spectacular, breaking the course record in just his 3rd run over hurdles. I love Honeysuckle, she’s an absolute legend of a mare but she won’t stand a chance against this machine. The most unbelievable thing about Constitution Hill’s performance today is that even after an absolute break neck gallop, he still managed to come up the hill faster than Honeysuckle and he did it at a canter.
Timeform has now given Constitution Hill the highest rating of all time for a novice hurdler in their 74 year history, 1lb above Golden Cygnet. He’s now the joint 7th highest rated hurdler of all time with them and he’s achieved that with only 3 races behind him.
The great man himself, Ruby Walsh, stated last night that he’d seen a lot of fantastic winners of the race and ridden a lot of top horses in the race himself including Vautour and Douvan yet had never seen anything quite like what he’d just witnessed in Constitution Hill.
I just pray that he stays sound. If so, he won’t be beaten in a true run race for the next 3 to 4 years. He’ll be the greatest since Istabraq.Spot on GM.
EDIT:
Well almost spot on.
He will be better than Istabraq.
Value Is EverythingHe’s already better than Istabraq, who was laughably overrated. Kept beating rubbish.
It’s possible Istabraq was over-rated Glad, yes a lot he beat were second raters but there were one or two good horses and did beat the “rubbish” easily and by a very long way.
Value Is EverythingSuspect the reason why Connections are thinking of going to Ireland is to prove the horse not only 2022’s best novice hurdler but – in beating Honeysuckle – Constitution Hill will prove he’s 2022’s best hurdler full stop.
Possible he goes chasing after proving himself the best hurdler, but when you’ve got one that – if kept hurdling – may well prove himself the best hurdler of all time… Why go chasing (at least not yet)?
Timeform’s 177 is the best rating ever given to a novice hurdler and the “p” means a better rating is likely to come his way. Making 6 lbs improvement from novice to second season is quite normal for “p” horses and that would put him above Night Nurse – Timeform’s best ever hurdler.
Am not usually one for writing such things, I’ll whisper it quietly… It is possible we witnessed the beginnings of Hurdling’s Frankel / Arkle yesterday.
Value Is Everything“Timeform are cr*p anyway”.
…And yet those of us who are / have been Timeform subscribers, many make good profits. Funny that.
Some will never understand race times and sectionals.
Value Is EverythingGladiateur
Istabraq was a phenomenal horse.
He held the course record for 14 years and up until 2014 was one of only two horses in history to go under 3m:50s. Istabraq did it twice.
Constitution Hill could end up better, possibly the greatest but as Willie Mullins said ” A good horse is a sound horse”. That will be the key to where CH ends up in the all time great list.
I will say this. Nicky Henderson is the best man for the job. He’ll give this horse every chance to have a long and great career.
GM- course records mean nothing more than quick ground and a strong pace. Ribchester holds (I think he still holds it, anyway) the record over Ascot’s straight mile, so he must be better than Frankel. Right?
Istabraq was a very good horse and clearly superior to his contemporaries but Timeform have him joint-second in their all-time hurdler ratings, which is just nonsense.
Glad,
I agree with you that times aren’t everything especially on the flat where they don’t water unless it’s rock hard.
Cheltenham though for a long time now has tried to maintain good to soft always for the opening day. Yes it can be slightly quicker or slower some years but I believe times can be taken note of within reason.
Comparing Honeysuckle to Appreciate it last year. I timed various parts of the race and came to the conclusion that Appreciate had no chance of beating her and that turned out to be the case.
Appreciate looked great last year but the time was nothing special and as it turned out, neither were his opponents.Back to Istabraq
He won 23 of 26 completed races over hurdles. Won 3 champion hurdles breaking the course record in the process and would have been the first to win 4 if it hadn’t been for foot and mouth. Also won the RSA hurdle and Aintree hurdle over 2 1/2 mile.
He had it all and I really can’t see how he can be overrated.
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