Someone threw the improper winner’s blanket over Constitution Hill after he prolonged his document to seven from seven right here on Thursday – one thing can have long gone awry if he ever wins a handicap chase – however that was once the one blip in any other flawless afternoon’s paintings for Nicky Henderson’s unbeaten hurdler as he received the Aintree Hurdle.
Whether he’s going to try to translate his brilliance to steeplechasing subsequent season continues to be noticed. Over hurdles, although, there may be little left for Constitution Hill to reach. This first get started at two-and-a-half miles proved to be each bit as processional as his six on the minimal commute.
One bookie reported laying a £280,000 wager at 1-10 on Constitution Hill and the backer’s cash would had been a little bit more secure within the financial institution. Nico de Boinville made all of the operating and despite the fact that the three-length successful margin over Sharjah was once the smallest of Constitution Hill’s profession it will had been a lot wider had the rider let loose an inch of rein.
“That couldn’t have been more straightforward,” Henderson mentioned. “Two-and-a-half miles out there on your own, your mind could wander, but he’s just had a doddle around and was in second gear the whole way.
“I’m sure he’d get three miles, but there’ll be no decisions made today about next year. I’m not saying we won’t school him over a fence, but we’re not leaning any way.
“As long as he keeps doing it like that, we’ve got a long summer to look back on it and enjoy it and talk about what will happen next.
“There’s only so many races he can run in next year. Fighting Fifth, Christmas Hurdle, I do think the International [Hurdle] will come into it on Trials day [in January] And then Champion Hurdle and come here. Some might say that’s boring, but we won’t find it boring. All options are still open and we won’t make a decision until the autumn, I’d have thought.”
Henderson has experienced enough of the ups and downs of jumping over his 45 years with a license to be wary of looking too far into the future, but he can rarely have had so much reason to wish the summer away as he does currently, with the Constitution. Hill’s win following a return to form by his best chaser, Shishkin.
Shishkin came up just short behind Envoi Allen in the Ryanair Chase at Cheltenham last month, but his first race beyond three miles in the Aintree Bowl saw him produce a strong staying performance that brings the next season’s King George VI Chase at Kempton and even the Gold Cup at Cheltenham into sharper focus.
“The obvious thing is the King George and we take it from there,” Henderson said. “Whether we go to the Betfair [Chase at Haydock in November] then the King George, I don’t know.
“He was very sorry after Cheltenham. You have to assume he might have been sore going into it, but it’s hard to tell. The only moment he was going at Cheltenham was the run-in.
“He used to be very straightforward, but like everybody he gets a bit creakier maybe and you have to treat him like that. You have to say well done to the team as they have helped us turn him around.
Ahoy Senor, a faller in the Gold Cup last time, was a brave runner-up as Shishkin found a second wind to run him down a few strides from the line, while A Plus Tard, the 2022 Gold Cup winner, was third. “He didn’t finish out the race as well as we’d have liked,” mentioned Henry de Bromhead, A Plus Tard’s instructor. “But we are definitely heading back in the right direction.”
Shishkin was cut from 8-1 to 4-1 for the King George by Betfair and from 25-1 to 12-1 to win next year’s Cheltenham Gold Cup.
Earlier at the card, Zenta scraped house within the juvenile hurdle to land some hefty bets at 5-4, whilst Banbridge, a contemporary horse after skirting across the Cheltenham Festival, were given Joseph O’Brien’s assembly off to the perfect get started within the Manifesto Novice Chase.