Townend aiming to call shots on State Man
PAUL TOWNEND insists the improving State Man can give unbeaten Constitution Hill ‘a scare’ in today’s Champion Hurdle at the Cheltenham Festival. Townend is 4-7 with the bookies to be leading jockey at the meeting and add to his 22 triumphs, the same number as veteran Davy Russell. No County Hurdle winner has progressed to win the Champion Hurdle in successive years since Rooster Booster in 2002 and 2003. If history is against the Willie Mullins-trained State Man, Townend is in no mood to wave a flag. ‘State
Man is improving the whole time. I think I will give Constitution Hill the most to do and I think it will be his toughest test so far. ‘The English handicapper has him 26lbs higher than when he won the County last year and that still leaves us six pounds behind Constitution Hill. That shows what Constitution Hill has been doing. ‘If I could take him on with anything, it would be State Man. I would like to think I can give him a scare if I can’t beat him.’ Townend regards Facile Vega as his ‘best ride’ today in the Supreme Novices’ Hurdle and reckons ‘Everyone else will need to
GET there early, get a good view. If you are lucky enough to be one of the thousands flooding into the Cheltenham Festival today, do not miss it. This could be an ‘I was there’ moment.
If you are at home, tune in, sit back and take it all in because the remarkable Constitution Hill will stake his claim to be one of the greatest jump horses of all time when he guns for the Champion Hurdle this afternoon.
Constitution Hill, who is the incredibly short odds of 1-3 favourite to beat his six rivals, has only raced five times — but each time he has destroyed the field.
He has captured the imagination of the racing public but today can move front and centre of the general public’s consciousness. The six-year-old has been hailed as the perfect racehorse — an equine athlete with an F1 engine and the laid-back temperament and reliability of a Volvo.
Trainer Nicky Henderson has already won the Champion Hurdle a record eight times but in Constitution Hill, a gelding he describes as ‘extraordinary’, his ninth success could be the most spectacular yet.
Constitution Hill could easily have an impact on the sport as far-reaching as the great Frankel, the colt rated the best ever to race on the Flat, who won all his 14 races for his late trainer, Henry Cecil. This afternoon in front of a day one Festival crowd of almost 65,000 and with hundreds of thousands watching on television, the stage is set to send the message of his brilliance worldwide.
‘Constitution Hill obviously has a huge amount of ability,’ an excited Henderson said yesterday, ‘but his most potent weapon is that he channels it in the right direction.
‘It’s his mind which sets him apart. He is so uncomplicated. He eats. He sleeps, he works. In a race I don’t think it would make any difference whether you went two miles or three. You can ride him how you want.
‘One must not get too carried away at this stage of life. He is only a young horse. He has got quite a long way to go but visually he has been very impressive every time he has run. You can’t fault what he has done. We have been lucky enough to train a lot of nice horses and when these sort of things come along you find yourself being the minder of a piece of public property.’
Constitution Hill was beaten in his sole point-to-point race in Ireland but he has cleaned up in every race he has contested under rules by a double-digit margin of lengths. That includes winning last season’s Supreme Novices’ Hurdle on this day by a yawning 22 lengths.
In doing so he smashed the course record and completed the contest in a massive 5.78 seconds — around 23 lengths — faster than Honeysuckle won the 2022 Champion Hurdle over the same course and distance.
His career may be in its infancy but the renowned Timeform organisation, which rates the performances of racehorses, already have Constitution Hill as the joint-seventh best hurdler of all time.
The most amazing part of the Constitution Hill story is his temperament. A monster on the track, he is a teddy bear off it. He was bought as a foal by Henderson’s former stable jockey Barry Geraghty before being sold on to owner Michael Buckley. In those formative years Geraghty’s three young daughters Siofra, Orla and Rian all rode him.
‘It’s a bit unheard of and he is the only one they have ridden, Geraghty said. ‘He was the most laid-back horse ever.’
A win for Constitution Hill would be a massive morale booster for British owners. Irish-trained horses won 18 of the 28 races last year and 23 races in 2021, which was humiliating for the home team.
In the ante-post markets, where punters place bets ahead of the meeting starting, Irish runners head the betting in 21 of the 28 races. Most ominously of all, Willie Mullins looks to have the ammunition that could help him beat his record 2022 haul of 10 wins.