Constitution Hill: find out more about this Cheltenham Festival winner

Gloucestershire , United Kingdom - 15 March 2022; Constitution Hill, with Nico de Boinville up, jumps the last on their way to winning the Sky Bet Supreme Novices' Hurdle during day one of the Cheltenham Racing Festival at Prestbury Park in Cheltenham, England. (Photo By Seb Daly/Sportsfile via Getty Images)

(Image credit: Sportsfile via Getty Images)

Constitution Hill, a five-year-old gelding by Blue Bresil and owned by Michael Buckley, was awe-inspiring when cruising to an incredible 22-length victory in the Sky Bet Supreme Novices’ Hurdle at the Cheltenham Festival this afternoon (15 March).

Trained by Nicky Henderson and ridden by Nico De Boinville, he looked to be in a different league from his rivals in terms of class.

When Constitution Hill won the Grade One Tolworth Novies’ Hurdle at Sandown in January, trainer Nicky Henderson had to watch the race on television, while he sat out a bout of Covid. He said at the time: “Even I thought he was impressive,” he said. “What we saw was better than any medicine – that’ll kill Covid I can tell you, watching something like that. He was spectacular. We hoped he might be.

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Jennifer is passionate at showjumping and her role as H&H’s showjumping editor has taken her around the world reporting from shows and interviewing riders, connections and those involved behind the scenes. Since joining H&H from BBC Sport in 2005, she has written on every subject across the equestrian sphere — from turnout rugs to stable management — and has interviewed gold medallists, world champions and winners galore. She also has first-hand experience of working in the equestrian industry as a riding instructor and yard manager.

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“I love his disposition,” says jockey Nico de Boinville. “He’s so relaxed. He just eats, sleeps and goes out like a pony. He wanders round at the start and does everything so easily. He is push-button to ride, honestly a jockey’s dream.

“He’s such a likeable horse. He answers every question and everything seems to be so easy for him. He’s always within his comfort zone, so it seems.”

“This is some horse, quite an animal,” he says.

“There had been a lot of hype from one run but he’s an extraordinary horse and just to go round there and do that was frightening, to be honest with you.”

But even Henderson described the horse as “asleep” most of the time.

“He’s a sheep,” he says: “Let’s just hope that the future shines for this horse. He could be enormous but as everyone knows you need an awful lot of luck on your side for things to go forward, but the future looks bright.”

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