Rain will be key but Henderson ‘couldn’t be happier’ with Constitution Hill

Nicky Henderson admits Constitution Hill will be playing a “different game” to that of his two Flat starts so far if he lines up in Saturday’s Weatherbys August Stakes at Windsor.

The former undisputed king of the hurdling scene dominated his rivals in a couple of all-weather novice events at Southwell and Kempton earlier in the year, but he will face a significantly tougher test if stepping up to Listed level this weekend.

Henderson identified the extended one-mile-three-furlong contest as a potential target in mid-July and while the prolonged dry spell led to him circling Kempton’s September Stakes early next month as a possible alternative, rain is due to arrive later this week, giving Constitution Hill’s legion of fans hope he could make his first start on turf on the level.

Henderson told the Press Association: “All these races are going to be very competitive, I’m sure. I think quite a few are waiting for some rain and I can see what will happen because if it doesn’t rain, you’ll probably find we’ll all be in the Kempton race as well.

“He’s in very good shape, we couldn’t be happier. It will be his first run in a while, he’s had a good break.

“He’s ready to start, his campaign starts here (Windsor or Kempton) and we’ll see where we go afterwards.”

Constitution Hill, who has so far achieved a Flat rating of 101, is one of 19 entries for the Windsor feature.

The nine-year-old is likely to face some serious opposition if he takes his chance, with Jamie Osborne’s Tattersalls Gold Cup-winning recruit White Birch and the 112-rated trio of Al Aasy, Arabian Crown and Ghostwriter among his potential rivals.

Henderson acknowledges his pride and joy will have his work cut out, but expects to have a much clearer idea of just how high he can climb the Flat ladder after his next outing, whether that be at Windsor or Kempton.

“You’re going into a different game. He’s run in two novice races, let’s face it, and that told us he can run quite fast over a mile and a half, but that’s all he had to do on those occasions,” he continued.

“This will be different altogether – it will be a very stiff test, but it will tell us where we are.

“We’re all hoping for the rain, but we’ll just have to see what happens. The good thing is you’ve got Kempton as a back-up there and he’s got to have a run now.

“He’s ready to run to get us ready for whatever we’re going to do next, but I’ve no idea what that is.”

The William Haggas-trained Al Aasy is a standing dish in these type of races and was last seen finishing third in his pursuit of a third win in the Group Three Glorious Stakes at Goodwood.

Kevin Philippart De Foy’s Ghostwriter was fourth in the same race on the Sussex Downs, while Arabian Crown finished a close second to his now-retired globetrotting stablemate Rebel’s Romance in the Group Two Princess of Wales’s Stakes at Newmarket.

Gaucher, meanwhile, is an interesting entry for Willie Mullins, having finished third behind his Breeders’ Cup Turf-winning stablemate Ethical Diamond in the Group Three Ballyroan Stakes at Leopardstown recently.

Windsor’s clerk of the course, Charlie Rees, said: “The weather seems to be changing, with some thunderstorms on the horizon. Being thunderstorms they can be quite unpredictable, but it currently looks like we should get 5-10 millimetres of rain on Thursday and the same on Friday, before having showers possibly throughout racing on Saturday evening.

“If we hit the higher end of the forecast you’d sort of imagine us being on the easy side of good on Saturday. Obviously it’s very unpredictable at this stage, but hopefully we’ll have a clearer picture in the morning when the latest forecasts arrive.

“I don’t think there’s a racecourse in the country that wouldn’t want Constitution Hill turning up at their track. He’s really captured the imagination of many racing fans, but there’s a lot other high-class horses in the race as well, so we’re excited about it what happens.

“White Birch was rated 119 when he ran in the Arc and he’s a Group One winner, beating Auguste Rodin, so there’s some serious form there on paper.

“I would imagine a lot of the runners are waiting for a bit of rain, that’s why we haven’t seen a lot of them for a while now. We’ll keep our fingers crossed the rain comes, like the rest of the UK probably is.”