If there were tickets on sale for Constitution Hill’s impending date with some schooling fences on the Lambourn training grounds, they would be box office gold.
Whether this singular talent sticks to hurdles next season or is transferred to a novice chase campaign is the most pressing question in National Hunt racing right now.
There was no clarification after Nicky Henderson’s superstar maintained his unbeaten record with a Grade 1 saunter around Liverpool in Thursday’s William Hill Aintree Hurdle.
The 2-15 favourite barely left second gear to make all the running on his first time at the two-and-a-half-mile trip.
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Perhaps the most noteworthy element was a three-length winning margin, the shortest to date in his seven-race career.
Sharjah and Zanahiyr filled the frame but Constitution Hill was barely past the post before every word out of Henderson and jockey Nico de Boinville mouths were being parsed for meaning about future plans.
Henderson’s capacity to pull a rabbit out of a hat had been underlined in the previous race when Shishkin established himself as a 2024 Gold Cup contender with victory in the Alder Hey Bowl.
Rejuvenating a horse that not so long ago looked like yesterday’s news would ordinarily be the headline but even in a routine rout, Constitution Hill is impossible to dislodge from the spotlight.
The explanation is easy since the racing world really does look to be at his feet. Already rated among the best hurdlers ever, little seems beyond this apparent equine paragon.
Given good luck with health and injuries, he could dominate the hurdling scene for years to come. Transferring to fences would be a gusty shout but owner Michael Buckley has already mused on the appeal of trying to emulate Dawn Run by adding a Gold Cup to his CV.
A morning schooling session, no doubt kept very private, could yet decide things either way, although Henderson indicated a final call may be some time coming.
“That couldn’t have been more straightforward. 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.
“He does jump, doesn’t he? He’s got such versatility. We spoke this morning and said he’d have to make it, don’t mess about and keep it simple. Nico said he was hardly doing anything on the way round.
“I’m sure he’d get three miles but there’ll be no decisions made today about next year. We’re not edging one way or the other. I’m not saying we won’t school him over a fence but we’re not leaning any way,” the English trainer said.
“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.
“I don’t think we’ll school him on Saturday. I might the Saturday after. I don’t know. We’ll just have a think.
“There’s only so many races he can run in next year – Fighting Fifth, Christmas Hurdle. I do think the International will come into it on Trials day 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,” he added.
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That such a decision won’t be straightforward was underlined by how odds of 6-4 about the Champion Hurdle were accompanied by similar odds for the Arkle at Cheltenham 2024.
In contrast, Henderson and de Boinville are already targeting the King George next Christmas with Shishkin.
The horse who laboured to second behind Envoi Allen in Cheltenham’s Ryanair looked to need every inch of the trip on his first try at three miles to overhaul Ahoy Senor.
The 2022 Gold Cup hero, A Plus Tard, disappointed back in third, although the Rachael Blackmore-Henry de Bromhead team later landed the Red Rum Handicap Chase with Dancing On My Own.
Willie Mullins and JP McManus team up for Capodanno in Saturday’s Grand National and combined to scoop the Garde 1 Jewson Juvenile Hurdle with the 5-4 favourite, Zenta.
The Aintree festival opened with another Irish Grade 1 success as the Mullins-McManus hope Saint Roi chased home Joseph O’Brien’s Banbridge.
O’Brien has two outsiders in the National – Darasso and A Wave Of The Sea – but will resist the temptation to take up Banbridge’s entry in Saturdays opener.
The trainer’s decision to skip Cheltenham due to soft ground there was vindicated as JJ Slevin guided the 2-1 shot to victory.
“We knew he was just a much better horse on better ground so there was no point in wasting runs on heavy ground. I think we probably saw the result of minding him earlier in the spring today.
“It was beautiful ground today, on the easy side but perfect spring ground,” O’Brien said.
