Constitution Hill

poor CH probably got in a sweat/panic  about appearing in yesterdays boat race with th added pressure of his owner,telling everyone he would win it, at least he missed getting E-COLI

The Emma Radacanu of the Horse racing world.

Doubt we will see him again.
I like the Raducanu comment

What an unfortunate sequence of events? I hope he gets over his latest predicament, and starts off in the Fighting 5th again. Then X'mas hurdle (or Morgiana) and Cheltenham.

I did not think Hendo had the kahunas to do battle against State Man at Punchestown next month either.

RADUCANU was the most transparent ,ITS YOUR TIME EVENT ,never to be repeated sporting event in history but the pundits couldnt or didnt want to see it,1st of many grand slams to come ,
seeded players pulled out with injury
some played with injury
other players knocked out the top tournament  seeds for RADUCANU
think she won without playing a top 10 seed in tournament,never mind top ten in world

fair play to her but to think it was the start of multiple grand slam wins and world domination was patently ridiculous,but its the way of uk sport and pundits

Spot on 1sttp


Raducanu had to win 7 matches to win the trophy last year and was a qualifier herself.

She beat 5 x unseeded players , one ranked 11 and one ranked 17 to lift trophy.

Basically the draw just fell apart for one reason or another.

Fernandez had a totally different path to the final beating Osaka ( 3 ) , Kerber ( 16), Svitolina ( 5 ) and Sabalenka ( 2 )

In Raducanu's half as soon as Barty , Pliskova , Kvitova , Swiatek and Andreescu flopped before the 1/4 final you were left with no slam pedigree in that

half and the draw became extremely lop sided

The UK had been deprived of a genuine tennis world champion post Virginia wade and Murray (he was determined). The rest were weaklings and did not have the killer instincts necessary in the game to be effective and successful.

Then up-popped Ms Raducanu (from obscurity) who won several games in America in a competition as an outsider. She was also very young, personable and daughter of an immigrant couple.

I think "Sweet Caroline" also enhances her fondness to the British public.

Emma is (was) talented enough to be able to get right to the top of the game in my view. But for talented female tennis players, once they get into the public arena, it can go one of two ways. Those who don't look like the back of the bus can quickly have their heads turned by the multi £millions, glamour, red carpet, sleb circuit. Alas that's the way she has gone, and the actual tennis just gets in the way.

Raducanu's name will always be on the trophy.Unlike many others.

Was never going to run again this season anyway, must be a doubt if he will ever run again.

When horses are fit and well they should run them

Correct, In Hell, but I doubt Hendo will learn the lesson.

Spot on,In Hell..

I think the decision not to run at |Newcastle on fastish ground was probably right , but the decision not to run at Cheltenham in January on heavy was a mistake. He would have run on heavy at Cheltenham in March .

When was he pulled out of Newcastle because of fast ground?
When was he pulled out of Cheltenham because of heavy ground?

It's hardly material as (presumably) he would still have missed the important stuff.

with the mullins grade one hurdlers, to seperate sir gino,de brooms,no penalty kicks next yr so unless they no its back to best,might be retired unbeaten

Forget the racing. Colic has sadly taken the life of many top horses over the years. Only thing that is important is that Constitution Hill recovers from this dreadful equine disease.

If you don't run them when fit tough luck when illness scuppers your plans. This isn't a racehorse as it doesn't race.

why do top class horses run so rarely now days, I don't remember the likes of Night Nurse, wayward lad, sea pigeon, desert orchid missing lots of races, they seemed to running every other week.

I still remember J Jenkins running his charges very regularly even the prolific winners, and on hard ground too.

think thats the point,back in the day every horse ran 6/7 times a yr so if you were slightly below par didnt really matter as chances were opposition would be,back in day you didnt have to be at best/improve every race, since best mate trainers think theyve show their hand/at a disadvantage with a fresh horse ,with few runs on the board

State Man ran 4 times only. Three against Irish opposition and the CH which he won easily. Galopin also ran 4 times, beaten on the first one. I know they ran and won on the big days but still not really extended more than once per season. El Fabiolo won 2 trials and then fell at Cheltenham. I agree that they should run more but why don't they? Is it really because the trainers believe this is the right strategy or because the prize money and race programme makes it uneconomic to risk them anywhere else? Nicky keeps saying that there are only four suitable races each season. That is an exaggeration but it is part of the problem. Neither Irish nor GB trainers seem willing to travel abroad more than once a year. Arkle raced in England more than he did in Ireland. What has changed?

Poor horse, poor conns.  Like others I doubt if we will see him again.  Hope I am wrong.

They no longer run the best horses in handicaps. That is part of the problem.

What handicaps do you want them to run in?

Cheltenham is the problem, polarises the season.

agreed barstool but the elephant in the room this season has been trainers Championships. Willy vs Gordon and Paul vs Dan. None of them want to risk losing that by running their best horses in other countries.

True.  Only it isn;t.
Willie Mullins only took 75 to Cheltenham.
Then took one to Uttoxeter.
Don;t know how many Elliott took?  Anybody?
The past is another country?

It simply comes down to how many times a season can you have your horse spot on.

Get the hoss ooota the stable

God dammit…no chance of him making the Guineas now.

The Cesarewitch might give him the time.

He doesn't do himself any favours does he. Comes on the telly box puffed up like he is going to cry you would have thought he might have made the press aware on Wednesday took until Sunday if only because it is such a high profile horse. I know all that about owners prerogative he might be old school he is beginning to look increasingly out of touch with the larger racing public you cannot have your cake.

The horses are run less at the top level because of the top heavy prizemoney.
You want to win half a million in one outing of course you will try to get your horse spot on for that race.
Thats why they are so competitive.
The other thing is that Irish jumpers go point to pointing usually on heavy ground, and they then get used to heavy ground.
English BHA doesnt want Good in the going description at Cheltenham day one....they watered soft some years...plays right into Irish hands.

update from hendo, Constitution Hill back at the yard this morning, no ill effects, going to need a long rest.

Back at that yard is the last place you'd want a sick horse to be.

hendo says time for a summer holiday
been on holiday since dec 26th

irishone you are right that there is too much concentration on particular races but are you sure that they are competitive. How good a race were the Champion Hurdle or the Champion Chase this year? State Man is clearly good and might have been a bit below his best when destroyed by Constiution Hill last year. But what other 2 mile hurdlers currently in training are much good?
With the favourite out of the race early and the second fav a non runner, the Champion Chase was the weakest since Newmill in 2006 who also benefitted from the falls and absence of other fancied runners. I just had to look at Wikepedia to remind myself that the winner was Captain Guinness. The Gold Cup and the Stayers were very competitive and the winners were the best around.

This season State Man has been fortuitous; he'll win at Punchestown too. And, this year's Champion Chase is pants!

Is the horse (genuinely forgotten his name) trained by Hendo ok? If so, and Punchestown bound he'd give El Fabiola a race with Captain Guinness placed at best.

Jonbon?  Who knows?  Good news about the Hill though and good luck to him over the summer.
I want to see his flowing stride on a racecourse again.

One of the main reasons why the top horses are not able to run more often is the break neck gallop they set from flagfall.

The better ones go through a pain barrier that they don't want to ever again and trainers have realised this.
Think how many really good ones were finished off by an insane race against another top horse.
Henderson has had quiet a few and Nicholls too.

Years ago horses were hunted around and only started picking up in the last mile and really going for it last 3 furlongs.
Horses didn't need to be so fit and could be built up as the season went on ensuring they didn't burn out.
Probably Martin Pipe changed all that really.

Now it's from flag fall and horses are just not able for it and last a maximum of four seasons now with three usually the norm.( novice and two in open company).
Like anything there are exceptions of course ,Native river and the like despite his gold cup finishing Might bite managed to stay somewhat competitive for another few seasons.

The Irish races are somewhat inbetween in that its faster than the past but still not all out which is why they can race more often.

Jonbon is the horse. I'd like to see him do battle with Captain Guinness and El Fabiola at Punchestown, if he's sound. Any other race this season is a non-event to me having missed the Champion Chase.

Shishkin is 2nd fav to Gerri Colombe in the Aintree Bowl next week.

There must be pace stats somewhere comparing british and irish races .

Is El Fabiolo going to run? I have no idea. He seemed to land very badly when unseating and I did wonder if he damaged his back. Henderson could have a field day at Aintree but none of them will carry a penny of my money.

hendo is as dodgy as they come

irishone, your point about ground is spot on. Looking at some of the swamps we have at over-watered  tracks these days it is hardly surprising that UK horses only run  2 - 3 times a season. Who , for example , would be insane enough to run a decent horse in the Welsh National? Or the Schweppes? Even some of the conditions races are arduous.  Sandown used to run that Agfa Hurdle in February and you could barely see a horses ears as it ploughed through sludge. You may ruin the horse for ever, never mind the season. Years ago, before CoCs were glued to hose-pipes, one might run a few times on good ground (even Good to Firm) and take far less out of a horse. I wish it weren't the case but I can see the point of ensuring horses are fresh for the big £ in spring.

breakneck gallop
can you explain then why 99.9% of time presenter,s pundits,tipsters spend hrs every week telling us race after race is run at a crawl and is the go to  fav excuse for every good horse/short priced fav getting beat 24/7, every beaten jocks/trainer  1st words to interviewer,s is they went a crawl/no pace on blah de blah

yeah - I remember Michael Dickinson used to complain about that all the time ...... NOT!!! ;)

Sad to say, but too many times in the past the problems CH has had have led to horses either never been seen again, or running once more, totally flopping, and then retired.

Have a feeling history will repeat itself here.

I agree insofar as they often don;t come back as good as they were.
Hopefully not in this case.

Surely times are monitored more than ever with every furlong shown on screen so there is no excuse for anyone being wrong about pace. A wildly wrong going call could fool people but jockeys can generally assess the going after a couple of furlongs and adjust.

Just reading todays papers
Major sewage problem in Lambourne
Probably the poo getting into 7 barrows stables!!!

You may think that you are joking but sewage is getting into almost every watercourse in the south of England and even into a nature reserve near where I live. Entirely possible that some water given to horses is contaminated.

I was told last week (second-hand) that the problem at Henderson's has been contaminated water.

Just passing on a rumour, I want to emphasize that. I have no idea how true it is.

wont effect hendo not known for taking to much water with it

Everyone should be buying bottled water at the moment throughout the country never mind just in the London khazi , scoffed at wife a few years ago when she banned drinking tap water and having to carry all those bottles from the supermarket.

Plastic water bottles full of micro plastics

Peckham Spring?

If water purity is an issue Constitution Hill could change stable - problem solved. Similarly, Jonbon, Sir Gino and Shishkin. And, Hendo could take a sabbatical or retire.

duffy 

Peckham Spring could be laced with ganja.

My dog was sick about a month ago.  I had kept him away from a little rivulet type stream, which came under the roadway from long established cottages etc,  and which snaked down to the sea but missed him drinking some this day.  It was only later it dawned on me that it was probably contaminated.  Ill for a week he was, not the usual couple of days.
On a tangent but nevertheless related.  Why these boat race contestants put their lives in danger this year is a madness.

Lets not get carried away LH. It is a disgraceful situation but most rivers in other parts of the world are at least as polluted as the Thames or any other GB river and not everyone who swims in them dies.

"Carried away"? 
Fearing e-coli is not getting carried away, it is common sense.
To anyone but you it seems anyway.

Just a late night thought - Dogs sniff s h i t and p i s s all day long on their walks but must be the river

Agreed, but have you ever seen them lick it? 

The last dog I had used to scoff every dropping she could find: not just the usual cowpats, but cat and dog droppings too. The day she found some human turds in the hedgerow was Christmas come early.

When we first got the dog, we thought for a while that the cat was constipated, on account of its litter tray being permanently clean.

The only thing which made her ill was when she hoovered up dropped bits of burger when we went to the cricket - the onions upset her stomach.

You could try feeding it dog food?

Dogs are usually fine almost with whatever , Ph of their stomach is far more acidic than that of the human stomach , particularly if they are raw fed .

Is Constitution Hill still ok? With so many posts I'd think another set of bad news has beset the horse.

It looks like the horse has taken a dislike to contaminated water if the streets of Lambourn are anything to go by.

I thought he'd have a better and more robust constitution given his name - maybe not.

or a dislike to THE LIGHT and FRESH AIR

This thread starts with the falsehood CH had Colic and just gets wurser and wurser.

Was going to ask the question what is really going on with NH and his Seven Barrows charges , but knew it would be crazy and perhaps personal stuff so didn't bother.

I don't like to knock folks when thar down and hope he can sort it all out or get someone in who can  wish the stable all the best next week and hope MR Henderson enjoys the occasion.
Think he got Married recently and his career stretches back a fair bit, used to go to a pub that had a picture of him on the wall looking thirty something and that was prob thirty years ago, time and tide.

Agree with your sentiment b&b.

I hope that Shishkin runs well Thursday, looking like a decent race.

Well once we know the field but yes looks like potentially one of the better bowls  rain has stopped for a bit, nice drying breeze on and even chance sun is going to pop out.

Just keep the high balls low today/tommo barstool, next week looks decent. Game on.

The horse is munching grass without further complication. This is good news.

Also, Shishkin, Sir Gino, Jonbon and Shanagh Bob worked well.

to be fair if most of intended  field turn up wouldnt touch shiskin   with counterfiet to win this

Is it true constitution hill has been asked to join the Betfair board,given he’s now on his holidays as Nicky says,he’s worked 1 day this year,so I presume Betfair might of asked him on the board.

Hugely risible comment from sageform.  Many thanks indeed.
Haven;t laughed so much since I was a children.