As the UK jump season moves into top gear, in an extract from her new book, Nicky Henderson: My Life in 12 Horses, journalist Kate Johnson recalls the day Constitution Hill secured his place in Cheltenham Festival history with a ruthless victory in the Champion Hurdle
GB: Constitution Hill’s victory in the 2023 Festival’s Champion Hurdle was agony for his owner Michael Buckley.
As he accompanied the horse back to his now familiar place in the winner’s enclosure, “I found myself wrestling with a huge man who put his arms round me trying to tell how wonderful it was.
“I’d had an accident on Monday morning, and I didn’t know till after the Festival that I’d fractured my shoulder. So, everyone was patting me on the back, saying well done, and it hurt like hell.”
For everyone else, it was heavenly. It was the opening day, Tuesday, 14 March, and at around 3.15pm the parade ring was as crowded as a rush-hour platform; a sense of excitement hung in the air.
Six horses for the Grade 1 Champion Hurdle were prowling the ring with one more to come. Constitution Hill was still getting dressed in the pre-parade ring (when Nicky had checked on him earlier that day, he’d reported to Michael that he was fast asleep).
Here, now, he wasn’t fidgeting, biting the bit, nodding his head, or swivelling his ears. Like crew triple-checking the ropes before launching a yacht, Nicky adjusted the hundreds of straps and buckles that keep the saddle where it should be and the horse was completely unbothered.
A select crowd stood in a half-circle around him, at a discreet distance, talking softly, but all the time with one eye watching him. This gleaming bay with a small white star, looked back with no more than mild curiosity.
Zen-like quality
When he loped into the parade ring for a single circuit, Alice Plunkett, ITV racing presenter, noticed his ‘zen-like’ quality and says, “I was struck by his eye, his amazing big, brown, kind eye. He’s so centred and so solid in himself, no insecurity in any way, no anxiety, nothing that worries him. I was so taken with his demeanour, the way he handles himself, such extraordinary calm and confidence.”
Nicky, Nico de Boinville and Michael had talked it all through and through, everyone’s opinion had been aired, the plan of action agreed.
“Michael knows how to read a race very well,” Nico says, and they’d decided he should “start a bit wider, you never know what the Irish lads are going to do, box you in, or play a tactical game, so I wanted to start wide and slot in. If you get penned in on the rails it can be very hard to get out of that position.”
In the last seconds before the jockey was boosted into the saddle, the pressure shifted. Nico says, “It’s harder for the guv’nor and Michael Buckley because at that point, it’s not in their control, it’s then I take over and it’s all up to me now.” A few last words, racing goggles on, down the horse walk, and a canter to the start.
Constitution Hill was the 4-11 favourite. He’d won all five of his previous starts under Rules. The previous year, he’d won the Festival’s Novices’ Hurdle by 22 lengths from his mighty stablemate Jonbon and set a course record.
On the bridle
On his last outings before this race, he’d trounced another stablemate Epatante, once by 12 lengths in the Fighting Fifth at Newcastle, then again by 17 lengths in the Christmas Hurdle at Kempton. He’d gone straight to the top, on the bridle, and stayed there.
Flag start, they’re off, Nico and the Hill out to the side, a little wide, the crowd could see every thrumming step as they tracked the leader. He crossed the hurdles like an arrow: long, low, whip-crack quick.
They swung to the third last, he leapt into the lead at the second last. His only competition was the seriously good State Man with Paul Townend but they were never going to catch him.
And then, a huge leap over the last hurdle, Nico says, “I knew coming to it, ten strides out, we weren’t going to meet it right, I didn’t for the life of me think he was going to do that! Luckily, we were rolling forward and we had enough momentum that he could get up and out the other side.”
Jockey Patrick Mullins was standing at the last and later told Michael he saw the horse lift his front legs two inches while he was in the air to make sure he cleared the hurdle. Constitution Hill accelerated around the final turn, powered to four or five lengths clear for his motionless jockey, as they left the field in his wake.
Untouchable
The sun caught his quarters, his tail streamed behind him, his mane lifted in the wind, he was flying, storming the hill, untouchable, magnificent, other.
He passed the post, first by what seemed to be a comfortable, almost chosen, nine lengths and it was all over in about four minutes. The crowd must be getting used to not seeing another horse in shot at the line. It was Nicky’s ninth Champion Hurdle and that rarest of races, a no-contest thriller.
Nico says, “I went into the day thinking that I must try and enjoy today, days like this are why we’re doing what we do, it’s not often you get to ride a horse like him, I really tried to enjoy it, every single moment. I loved the race; it was great fun to ride and it couldn’t have gone any better.”
Michael remembers before the race, “I was shaky, I’d invested nervous energy without realising it,” and after, “It was a struggle to get off the stand, we walked through the tunnel and everyone was cheering. It was really touching; I couldn’t believe the huge crowd gathered round us as we walked from the track to the paddock.’
Best since Arkle
Michael Dickinson (who trained the first five home in the 1983 Gold Cup) told him his horse was the best horse in the air he’d ever seen in his life, the best horse he’d seen since Arkle (who won three consecutive Gold Cups at the Festival in 1964-66, among countless other prizes and was so exceptional a new, separate handicapping system was introduced when he ran).
As the horse sauntered back to the winner’s enclosure, led by his groom Jaydon Lee, he was so relaxed, Nico remembers, “He tripped over, as we came off the walkway, he had a little trip!”
What he describes as “a magical, electric atmosphere” made no impression on the horse. He was barely blowing, had hardly broken sweat, remained unfazed by the people rushing to touch his neck and breathe the same air. He was the parade ring’s pied piper and he didn’t flinch. You’d call it grace under pressure but he hadn’t been under any.
The expectations are immense, and for Michael, it’s a stress that he can handle, as he says, “If you’re the best, you get a lot of pressure to, say, retain the title, but it’s only because you’re having a great life. I love it, it’s fantastic, I’m in awe of the horse and very proud of him.”
This horse is brilliant.
Nicky Henderson: My Life in 12 Horses by Kate Johnson is published in hardcover by Pitch and available at £16.99. Signed copies available direct from the author at kate-johnson.co.uk
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