Constitution Hill and Coral Gold Cup reflections as Newcastle overshadows Newbury

For once, you couldn’t blame Matt Chapman’s enthusiasm.

“Nicky, you were rated 6lb below Istabraq going into that, have we seen, arguably, the greatest hurdler of the modern era just now?”

Nicky Henderson, watery eyed at Newbury, 300 miles away from the scene of the Betfair Fighting Fifth, tried his best to play it cool.

“Now now, hang on a minute, let’s just settle down and all take a deep breath,” he said, the brown chapka Sir Peter O’Sullevan hat he bought at auction back firmly on his head after he saluted Constitution Hill’s sumptuous win over stablemate Epatante with it just moments before. It was like a football manager reining in expectation at the group stage.

But then it sunk in. “He’s an amazing horse,” he chuckled. “To do that to her is ridiculous really.”

Ridiculous is the right word. This was hurdling perfection.

Nico de Boinville decided to keep things simple by making the running, if only to keep out of Not So Sleepy’s way, a wise tactic. The first hurdle has caused Not So Sleepy all sorts of problems in this race in the past and he had a good look at it again. Constitution Hill had already skipped on ahead of him without fuss.

Skipping the hurdles is a good way of describing Constitution Hill’s technique. He’s got an amazing engine, a turn of foot, a zest for the game, but his quickness over his obstacles looks a real trademark.

Foot perfect at each and every one, he recorded a 12-length success over a former Champion Hurdler without coming off the bridle. So far ahead of his contemporaries. Diego Maradona at Mexico '86.

Newcastle has seen some racing greats grace this race in its 53-year history, the likes of Comedy Of Errors, Night Nurse, Birds Nest and Sea Pigeon doing so much for its reputation in the early years.

Kribensis took the Fighting Fifth on his way to Champion Hurdle glory in 1989-90 and Harchibald was another handbrake-on winner for Noel Meade. He didn’t win a Champion Hurdle, but other Fighting Fifth winners have; Punjabi, Buveur d’Air and Epatante, all trained by Henderson.

But none of the previous Seven Barrows winners electrified Gosforth Park like Constitution Hill did on Saturday afternoon.

The Champion Hurdle market settled down at 8/11 for the winner and there are no arguments there. He’s the horse that looks all set to light up the season.

While there was a vintage winner of the Fighting Fifth, you couldn’t say the same about the Coral Gold Cup at Newbury.

An unusually smaller field didn’t help at the tapes where twice the field couldn’t sort themselves out by walking in, meaning a standing start which immediately did for Lostintranslation’s chance.

Threeunderthrufive got as far as the first but threatened to cause carnage as a loose horse throughout, ducking into the infield before joining the main group again as he continually hassled long-time leader Annsam.

In the straight his goose was cooked as the strong travellers just in behind took over, Dan Skelton’s 4lb well-in recruit from Tim Vaughan’s, Le Milos, spearheading the charge.

David Pipe’s pair Remastered and Gericault Roque challenged on either flank, but Le Milos was too well handicapped, too well prepared, to overhaul, and he justified 9/2 favouritism with a battling half-length win.

“Sometimes you can get too confident,” a breathless and red-faced Skelton spluttered afterwards. “I said to my assistant down at the start ‘are we stupid fancying a horse this much, in a Coral?’ But we did.”

A week on from Protektorat’s Betfair Chase win, the Skelton brothers have landed another Saturday feature. It’s quickly becoming a theme of the season. And though Le Milos looks unlikely to develop into a Gold Cup contender, unlike the ghosts of this race’s past, he got several hearts beating a bit faster on Saturday with a thrilling win. At the full-time whistle, it was job done.

There was one handicap chase that threw up a Cheltenham Gold Cup contender, however, as Venetia Williams’ L’Homme Presse defied 12 stone and a mark of 164 in the Rehearsal Chase up at Newcastle.

He had to ride a few hefty tackles on the way, guessing at the first fence in the straight on the first circuit, which could’ve done for him, but other than that he was slick over his fences and too good for Into Overdrive, a race-fit horse on a five-timer who was receiving almost two stone.

A week on from an embarrassing day for racing, two of the horses that were part of the Ascot exodus lit up Newcastle on what will go down as a famous day in the racecourse’s history.

It’s not often Newcastle outshines Newbury on ‘Hennessy’ day, but that was how the ball bounced on Saturday, with star player Constitution Hill stealing the show in style.

Watch the Betfair Fighting Fifth in full...

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