It could be a big day for Nicky Henderson at Newcastle on Saturday, with his two most high-profile horses, Constitution Hill and Shishkin, entered on the card.
Constitution Hill will face a maximum of five rivals when he makes his seasonal return to action in the BetMGM Fighting Fifth Hurdle while Shishkin, who blotted his copybook by refusing to race at Ascot on Saturday, has been given an entry in the BetMGM Rehearsal Chase.
Not surprisingly, there are not many connections with a smart two-mile hurdler on their hands keen to take on Constitution Hill.
Since his racecourse debut in December 2021, the closest any horse has managed to get to Constitution Hill is three lengths, on his most recent outing at Aintree, where he beat multiple Grade One winner Sharjah.
That followed a nine-lengths stroll in the Champion Hurdle over State Man, another Willie Mullins inmate with a list of successes at the highest level to his name.
There had earlier been wide-margin wins over his stablemate Epatante in both the Christmas Hurdle and this corresponding race last year – and she herself was a previous winner of the Champion Hurdle.
So far, he has not looked like being beaten and he will be a very short price at the weekend to maintain his unblemished record.
There is a previous winner of the Fighting Fifth among his likely opponents in the shape of Hughie Morrison’s veteran Not So Sleepy.
He dead-heated with Epatante in 2021 and was last seen running a good race to be seventh in the Cesarewitch.
There are two classy mares among his potential opponents, both having won the Dawn Run Mares’ Novices’ Hurdle at the Cheltenham Festival.
Harry Fry’s Love Envoi took the spoils in 2022 and was narrowly beaten by Honeysuckle back at Cheltenham in March, while Jamie Snowden’s You Wear It Well followed in her hoofprints last season.
You Wear It Well reappeared with a good win at Wetherby and is clearly on the up.
Sandy Thomson’s Benson and Iain Jardine’s Voix Du Reve are the only other possibles.
Shishkin is one of 17 entries in the Rehearsal Chase over almost three miles, a contest won 12 months ago by Venetia Williams’ L’Homme Presse.
When asked on Sunday if the race was an option for Shishkin, Henderson replied: “That is under consideration, as you can imagine. We’re going there anyway (with Constitution Hill)."
The trainer deems the Peterborough Chase on December 10 too close to his King George target on Boxing Day.
Shishkin is rated 173 so would be giving lumps of weight away to his rivals should he run, with the next highest rated being Jamie Snowden’s Datsalrightgino on 148.
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