- Even-money favourite Constitution Hill fell during Thursday’s Aintree Hurdle
- It came less than a month after another fall at the Cheltenham Festival
Nicky Henderson tried to offer an explanation but the momentary pause as he searched for some words was the best measure of this remarkable situation.
Constitution Hill – once unbeatable, now unfathomable – had taken another tumble and Henderson, like the rest of Aintree racecourse, was speechless. Lossiemouth and Wodhooh had fought out a thrilling finish to the William Hill Aintree Hurdle but they crossed the line to near silence.
How has it come to this? The greatest draw in jump racing turned another summersault, just as he had done in the Unibet Champion Hurdle 23 days ago, and the ache Henderson and owner Michael Buckley felt was shared far and wide, as jockey Nico de Boinville trudged disconsolately back on foot.
‘I feel desperately sorry for Michael and everyone else,’ Henderson sighed. ‘We’ve gone from that high…although I suppose you could look at in another way and say no horse has beaten him again. Somebody might do that one day. At the moment, nobody can…except for a hurdle.’
Henderson has a way of finding a pithy line in the gloom but, equally, he wasn’t skirting around the serious issue. This was an afternoon when Lossiemouth was the last leg of a stunning Willie Mullins four-timer but the only conversations were about the beautiful horse who has lost his sheen.
‘Nico said he just stepped at the hurdle,’ Henderson continued. ‘That’s what he’s done before and I agree. Its repetition. How he’s got it into his vocabulary, I don’t know. How we get it out of his vocabulary, I don’t know either. We might send him to Specsavers in the morning!’
Nico de Boinville pictured (top right) on the ground after coming off Constitution Hill at Aintree
Again, there was some more gallows humour but the chuckles faded quickly. Henderson, who will attempt to win the Randox Grand National for the first time tomorrow with Hyland, is dumbfounded that Constitution Hill now looks so vulnerable.
There are, of course, two sides to every story and it must be noted that Lossiemouth benefitted from a quite magnificent ride by Paul Townend, the best National Hunt jockey of his generation, who outwitted his rivals and put de Boinville into a pocket at a crucial stage of the race.
What could not be escaped, though, was the deflation felt amongst a bumper crowd. Constitution Hill had been clapped out of the paddock before the race but the silence as it unfolded encapsulated the tension and the gasps that accompanied his departure were as loud as they were at Cheltenham.
Henderson is adamant that providing all is ok with Constitution Hill in the next 48 hours, he will go to Punchestown at the beginning of May, but that will now be a mighty ask. Taking on the Mullins armada in the United Kingdom is hard enough but to beat him in Ireland is next to impossible.
Mullins is downplaying his chance of retaining this country’s Champion Trainer title, which he won 12 months ago, but you would be a fool to discount him after he pocketed prize money of £313,792 in two remarkable hours. Dan Skelton, who leads the table, can certainly feel breath on his neck.
Impaire Et Passe set the ball rolling in the opening Grade One Novices Chase and he was followed in by Murcia (4-Y-O Hurdle), the enigmatic Gaelic Warrior (Aintree Bowl Chase) before Lossiemouth stuck her grey neck out when it mattered.
Gaelic Warrior was likened to Albert Einstein by his jockey Patrick Mullins, in that he is a genius with eccentricities, but this was the perfect example of his father coaxing a horse out of the doldrums to produce a masterful display when it matters most.
Keep that in mind about I Am Maximus’s potential of defending his Grand National crown. His form this winter has been underwhelming but he’s primed to run for his life.
Constitution Hill started the Aintree Hurdle as the favourite but fell at the penultimate hurdle
‘I told you about State Man before Cheltenham and how he was coming back to form,’ said Mullins senior, of a horse that was going to win the Champion Hurdle but for a last flight fall. ‘This lad is the same. He is in great shape. He’s exactly where we want him.’
Don’t say he didn’t tell you.
