The special ones are always treated a little differently.
It doesn’t matter what walk of life, being a standout guarantees more perks, more scrutiny and, of course, more pressure.
Be in no doubt, Constitution Hill is special. Nicky Henderson has more than 100 horses in his Seven Barrows yard but the 2023 Champion Hurdler is the only one who has had his stable modified, a summer revamp giving him extra space and greater comfort.
Henderson can see Constitution Hill at all times from his office and, if he wanted to charge admission to all the racing fans who request to see the athletic bay gelding, he’d probably have enough cash to build himself a new extension, too.
There has been a desperation from the public to see Constitution Hill — perhaps the most popular horse in National Hunt training — on the track once again. It is almost 12 months to the day since he showed a change of gear between the last two flights of the Christmas Hurdle that wouldn’t have been out of place at Royal Ascot.
The last year, though, has been riddled with difficulties for Constitution Hill and trainer Henderson, and full of angst for the horse’s gregarious owner Michael Buckley. There has been a virus, a bout of colic, two underwhelming public gallops, in February (Kempton) and November (Newbury), and a growing sense that his flame has fizzled out.
On Boxing Day, back at the venue where he extended his record over hurdles to eight wins from eight starts, we have the tantalising prospect of seeing Constitution Hill showing everyone why he was drawing comparisons with the late, great Istabraq not so long ago.
The past six weeks have chipped away at Henderson’s patience, following the workout at Newbury when Constitution Hill was deemed to have been lame. He has been asked for daily bulletins about the seven-year-old’s well-being and the wrong question at the wrong time has left him fizzing.
But the reason for the interest is because Constitution Hill, the apple of Buckley’s eye, is the horse that this jumps season needs. He possesses an X factor, the kind of talent that puts the sport on the back pages.
A quick story about the things that make Constitution Hill so different. It is often assumed that at the final flight in the 2023 Champion Hurdle, when he was bounding relentlessly clear of State Man, he took a liberty and was lucky not to clip the top bar of the hurdle and topple over.
At the final flight, however, Patrick Mullins, the son of Champion Trainer Willie, stood watching and was gobsmacked by what he saw.
Constitution Hill had worked out his angle was slightly wrong and raised his front hooves by the required fraction to get the jump spot-on. Many other horses would have come crashing down but not this lad. It is why, when he lines up against Lossiemouth — sent over from Ireland by
Mullins — Burdett Road and Lump Sum on Boxing Day, we must hope the engine that made him a pin-up is still purring.
‘The reason he’s such a good horse is that his mind is so brilliant,’ said Henderson.
‘His mindset is fantastic because he doesn’t worry about anything. One box away from him is Jonbon, and if I brought him to a public workout, he’d be dripping in sweat.
‘You can’t make Constitution Hill sweat. It’s not because he doesn’t do enough but it’s all terribly easy and he needs to have a little wake up every now and again. He’s such a laid-back horse, the most laid-back horse in England, and that does make it difficult to get him ready.
‘We built him this funny new house which is hysterical. I knocked a hole in the wall as there’s a little paddock behind his box. Now we’ve got some doors, we open and shut them according to the weather. We open it up during the day and he wanders out into his field and has a good roll.’
Having missed his defence of the Champion Hurdle last March through illness, Constitution Hill’s lameness thwarted the plan to relaunch his career at Newcastle in November. Now it is all systems go.
The reports are that his work at home has been of the highest standard. Now it’s time to show why he’s so special.
