If there's such a thing as the perfect winter race meeting...
RACING ROYALTY: Unbeaten in 17 starts, a dozen of them Grade Ones, Honeysuckle is one of the greatest race mares ever to jump a hurdle. Picture: Healy Racing
At about a quarter past two last Saturday afternoon a warm and welcome waft of well-being descended onto the chilly shoulders of British jump racing. Nicky Henderson’s Constitution Hill, a brilliant young horse of limitless potential, had just won impressively on his senior debut in the Fighting Fifth Hurdle at Newcastle. He’d cantered home by an effortless 12 lengths, eased down and the clock soon confirmed what the eyes had seen. The sighs of relief could be heard as far south as Newmarket.
If a week is a long time in politics, it can be an eternity in horse racing. Seven days earlier the headline Saturday meeting at Ascot had been decimated by late withdrawals, including Constitution Hill, leaving a paltry 30 runners to face the starter over a seven-race card, including a walkover and a two-horse match. The only race that had enough runners (eight) to pay third place on an each-way bet was the last one when some spectators were already heading to the train station. The sport was plunged into a very public existential crisis.
