Southwell takes centre stage as Constitution Hill returns
Constitution Hill, whose Southwell Flat appearance is garnering all the headlines. Pic: David Davies/PA
The eyes of the racing world will be on Southwell on Friday night, as Constitution Hill bids to get his career back on track in the highly anticipated SBK Road To Cheltenham Novice Stakes.
A mile and a half Flat race on the all-weather would have been the last place you would have expected Nicky Henderson's superstar to turn up this time last year, at which stage he was 10 from 10 over hurdles, but three falls in his last four races have prompted connections to take a different route.
With the Seven Barrows handler struggling to find a suitable opportunity, the powers that be moved this race and boosted the prize-money to £40,000 to accommodate one of National Hunt racing's biggest names - and while a random ballot left him needing others to withdraw to get a run, there was relief all round on Wednesday morning when he made the cut.
There is no suggestion this will be a penalty kick for Constitution Hill and champion jockey Oisin Murphy, however, with Willie Mullins, Dan Skelton and Paul Nicholls among those also throwing their respective hats into the ring.
The Mullins representative is Daddy Long Legs, who has been placed twice on the Flat already and will be partnered by Ryan Moore.
Patrick Mullins, assistant to his father, sad: "He's always been a horse that works with a lot of speed and he obviously had decent Flat form before we got him - he's a Flat-bred.
"We actually had the 'Up The Yard' challenge race pencilled in for him originally, (but) we said we'd go and race for 40 grand rather than for honour and glory in that.
"It works well as he's come back off an injury. He's a long time off, but we're not going over for the fresh air.
"Constitution Hill, I would imagine, will come home alone. Those top-quality jumps horses, over a mile and a half, they are very good. But we'll make sure he has to go a bit."
Skelton has booked Hollie Doyle for Gambino, while Cieren Fallon will get the leg up on Nardaran for Nicholls.
Fergal O'Brien is another jumps trainer keen to have a go, with Tripoli Flyer an interesting contender under Billy Loughnane.
"He did some stalls training last spring because we ummed and ahhed about running him on the Flat after Punchestown," said O'Brien.
"We never did run him on the Flat - we gave him a break - so we've had him in the stalls a few times ourselves. It's nice having Billy Loughnane riding, he was keen to ride him.
"I know the Willie (Mullins) horse is rated 152 over hurdles, so he's obviously a decent horse, and obviously Constitution Hill is there. We've got to find a little on all of them, but he's shown a lot of speed in the past so I'm looking forward to him running.
"Someone went back and looked at the times of his Winter Million bumper win and on the sectional times, he showed a fair bit of speed at that time so we know he can handle the all-weather and we know he's fast. He just needs to put it all together and hopefully he'll run well."
