The British jumps season drew to a dramatic close on Saturday, the first Classics of 2025 will be run this weekend – and yet, there will still be time to squeeze in a final moment of drama over jumps on Friday evening, whenConstitution Hillis due to burst through the doors of the last-chance saloon in the Boodles Champion Hurdle at Punchestown’s festival meeting.
He will do so, of course, with two “F”s against his name, having crashed out when odds-on for the Champion Hurdle at Cheltenham in Marchand then fallen again, as an uneasy even-money shot, in the Aintree Hurdle at the Grand National meeting three weeks ago. There is still enough of a glow of a freakish, otherworldly talent about him, however, to make his date in County Kildare a moment that no jumping fan will want to miss.
If nothing else, the simple fact that Constitution Hill is travelling to Punchestown in four days’ time is an impressive riposte to the social media trolls who like to claim that Nicky Henderson wraps his stable star in too much cotton wool. Henderson and Michael Buckley, Constitution Hill’s owner, have already turned away from several obvious opportunities to put him away for the summer, with the most recent being the enforced absence of Nico de Boinville, his regular jockey, due to injury.
But there has been very little umming and ahhing. Henderson, in fact, sounds very much as though he is looking forward to Friday’s race, when the field could see a rare meeting between the last three winners of the Champion Hurdle at Cheltenham: Constitution Hill, State Man and, most recently, Golden Ace, who picked up the pieces when State Man fell with the race apparently at his mercy.
There was a little added spice too when Henderson revealed on Sunday that Constitution Hill had completed his prep for Punchestown with a schooling session over four fences. On closer inspection, the fences were more akin to French-style hurdles – and the trainer was quick to dismiss any speculation that Constitution Hill might move up to the bigger obstacles next season – but Henderson is clearly willing to try anything to ensure that his hurdler treats the obstacles with a little more respect later this week.
Constitution Hill will join many of the season’s star names in having his final run of the season at Punchestown this week, while Henderson has more than a dozen entries over the course of the five-day meeting including the top juvenile, Lulamba, in Saturday’s Champion Four-Year-Old Hurdle.
Following a domestic season when Willie Mullins retained the British title and Constitution Hill, Lulamba and another big hope, Jonbon, were all beaten at Cheltenham in March, it is an impressive show of intent from Henderson, who frequently sent double-figure teams to Punchestown 10 or 15 years ago, but has had just one winner, from 13 runners, over the last four meetings.
Just two of his runners are in Grade One races, however, and it is a case of Mullins vs The Rest in most of the top-level events, including the feature events on Tuesday and Wednesday. Kopek Des Bordes, the Supreme Novice Hurdle winner, will be odds-on for the Grade One novice on Tuesday’s card, while Fact To File, the Ryanair Chase winner, is odds-on for the evening’s feature event, the Champion Chase over two miles, despite a significant drop in trip to take on Marine Nationale, the two-mile champion at Cheltenham, over his ideal distance.
Wednesday’s card, meanwhile offers Galopin Des Champs, who came up one place short in his attempt to complete a Gold Cup hat-trick at Cheltenham, a third chance to win Punchestown’s Gold Cup after odds-on defeats in the last two seasons. He is a shade of odds-against this time around, however, with both Spillane’s Tower, who beat Galopin Des Champs at Punchestown earlier in the season, and Banbridge, the King George VI Chase winner, close behind in the market.
So many of the best jumping horses are now stabled in Ireland that Punchestown is as much of a pointer towards next year’s Cheltenham festival as the four-month winter campaign in Britain.
The week’s bumper winners are likely to be top-rated runners over hurdles next season, and the Grade One novices over both hurdles and fences will be leading contenders for the open Grade Ones. But the star of the show could yet be the horse from Lambourn with a huge reputation to redeem, and whatever else you might have planned for Friday evening, 6.40pm will be the moment to tune in to Punchestown.