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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Sport
Donald McRae

Nicky Henderson on Constitution Hill and the yips: ‘The best jumper you’ll ever see and he lost it’

Nicky Henderson the racehorse trainer with his horse Constitution Hill at his Seven Barrows stables in Berkshire.
Nicky Henderson the racehorse trainer with his horse Constitution Hill at his Seven Barrows stables in Berkshire. Photograph: Tom Jenkins/The Guardian

Nicky Henderson is 75 years old and, after almost half a century of training horses, he has seen everything in the strange and compelling world of racing. But the extraordinary and still evolving story of his great old horse Constitution Hill makes even Henderson pause in his study. It’s a sunlit afternoon in Lambourn and we’ve just left the mighty but complex horse in his stable.

Standing next to Henderson for a photoshoot, Constitution Hill had been typically calm. He then took a slow walk outside before, having waited patiently for lunch, the horse ambled inside for a good feed. It was all so different to the drama and glory, the disappointment and yearning, that defines the horse’s saga.

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