“The best since …” was a theme of the final weeks of the Flat season, as the merits of the unbeaten colts, Flightline and Baaeed, were weighed in the balance against Secretariat and Frankel respectively, but when Constitution Hill steps on to the track before the Coral Hurdle at Ascot on Saturday afternoon, no “since” will be required.
With a Timeform rating of 177 at the end of the 2021-22 season, Nicky Henderson’s gelding is, quite simply, the best novice hurdler in the 60-odd years since the firm starting crunching the numbers over jumps. Unbeaten in three outings, Constitution Hill rounded off his first campaign over timber with a 22-length rout of his field in the Supreme Novice Hurdle at Cheltenham in March, and he sets out on his second season as the clear favourite for the Champion Hurdle in a little less than four months’ time.
