Constitution Hill has Kempton in his sights once more
Nicky Henderson has picked out the Floodlit Stakes as his next target.
Constitution Hill is set to return to his favourite stomping ground later this month, with Nicky Henderson saying his former hurdling king is in “good form and loving it”.
The 2023 Champion Hurdle hero has enjoyed some of his finest hours at Kempton winning three Christmas Hurdles, while it has also been the scene of two of his appearances to date on the Flat before going on to taste defeat in Italy last month.
Henderson is now eyeing the Sunbury track’s Listed Unibet Floodlit Stakes on November 25 and said: “I think we might go to Kempton next, he likes Kempton and he likes the all-weather.
“I’d still rather be on turf and in Milan we had a bit of bad luck. The week before I thought ‘we won’t be going, it’s too quick’ and then they had 48mm (of rain) on the Tuesday night and they all rang me up to tell me it was heavy.
“Off we went and by the time we got there on Sunday it was back to good and getting quicker which was unfortunate as a bit of soft ground would have changed things dramatically.
“Kempton seems right and we’ve looked at all the overseas options. He is in good form and loving it. He really does love it. He will be back to say hello to everyone at Kempton, I hope.”
Although beaten on both occasions since stepping up in grade on the Flat, Henderson has been happy with the performances he has produced, including when getting caught too far back when keeping on for fifth in the Group Two Gran Premio del Jockey Club most recently.
Speaking to Unibet, he continued: “He ran well in Italy, he was a little further back than we would have liked. Obviously we don’t know the track very well, but they say you can’t afford to be too far back and it’s an incredibly long straight.
“He jumped out well and then only had two behind him rather than two in front of him which is what we were trying to achieve, but he still ran a very good race.
“He’s run two very high-class races against proper good horses. The run at Kempton (September Stakes) was a prep for Italy which then didn’t quite go according to plan with the ground and position he got himself in but he’s in great form.”
One trump card Henderson will be able to play in the lead-up to Constitution Hill’s next assignment is reuniting the nine-year-old with some of his star Seven Barrows stablemates, who have previously been enjoying some down time while the Flat convert has been tuning up for recent competition.
“It will be easier now some of the better horses are back in as during the summer when getting ready for Kempton we were a bit short of work partners,” said Henderson. “When you’re as good as he is you need good horses to work with and that made the summer months a bit tricky.
“Now the good horses are back he’s back in the pack with all his old muckers and that will help him.”