Barry Geraghty
Barry Geraghty’s William Hill blog: Constitution Hill still has so much potential over hurdles
William Hill ambassador Barry Geraghty gives his thoughts on Constitution Hill after his latest fall in the Fighting Fifth at Newcastle, and on what might be the next moves for Nicky Henderson’s stable star.
Constitution Hill
Unfortunately, it’s back to the drawing board. This is the new norm for him, which at the moment is obviously very risky for horse and rider, and no one wants to see that. Naturally, he’s very good to jump – he has plenty of scope and is neat when he gets in close – and physically he has all the right attributes, as he showed in his novice year. Since then, he’s got braver and braver, and whether it’s coincidence or not, when the padded hurdles were introduced, he seemed to get completely complacent.
There’s lots more they can try to help in the jumping department. I’ve mentioned Yogi Bresner, who is a brilliant horseman and is a go-to person for both horse and rider that are having problems. Before Newcastle, things were shaping up well at home, I suppose, and it probably wasn’t felt that they needed to look elsewhere, but maybe this is the stage that they do now need to. You’ve got to try to get back to basics and build his confidence back up, because it’s a very simple thing in essence. It’s a bit similar to a golfer that has the yips, it’s about paring things back down and getting back to better habits.
It was great to see Nicky [Henderson] ruled out retirement because that would have been an overreaction. I wouldn’t suggest going novice chasing with him, I don’t think that’d be the right thing on the back of those falls. He can go on the Flat in time, but there’s not much for him at the minute. He has potential to achieve on the Flat but he also has so much potential over hurdles if he can just get his jumping together. It’s just down to connections to decide whether they want to roll the dice again.
