Equinties - a new machine?

Gm Equinauts

As if we haven’t had a bad enough time recently with the incessant rain, two brilliant meetings in Plumpton and Chepstow have had to be abandoned due to the freezing temperatures.

Sad times.

Anyway, let’s dive in.

HEADLINE ROUNDUP

CONSTITUTION ILL

Unless you were under a rock yesterday (or just happily living a real life not addicted to scrolling through socials), you probably saw the news that CONSTITUTION HILL will miss Trials Day in the Unibet Hurdle. 

Question: is it breaking news if everyone is breaking it?

Nicky Henderson said that due to an “unsatisfactory scope”, his stable star would not be seen later this month, and that his Champion Hurdle plans are “unaffected”.

Cue Racing X going into UTTER MELTDOWN.

Poor old Hendo, he does get some sh*t.

He’s got the worlds best race horse on his hands, and in the wise words of Uncle Ben, with great power comes great responsibility.

The trouble is, CONSTITUION HILL is racing’s greatest asset. That also means he is also racing’s greatest weakness. To run and promote him means he becomes a household name, drawing anyone and near everyone into the sport. Nicky knows that. But Nicky’s job isn’t to run a superstar to market the sport. It’s to maximise the potential of his elite athlete and win the biggest prizes on offer.

The Cambridge and Oxford crews train all winter for just one race. Olympians? A different ball game altogether - 4 years of hard work for one shot at glory. Maybe a couple of world cups in between but ultimately, the Olympic final is the only thing they care for.

So, no matter how sad it is, and no matter how much we want to see The Freak on track, we have to accept every single decision Hendo makes.

And lets think about it practically. It isnt too long until March (there’s always someone on Racing X who will remind you how long left),

so, if CONSTITUION HILL runs under the weather, that could easily set him back a week or two in Feb which would be the worst prep for his ‘Olympics’.

Put simply, Hendo is doing the right thing. And people know that, it’s just an easy meme play for some:

And for others, it’s harder to come up with something original so just throw an embarrassingly basic attempt at a dig:

Despite the constant social media grilling, Nicky remains open and honest about his thought processes (if we were him, we’d have told everyone outside the yard to get stuffed ages ago). We have to praise him for that.

Let’s hope Nicky decides to run CONSITUTION HILL at both Aintree and Punchestown after Cheltenham. With no Fighting Fifth run under his belt, there is scope to do this!

THE NEW MACHINE?

FAUGHEEN was back yesterday. Well, not exactly him, but his niece, MAUGHREEN, a spitting image of the former Champion Hurdle winner, made a winning start to her career on the track. 

She cruised into the race under Patrick Mullins at odds of 1/2 (which looks big now) and required just a light press of the button before going on. She did it well, but the form of beating Terence O’Brien’s HARRYS ANNIE, Josh Halley’s THE LORD MAID, and Dermot McLoughlin’s AMANHA may be questioned. 

MAUGHREEN shot into 8/1 for the Champion Bumper in March and Patrick Mullins admitted the Closutton Racing Club is “entitled to get a bit excited, especially with that pedigree”.

YOUNG GUNS

Paul Nicholls had a fruitful weekend for his juvenile hurdlers thanks to KABRAL DU MATHAN and KALIF DU BERLAIS. 

The latter earned quotes for the Triumph Hurdle, but he is a horse that Nicholls thinks could be a Gold Cup horse in time. As such, he will get an entry into the Triumph, but he is “possibly unlikely” to run there as he is a chaser in the making (classic Nicholls). The Adonis at Kempton is next for him.

As for the former, Nicholls said at the start of the season that the Scottish Triumph Hurdle would be his big aim and things are on track to be going there, though the Victor Ludorum Juvenile Hurdle has also been touted as a potential next step. Young horses are having a good time for Ditcheat at the moment and it seems like Nicholls has some ammo to unleash going forward.

YOUNG BLOOD

Due to the frozen conditions, we are forced to supplement this section with a novice race on the all weather.

14.30 WOLVERHAMPTON

SINDORIYNO is the gamble of the race, 4’s last night into 2/1 this morning. He is the full brother to Group winner turned stallion MARIE’S DIAMOND.

The only real danger on on paper is SMP’s PAGLIACCI. He clearly has the speed for 6f but on pedigree he’s a stayer so will definitely need further in time.

The field on pedigree don’t look much cop so makes sense that the market is siding with the Johnston horse.

Verdit: If SINDORIYNO is anything like his big bro, then he should win this easily.

RISK ON

We will play the Young Blood verdict, apparently he’s working very well. We’ll also play:

13.25 DERCOL

We know this horse is better than his mark. He should be able to make amends today. 17/2 books, or 11.0 on the machine as a small win bet for the brave because he either hoses up or comes last.

Small double on the two pays 27/1. Small stakes today while we wait for the jumps to return.

NOTE: Big news coming soon for Weekender subscribers only! It’s not too late to be a part of it, sign up below.

Become a paying subscriber of Premium to get access to this post and other subscriber-only content.

Already a paying subscriber? Sign In.

A subscription gets you:

• • The weekender edition (Mon-Fri still free)
• • The weekends best bets
• • That warm fuzzy feeling inside knowing the intern gets fed
• • Only £1 a week!