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Equinties - Newbury gallops
BGP Capital
November 19, 2025
Gm Equinauts
Well, the usual divide between racing fans widened yesterday as CONSTITUTION HILL did his final bit of work ahead of the Fighting Fifth.
Some people loved seeing him back on track showing off in front of the cameras, and then there were the people calling him the ‘fraud’.
Fraud lol. He’s beaten the best on the bridle.
The good thing about racing is you can get paid on your opinions which is why so often people lose.
CONSTITUTION HILL is a superstar. That literally can’t be denied. He’s beaten the best on the bridle. To say he is a fraud is literally just an impotent, cheap dig at a horse who has had serious setbacks.
Like kicking someone on the floor.
Look, he might not ever fully come back to be his best, but we’re Nicky Henderson guys and will only retire from having his back until the day he himself retires.
Let’s dive in!
HEADLINE ROUNDUP
THE C WORD
If you missed yesterday’s social media feed in the world of horse racing, some of the finest jumps trainers in all the land took some very good horses to Newbury for the Coral Gold Cup gallops morning.
This event seems to be growing year-on-year, even if we don’t tend to learn a whole heap in the grand scheme of things. Were there any under-the-radar horses to mention? Well, there was one from Seven Barrows that streaked clear under Nico de Boinville, and it was a very taking gallop that we think was missed by many in attendance.
Ah, maybe not then.
Yes, CONSTITUTION HILL galloped in public for the first time this season, and there was no drama to talk about like last year but did we learn much? No, not really. He’s alive, and he could well be back to his best, but we truly won’t know this until we see him in another race.
We did find out that Michael Buckley has backed him at 10/1 for the Champion Hurdle though, which is fun.
Away from The Hill, there are plenty of takeaways from the day, starting with the Coral Gold cup itself. For a while, the Hennessy has been the plan for RESPLENDENT GREY, but a win in the Colin Parker means he’s carrying 6lbs higher than his rating at the start of the season. This may prove to be the difference come the day, but Olly Murphy is still pretty confident, as he said: "He surprised me at Carlisle. He was only 85 per cent ready and I kind of admitted defeat before I even set foot on the racecourse.
"He could be a Grand National type. The Coral Gold Cup is his main target this side of Christmas, but there was a part of me that strongly considered the Betfair Chase. I thought about clicking that confirmation button on Monday.
"I thought if he'd win a Betfair, he'd win a Coral Gold Cup off his mark. I'm not trying to work things around Sean, but if Haiti Couleurs wasn't around I'd probably have clicked that button. It'll be a small field and I think he's a massive improver."
Does Murphy sound at all bothered with his mark? No. Furthermore, RESPLENDENT GREY backers can take solace in the fact that Ben Pauling is quietly bullish about HANSTANDS for the Betfair, and the grey beat last year’s Grade 1 Scilly Isles victor at Carlisle earlier this month.
Still, keep an eye on INCH HOUSE for Paul Nicholls and owner Michael Geoghegan. The partnership won last year’s renewal with KANDOO KID, and Nicholls has always been adamant that everyone can forget about last year, which probably makes him well-handicapped now. He is rated 131, 1lb above is last winning mark (which came at Newbury in December 2023), and Nicholls thinks he has got “more than an outside chance”.
Oh, and the Listed Mares’ Novices’ Hurdle at Newbury in two weeks’ time could be quite interesting. We think this has been the plan for MISS ALTEA BLUE of Paul Nicholls’, and it seems like Harry Derham is bullish enough about running CLONDAW PARK – a £320,000 purchase – in the race on her first start under rules.
He said: I don't think she's useless if I'm running her there. She's a very nice horse. It wouldn't bother me if she got beat. Getting beat first time out isn't the worst thing. She goes very well and I'm an enormous fan from what I've seen." She dotted up in a PtP in February. Is definitely a race to watch.
BIG WEEKEND INCOMING
The Betfair Chase, Morgiana Hurdle, John Durkan, 1965 Chase, Ascot Hurdle, and more. This weekend is set to be a cracker, with the likes of FACT TO FILE, GREY DAWNING, THE JUKEBOX MAN, JANGO BAIE, INOTHEWAYURTHINKIN, and ANZADAM holding entries for later this week, we can’t wait to see some of these superstars out.
But who will actually run, and where might they go if they are double entered? Here is how we see this weekend’s entries.
Firstly, let’s start with some confirmations. WODHOOH, entered for the Ascot Hurdle on Saturday as well as the Listed Mares Hurdle at Punchestown on Sunday and the Grade 1 Hatton’s Grace Hurdle next weekend, will run at Ascot this weekend. We imagine she will be very popular, but is there a question to ask about Gordon Elliott’s form with his first time out runners? Maybe.
We also know that THE JUKEBOX MAN is on course for the Graduation Chase, but who will he face? JANGO BAIE is entered, but he is also entered for the 1965 Chase. He’s shorter in the market for Haydock, and surely Haydock would make a bit more sense than the 1965 Chase at Ascot? It would be an easier race, one would imagine, and it’s a race for horses who have won two chase races or less. We’d be inclined to run him there if he was ours. That being said, we can’t see any official confirmation anywhere.
And then there are a good deal of horses running for Dan Skelton and Ben Pauling in various handicaps/Graded contests over the next two weeks.
KABRAL DU MATHAN was always a horse Paul Nicholls thought loads off. Starting him off in a 2m3f handicap hurdle is good to see, and he could really be a bit of a stayer to follow this year, even if he did all of his running over two last year. MAJOR FORTUNE was highlighted as an eye-catcher on October 27th in this newsletter, and he holds an entry for the 3m1f handicap chase that concludes Haydock’s card.
As for Ben Pauling, he may have a quiet enough weekend away from the big races, but Newbury should get a good seeing to next week. MAMBONUMBERFIVE is on course for the 2m novices’ limited handicap chase, and we would imagine that Pauling thinks he’ll win this before Graded races next time out.
EYES ON
And finally, with a lack of further news to talk about, here are a few interesting horses to keep an eye on today in the world of jumps racing. At Warwick, we have a couple to keep an eye on.
EXCELERO drops back to two miles in the opening three-runner novices’ limited handicap chase. He has form with the aforementioned WADE OUT who will be targeted towards the National Hunt Chase. The money for him says he could well land his first win over fences but has the Twiston’s SPIRITS BAY in the way who will love the mud and has some brilliant back form with the likes of CONSITUTION HILL.
Race three, the 14.00, is a 2m5f novices’ hurdle, and the highly-touted DIG DEEP is out. This lad is by POETS WORD, who also sired Paulings other very nice novice hurdler in TAURUS BAY. He ran such a good race behind the hype horse STARZAND at Ffos Las last month, and he’s bound to come on for it. Connections like this horse, and GATINEAU PARK (fifth at Ffos Las) won at Lingfield yesterday. Funnily enough, GEE FORCE FLYER is putting the form to the test as well today at Ffos Las in the 2:40. He has the PtP winner LEGENDARY LUKE to beat.
Elsewhere on the Warwick card, CHUGGY for the Skeltons makes his second start over fences having won his first one. His pedigree is INSANE. He’s the half to THE NEW LION, EL PRESENT and KATERIA! More, he’s by WALK IN THE PARK, arguably the best daddy of his siblings but he has a LONG way to go until he can show he’s remotely like the rest of his family because at this point you’d think he was a FedEx parcel dropped in the mares stable instead of actually being related to them. He’s a big boy though so can improve now over fences.
In Ffos Las’ 13.05, there’s a rather interesting clash between THERE RUNS MARY and KLIMT MADRIK. The former is largely unexposed, but this is her first run of the season for Olly Murphy and Sean Bowen. As for KLIMT MADRIK, he travelled quite sweetly behind the nice KALBRENNAR at Ffos Las last month, but he probably just needed it and did look very green. It’s a two horse race and despite Olly Murphys being better bred on the whole, LIMKT MADRIK is race fit.
RISK ON
No bets yesterday, we’re still thinking about our last winner lol:
15.40 DROMLAC JURY
We’ve followed this horse for a while but she’s never been able to get her head in front. She took a good blow last time out and she’ll be cherry ripe today with Tom in brilliant form. He think he’s finally found the key to training this well bred mare and today is the day. Standard bet at 7/4.
We’re still studying the slop at Ffos Las to find a winner in the mud.
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