When a few weeks ago the Racing Post published my letter expressing surprise no clerk of the course of an all-weather track had considered putting-on a race – I suggested a 2-mile maiden – to help Nicky Henderson solve the problem that is Constitution Hill, I had no inkling that this small step would lead the Seven Barrows maestro having to solve yet another dilemma. My suggestion of a 2-mile maiden, I dare say, would not have been warmly received by Nicky Henderson, as it is believed Constitution Hill has too much speed for a marathon trip on the all-weather. Though even he might concede as things have turned-out that 2-miles would have at least allowed him a few less sleepless nights than the over-subscribed £40,000 novice at Southwell on Friday night.
It is incredible how easily British racing can shoot itself in the foot. The race on Friday is only being staged because of Constitution Hill, with all the column inches the race has generated is because of Constitution Hill, with the exception of the cock-up of the great horse being denied his evening under the floodlights due to interlopers wishing to spoil his party.
As far as I can see, if Constitution Hill is balloted out of his race on Friday evening, Nicky Henderson has only two options left to him. Firstly, as I put forward last week, and in an e-mail to his office, is for him to stage a quietly quietly private schooling race at a racecourse near him or secondly to take a leaf out of the days of olde when owners bet each other that their horse was the faster and Michael Buckley and another owner stage a match race somewhere, with the loser divvying up a four-figure sum to a racing charity.
The only other option I can think of at the moment would be reliant on the B.H.A. all of a sudden becoming proactive and allowing the Southwell race to be divided and if it is not viable to stage the second division on Friday night, to transfer it to an all-weather venue on Saturday or Sunday.
The Willie Mullins factor is invasive. A Racing Post ‘betting expert’ was so bowled-over by Impaire Et Passe beating three unremarkable rivals in unremarkable fashion the other day that he has put him up as a good bet for the Ryanair, even though the trainer has expressed the opinion that Aintree is likely to be the next stop for the horse. I am not saying that Impaire Et Passe will not win the Ryanair if he ends up there, after all, Willie is such a magician that nobody would express surprise if the horse won the Cheltenham Gold Cup, which he is also entered in. But how can anyone who is labelled a ‘betting expert’ advise readers that a horse who wins a poor race in nothing more than workman-like fashion can be considered a worthwhile bet in a race ten-grades better is beyond me. If Willie did not train the horse, the horse would be 50/1, despite his top-class back form.
Joshua Bryan, ex flat jockey, who has turned to the jumping game with some success, has chosen to continue his career in France. In France, which I was not aware, flat winners do not count when a jockey takes out a jumps licence, so he will begin his new adventure as a 7Ib claiming jockey and having attached himself to a relatively new man to the training ranks in France, Bryan has a good opportunity to make a name for himself. Tis a shame, though, every time a British jockey goes overseas, the sport loses a talented rider and talented riders, even if only the home gallops, are a valuable asset who can make good horses better.