The Racing Post, no doubt to be helpful to Nicky Henderson, has published today all the races around the world that he could consider for Constitution Hill's next outing. Surprisingly, there are at least seven or eight to come under Nicky's consideration, including the Grade 2 10-furlong Man O War Stakes at Belmont on November 28th. I hope Nicky will put a line through that particular race before considering options closer to home. My idea of a plan, not that I believe Nicky Henderson would give any credence to my advice, would be to go next to Toulouse on November 29th for the 12-furlong Group 3 Prix Max Sicard, followed by the 12-furlong Prix Arcangues at Deauville on December 23rd.
I remain convinced that running in the September Stakes at Kempton was a mistake as it limited options going forward for Constitution Hill by boosting his official rating, ruling out handicaps. But it is what it is and after the race in Italy on Sunday, I would be very surprised if the horse cannot win a back-end Group 3, especially if he gets his favoured soft ground. What I would not do, which seems to be the way the trainer is thinking at the moment, is to rest Constitution Hill after his next run until the spring. His ground is winter ground and a dry spring would scupper any chance of him running again until next autumn.
I like Sedgefield. It is a wonderful country racecourse, the sort of basic racecourse that provides the very foundation of our sport. So it saddens me to say that I think they have been let-off very lightly by the B.H.A. for a series of cock-ups that culminated in an injured jockey having to be conveyed to hospital in a horse-box, with medical staff following in a car. It is possible the run of events that led to his disgraceful abdication of responsibility was set in motion by both ambulance drivers leaving the racecourse without checking with the clerk of the course that their work for the day was done. I don't know. The whole of the facts were not published in The Racing Post today, no doubt because the B.H.A. have not yet published the entirety of their inquiry. Given that the breach of rule (b) 36 was Sedgefield fourth such breach since 2022, I think they got off lightly with only a fine of £6,500. A recent inspection found the situation within the course's medical room much improved since the cock-up of March 13th.
Ludlow, again a bedrock of the sport, may not be able to hold a race-meeting until the new year due to the unfit state of the grass on the racing surface. Yes, the main culprit here is the tropical temperatures of the summer of 2026. But, and I believe it is a big 'but' is that grass must be cared-for. When a sport-cum-business depends on the health of its grass, why would that grass be left to suffer until the intervention of the weather gods? The B.H.A. must mandate that racecourses out-of-season should maintain grass growth. Not maintain good-to-firm ground or anything like that. But to keep the grass from turning brown or as it seems at Ludlow, actually dying. I am not advocating irrigation through the day but irrigation through the night. Ludlow may stand on gravel, which is not helpful to keeping moisture around the roots of its grass, though is that not even greater reason to care for the grass when it is under the sort stress it endured this summer?