From Cheltenham To Milan: Can Constitution Hill Build A Second Career?

[Training Loft]

Constitution Hill was once almost unbeatable over hurdles. Now the former Champion Hurdle winner is being prepared for his first race outside Britain and Ireland, in a completely different form of racing. Trainer Nicky Henderson is aiming him at the €506,000 Gran Premio del Jockey Club in Milan on 25 October as the next step in his new Flat career.

The change would have seemed unthinkable when Constitution Hill won his first ten races. He took the 2022 Supreme Novices’ Hurdle by 22 lengths and the 2023 Champion Hurdle by nine. However, three falls ended his unbeaten run and raised serious questions about whether it was safe to continue jumping. Henderson and owner Michael Buckley eventually decided it was not fair to ask the horse or his jockey to take that risk again.

Constitution Hill has since shown that his racing ability has not disappeared. He won his first two Flat starts on artificial tracks at Southwell and Kempton. His latest test was much harder, and he finished fourth in the Group 3 September Stakes. That result ended the ambitious plan to qualify for the Melbourne Cup, but it did not end his second career. His Flat rating actually rose to 108 after the race.

Now the adventure could take him abroad. Henderson says Milan is the race they are going for, with Constitution Hill being prepared for the Group 2 Gran Premio del Jockey Club at San Siro. The race is run over one mile and four furlongs and its prize fund has more than doubled this year. If the nine-year-old takes his place, he will be the oldest horse to contest the race in at least a decade.

The move also gives Constitution Hill something new to prove. All three of his Flat races so far have been on artificial surfaces, while San Siro will put him back on turf. He will also be stepping into a valuable international Group 2 race, so this should give a much clearer idea of how far his second career can go.

Perhaps most importantly, Milan is not being planned as a farewell. Henderson says they intend to continue with Constitution Hill next year when he will be ten. That changes the feeling around this experiment. Instead of simply finding a safer way for a famous horse to finish his career, his team are trying to build a genuine new chapter.

Constitution Hill may never match on the Flat what he achieved over hurdles, but perhaps he does not need to. Very few sporting champions get the chance to reinvent themselves after the skill that made them famous becomes too dangerous. Would a major Flat victory add a new layer to Constitution Hill’s greatness, or should his extraordinary hurdle career remain the main way he is remembered?