THE DUST HAS started to settle on the performance that Constitution Hill put up in winning the Grade 1 Betfair Fighting Fifth Hurdle at Newcastle on Saturday, but the accolades are still rolling in.

“Mega exciting,” Aidan O’Brien told the Racing Post on Sunday.

“Everything was brilliant about him,” said Sir Anthony McCoy on ITV Racing.

“He looks very special,” said JP McManus.

It was some performance by Constitution Hill, whatever barometer you use: ratings, times, form, visual impression. He settled, he travelled, he picked up, he jumped. He did it all.

Nicky Henderson’s horse had to make his own running, but it didn’t matter. He travelled powerfully all the way for Nico de Boinville, and his jumping was superb, fast and sharp and accurate and effortless. He readily came away from his stable companion Epatante, winner of the Champion Hurdle in 2020 and winner of the previous two renewals of the Fighting Fifth Hurdle, and he won, eased down, by 12 lengths. And he clocked a time that was over 15 seconds faster and over eight seconds faster respectively than the two other races run over the same course and distance on the day.

Timeform gave the performance a provisional rating of 175. That’s the second time in his career that Constitution Hill has achieved a Timeform rating of 175 or more, and that is remarkable. Only 12 other two-mile hurdlers have achieved that rating in the history of Timeform ratings, and Constitution Hill has now achieved it twice, in just four runs over hurdles. Also, the 177p rating that he achieved in winning the Supreme Novices’ Hurdle at Cheltenham in March has been bettered by just five two-mile hurdlers ever – Night Nurse, Istabraq, Monksfield, Persian War and Comedy Of Errors – all champions, all legendary two-mile hurdlers.

And Constitution Hill is only five. He has raced just five times in his life, once in a point-to-point for Warren Ewing, and four times over hurdles for Nicky Henderson. He should be only learning about the game. He should be still progressing.

You won’t get any better than 4/6 about him for the Champion Hurdle at Cheltenham next March.

Constitution Hill is the reason why Honeysuckle is 4/1 for the Champion Hurdle. The spotlight that usually shines on Henry de Bromhead’s mare has been deflected this year as a result of the Constitution Hill march, and you imagine that that suits her trainer just fine.

“I thought he (Constitution Hill) was really impressive,” said Henry de Bromhead. “Like everybody else.”

Comparisons between the two are difficult. They are obviously quite different: Honeysuckle an eight-year-old mare with a deep, deep CV, Constitution Hill a five-year-old gelding who has just stepped out of novice company.

The average winning margin for Constitution Hill’s four victories is 15 lengths, the average winning margin for Honeysuckle’s 16 wins is five and a half lengths.

The 16 is fairly remarkable. Honeysuckle has raced 16 times, and she has won 16 times, 17 times if you include her point-to-point. She has never been beaten. She and Rachael Blackmore are dynamite, and together they are 16 for 16. Among those 16 wins are 12 Grade 1 races, and among those 12 are two Champion Hurdles, three Irish Champion Hurdles, two Punchestown Champion Hurdles and three Hatton’s Grace Hurdles. She is an extraordinary mare.

When she won the Champion Hurdle at Cheltenham last March, she didn’t come away from her rivals and win by 20 lengths, but that is not her way. Importantly, there was never a point in the race at which you thought she wouldn’t win. Same in the Punchestown Champion Hurdle in April. She won by just three lengths from the 149-rated Echoes In Rain, but you never thought that she wouldn’t win.

The thing about Honeysuckle is that we don’t know how good she is or how good she can be. It is difficult to ascertain where the limit of a horse’s ability is until he or she gets beaten, and Honeysuckle has never not won. Unless or until she does get beaten, we won’t know for sure where the ceiling of her ability lies.

When Henry de Bromhead was asked on Sunday if he was worried about bumping into Constitution Hill, he said that he was worried about his own mare for the Hatton’s Grace Hurdle at Fairyhouse on Sunday, and that’s Henry de Bromhead all over. Concentrate on the things that you can control. No point in worrying about uncontrollable variables.

And on Sunday, when she does line up for the Bar One Racing Hatton’s Grace Hurdle, Honeysuckle will be bidding for more history. Already, with three Hatton’s Grace Hurdles in the bag, she has equalled the achievements of Apple’s Jade and Solerina and Limestone Lad in the race. No horse has ever won four. Perhaps the spotlight will shift again.

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