CONSTITUTION HILL SET TO FACE FIVE RIVALS IN THE BETMGM FIGHTING FIFTH HURDLE
Reigning Unibet Champion Hurdler and six-time Grade One winner, Constitution Hill, is set to face five rivals as he bids to defend his crown in the BetMGM Fighting Fifth Hurdle (G1) on Saturday. The six-year-old will be making his first start of the new campaign in one of the early season highlights of the National Hunt season.
No trainer has won more renewals of this contest than Nicky Henderson and his stable star began his first season in open company with an impressive 12-length success in this race last year. Owner Michael Buckley will be hoping for a similarly straightforward introduction to the 2023/24 campaign for the son of Blue Bresil who is unbeaten over hurdles.
Cheltenham Festival heroine You Wear It Well will be looking to continue her strong start to the season after she made a successful reappearance with an all-the-way victory in the bet365 Mares’ Hurdle at Wetherby.
The Harry Fry trained, Love Envoi, a winner of the Mares’ Novices’ Hurdle at the Cheltenham Festival in 2022, looks also set to line up for her first start of the season for the Noel Fehily Racing Syndicate.
Former winner, Not So Sleepy, who dead-heated in the 2021 BetMGM Fighting Fifth with Epatante will be looking to become the first horse to regain their title in this race since Irving in 2016.
Morebattle Hurdle winner, Benson, for trainer Sandy Thompson and eleven-year-old, Voix Du Reve, trained by Ian Jardine and partly owned by former world number one golfer Lee Westwood, complete the field in Saturday’s feature race.
Constitution Hill may not be the only Nicky Henderson superstar heading to Newcastle on Saturday after Shishkin was given an entry in the BetMGM Rehearsal Chase, after the star chaser refused to start at Ascot on Saturday.
