Quality opposition in store for Constitution Hill at Newbury Al Aasy, Convergent and Pride Of Arras are among the high-class opposition poised to take on Constitution Hill in the Dubai Duty Free Finest Surprise Stakes at Newbury on Saturday. Nicky Henderson’s former champion hurdler has impressed in winning his first two Flat starts on the all-weather at Southwell and Kempton respectively, but he will face a far sterner test of his powers in a Group Three contest better known as the John Porter this weekend. Constitution Hill was given an official mark of 101 following his Kempton success, leaving him with plenty to find against a horse like the William Haggas-trained Al Aasy, who is rated 115 after eight Group Three wins – including a victory in this race five years ago – after which he was beaten a neck by Pyledriver in the Coronation Cup at Epsom. Angus Gold, racing manager for Al Aasy’s owners Shadwell, told the Press Association on Monday: “I spoke to William briefly at the weekend and he said at the moment the plan is to run him on Saturday, so hopefully he’ll be there the old boy. “Obviously he’s a year older and you never quite know if they’re still as good, but the signs at home have been good and he’ll obviously be fresh, so we’ll see how we get on. “Constitution Hill is a superstar of a horse, but like Al Aasy he’s also nine years old. Everyone is expecting and there’s so much on his shoulders. I admire him enormously and I hope he runs a really good races against these better horses.” Haggas has also entered the prolific Tenability (103), while the highest-rated entry is Karl Burke’s Group Two scorer and German Derby runner-up Convergent (116). Pride Of Arras (115) is also a proven performer at Pattern level for Ralph Beckett, having won the Dante and the Great Voltigeur at York. Other potential rivals to Constitution Hill include Andrew Balding’s Eydon (114), who won a Group Two in Italy and the Group Three Aston Park Stakes over this course and distance last season, his stablemate Bellum Justum (108) and James Owen’s dual-purpose performer Burdett Road (105). John and Thady Gosden’s Lion’s Pride and Phantom Flight, a winner on his latest appearance in Bahrain for George Scott, complete the list of 10 contenders. Having initially been installed as big as 10-1 by William Hill, Constitution Hill is now as low as 3-1 in some places, with Hills forced into evasive action. Spokesperson Lee Phelps said: “While racing fans will be excited to see Constitution Hill make his Flat turf debut on Saturday, we’ve been very happy to lay plenty of him. He opened at 10-1 with us for the John Porter as we think he’s got a very stiff task against what’s entered, but the punters think otherwise and have taken a fair chunk of it. “He’s been so well backed we’ve had to cut him into 9-2, but he remains behind proven Group performers Pride Of Arras, Convergent and Al Aasy in the betting. It will be fascinating to see how he gets on should he run, and to see how popular he continues to be in the betting, but for now we’re content to lay him at each-way prices.”
