Constitution Hill fell for the second time in succession as Lossiemouth landed the William Hill Aintree Hurdle.
The Nicky Henderson-trained favourite suffered a shock departure in the Champion Hurdle at Cheltenham last month but it looked as though he was travelling supremely well for Nico de Boinville turning for home this time, although he was stuck in behind a wall of horses.
As De Boinville switched out to launch his challenge, Constitution Hill once again got his jumping all wrong and hit the turf, leaving Lossiemouth (5-4) and Wodhooh to battle it out, with the first-named just prevailing for Willie Mullins.
Punchestown next for Constitution Hill?
Henderson said: “It is heartbreaking and to do it twice, you couldn’t believe it really.
“He is genuinely the best jumper you’ll ever see, but in that vocabulary there is just this what you would have called a one per cent chance of doing what he’s done, but he’s done it twice, which does worry you, of course it does, but how can you iron it out?
“As Nico said, he’d been fantastic the whole way. At a couple of hurdles he went in short and that’s what we’ve been trying to get him to do, but when you’re going to three-out and racing like that you can’t afford to do that, you’ve got to go, and Nico said he just came up too soon.
Constitution Hill in action early on in the Aintree Hurdle
“Nico said he was full of running and his words to me were that he actually had Lossiemouth where he wanted her. He was happy with her in front rather than behind.
“We were starting to discuss it (Punchestown) just then. Funnily enough after Cheltenham I said to Nico we’d go to Punchestown and not here and he said ‘good, those hurdles will suit him better’.”
Lossiemouth and Wodhooh jump the last together in the Aintree Hurdle
“Two and a half miles was ideal for her here, the race was ideal for her,” winning jockey Paul Townend told ITV.
“The ground was lively enough, it’s drying out every minute compared to how it was riding on the hurdles course earlier.
“She coped with it well. I’ve seen Nico walking away, and Constitution Hill, so we can celebrate that.”
