Constitution Hill simply supreme for Henderson

Constitution Hill led home a one-two for Nicky Henderson with an extraordinary performance in the Sky Bet Supreme Novices’ Hurdle at Cheltenham.

Sent off the 9-4 joint-favourite for the Festival opener, Nico de Boinville’s mount simply glided up the famous hill to account for stablemate Jonbon, with Willie Mullins’ Kilcruit well-beaten third.

The turning point of the Grade One was at the third-last flight, when the pace-setting Mullins-trained Dysart Dynamo crashed out, leaving the Henderson pair alone up front.

There was little between the duo going to two out – but Constitution Hill (9-4 joint-favourite) was going the better and soon took the lead.

The five-year-old, owned by Michael Buckley, quickly put daylight between himself and Jonbon to score by 22 lengths.

No other horse got into the race, with Kilcruit staying on to take minor honours another two and a half lengths away, as Henderson won the Supreme for a fifth time.