Magical performances by Goffs graduates sprinkled stardust over Cleeve Hill on the opening day of the Cheltenham Festival as Constitution Hill and Honeysuckle starred on an excellent afternoon for Goffs Point-to-Point Sales, the source of both hurdling superstars.
Constitution Hill was making just the sixth start of his track career in the Unibet Champion Hurdle, an impressive unbeaten march to Cheltenham which included four Grade 1 triumphs. Last season’s Supreme Novices’ Hurdle hero was imperious in his stroll to victory over the quadruple Grade 1 winner State Man in the Champion Hurdle and the consummate ease of his triumph has ensured Nicky Henderson and Michael Buckley’s star of a place in racing’s pantheon. Speaking after the race, his delighted trainer remarked: “Only one of these horses comes along in a lifetime. We are very lucky to be the custodians of this horse, but then the trouble is the responsibility that comes with that.” The six-year-old son of Blue Bresil was sold by Warren Ewing to Nicky Henderson at the 2021 Goffs UK Spring Horses-In-Training and Point-To-Point Sale for £120,000 following his narrow second place on debut in a four-year-old maiden at Tipperary for Ewing and Barry Geraghty.
Goffs Point-to-Point sales have produced the winners of the last three Champion Hurdles and Constitution Hill’s predecessor, Honeysuckle, went out in a blaze of glory with an emotional triumph in the Grade 1 Close Brothers Mares’ Hurdle. Kenny Alexander’s nine-year-old daughter of Sulamani was victorious in the mares’ race for the second time, having landed the 2020 renewal of the race for Henry De Bromhead and Rachael Blackmore before going on to win back-to-back runnings of the Champion Hurdle. Unbeaten in four visits to the Cheltenham Festival, all at the highest level, the brilliant mare provided connections with the perfect swansong to an outstanding career which encompasses 12 individual Grade 1 triumphs and 17 wins from 19 starts. The daughter of Sulamani never finished outside the first three in her remarkable career, her only two defeats coming in Grade 1 contests earlier this season. She was sold by Shanrod Stables to Peter Molony on behalf of Kenny Alexander at the 2018 Goffs Punchestown Sale for €110,000 following her debut success in a four-year-old mares’ maiden at Dromahane. A delighted Alexander singled out Honeysuckle’s courage as her greatest attribute: “She has got to be one of the bravest horses, she has guts beyond belief and a tremendous winning attitude. She’s going out on a high now, nothing can match it really. Let her enjoy her retirement.”
The 2020 November Point-to-Point Sale at Yorton Farm provided the winner of the Grade 3 Ultima Handicap Chase as Corach Rambler won successive renewals of the race for Lucinda Russell, Peter Scudamore and The Ramblers. The nine-year-old son of the late Jeremy won a Monksgrange point-to-point for John Martin Walsh’s Scar Stables who sold him to Michael Scudamore for £17,000 and is an example of the value and talent to be found at Goffs UK.