Constitution Hill has been given an official flat rating of 101 by the British Horseracing Authority following his all-weather victories at Southwell at Kempton.

Switched to the level after falling in three of his final four races over obstacles, Nicky Henderson’s once brilliant hurdler made a spectacular start to his new career at Southwell in February and while last week’s Kempton success was not as visually striking, he ultimately won with plenty in hand.

Speaking on the BHA podcast on Tuesday morning, handicapper Adam Barnes said of Constitution Hill’s Kempton performance: “It was another decisive win, it probably didn’t have quite the blowing away aspect of Southwell, but the way the race was run had something to do with that.

“It’s pretty clear they didn’t go very quick and that is backed up by the sectionals. They had a finishing speed of around 110 per cent for the race, which is finishing a fair bit faster than par. They’ve gone steady, he’s been held up in fourth or fifth and conceded first run to the runner-up, but he still picked him up readily and did what he had to do.

“If you wanted to be picky about it you could say the field was fairly bunched and the proximity of the third and a couple of the others holds down the level a little bit more compared to what we saw at Southwell – that form had a bit more substance and a bit more ability to rate it higher.

“But essentially it was job done and maybe getting onto turf with a bit of cut in the ground and a stronger-run race, he could certainly run to a good bit higher figure than he was allowed to run to at Kempton.”

Runaway success

Barnes suggested Constitution Hill’s three-figure rating is largely based on his runaway Southwell success in February, where he blitzed his rivals by upwards of nine and a half lengths.

“His Southwell win was a very visually impressive performance and the form has a really solid look to it. The horses in the places were both previous winners who both had penalties and they give the form plenty of substance. He got quite a high figure for that run, which is what his opening mark will actually come from,” Barnes added.

“It’s hard to say exactly what he had in hand at Southwell. The bare form would have been a low to mid-90s performance and I’ve added half a dozen lengths of poundage on top of that, just because of the style of the win.

“He’s going to be rated 101, which is a high figure for a horse coming out of novices, but could potentially turn out to be a lenient figure for a horse like him with the ability we know he’s got from being such a high-class hurdler and he retains plenty of that ability.”

Henderson had previously mentioned the Group 3 John Porter Stakes at Newbury as a possible next port of call for his stable star and Barnes admits he will need to run to a significantly higher figure to be seriously competitive in a race of that nature.

He said: “It will be interesting to see how high he can go in the flat sphere. Connections have mentioned the John Porter as a possible next target, that is a well established Group 3, and generally you’d want to be running to around 110 plus to get really involved in a race like that.

Tough opposition

“Over the last decade winners have ranged from around 106 up to 115. William Haggas has mentioned horses like Hamish or Al Aasy could go there and they’re rated 117 and 115, so that gives you an idea of the kind of level he’ll need to be at to win a race like that.

“Whether he wins it or not, they’ll have plenty of options either in group races or in good handicaps in the season ahead.

“I think a Group 3 like the John Porter is a realistic target to find out where he sits. If he were to win that then obviously they can look at bigger group-race targets, or if he were just to run well without winning a race like the Ebor would be a possible target as well. That low-100s figure would probably be ideal for a race like that.”

Henderson told the Press Association: “The mark is round about what we were thinking and now we have that there, so we have the options. It’s perfectly fair, I’m sure it’s not easy to rate a horse like that and it’s fine.”

He added: “I don’t think it’s changed our thinking and at Newbury he’s going to be taking on horses rated quite a bit higher than him, but we’ve got to press on. He is nine and we haven’t got time. We’ve got the first bit done and now we’ll stick to the plan, I see no reason why not.”