by Graham Dench

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We would have loved to have seen Constitution Hill take another important step in his new career in the Weatherbys August Stakes at Windsor, but his absence has barely detracted at all from the quality of the field.

Indeed it’s a measure of the strength of the original entry for Saturday evening’s Listed event that despite the bright start he has made on the Flat the brilliant former Champion Hurdle winner would have been second in line for elimination if the final declarations had still exceeded the safety maximum of 16.

Not unexpectedly, the unusually prolonged spell of dry weather has persuaded connections to wait for next Saturday’s September Stakes on the all-weather at Kempton, but the nine horses who stood their ground at declaration stage include two horses that were placed in the Derby, one of whom went on to win one of Ireland’s most prestigious Group 1s, a 2000 Guineas fourth who changed hands for an eye-watering £2m last year, and a Grade 1 winner in Canada.

The Group 1 winner is of course White Birch, who was third behind Auguste Rodin in the 2023 Derby and the following spring had his revenge on that colt in no uncertain terms when a comfortable three-length winner of the Tattersalls Gold Cup at the Curragh. His last two racecourse appearances were in the Irish Champion Stakes and the Arc, no less, after which Jamie Osborne and owner Ian Barratt outbid Harold Kirk and Willie Mullins to buy him for 300,000 guineas at Tattersalls Horses In Training Sale.

At the time Osborne argued that few yearlings of that sort of price ever reach the 120 mark, whereas in White Birch he was buying “a bit of a certainty” and “just the most wonderful horse to go on an adventure with”. So what’s gone wrong since?

“We gelded him and tweaked his wind, and in the spring he just didn’t really thrive,” Osborne explains. “Since then obviously we’ve had this long period with an extreme lack of rain, so we planned an autumn campaign as we didn’t want to have him all dressed up with nowhere to go.

“He’s the highest-rated horse in the field on 118 and races for his type don’t grow on trees, but this looks an ideal starting point. I want to run here, and we are a runner as long as the forecast rain materialises, but Kempton next week is an alternative option.”

Osborne warns that “a degree of rustiness is inevitable”, since White Birch hasn’t set foot on grass since Longchamp last October, but he believes that he has the six-year-old in good shape.

“It’s not hard to see how he was such a good horse when you see him work, as he works with a bit of quality,” he says. “I’ll have to go back and watch his races again, but (daughter) Saffie will have watched them already and she’ll have a plan. It looks like one of the stronger renewals but mathematically he’s the best horse in the race.

“We’ll see on Saturday if he can still run to that sort of level on his first start, but he looks well, his work has been good, and this will give us an indication as to where our next move should be. I’ve put him in the Champion Stakes, just in case, and there are options at Longchamp and also further afield.”

Ambiente Friendly was placed in the Derby the year after White Birch, finishing second to City Of Troy, but his only success since then from an unusually broad range of opportunities came in a Huntingdon novice hurdle, so he will line up as one of the rank outsiders.

Another high-class contender is Ghostwriter, who hasn’t won since his two-year-old days but has been in the frame in the meantime in a 2000 Guineas, a Prix du Jockey Club, an Eclipse and a Juddmonte International. He fetched that staggering £2m when bought by Amo at the Goffs London Sale last year and he was third to Rebel’s Romance in the Hardwicke a few days later, but he hasn’t run so well since and is long overdue a return to the winner’s enclosure.

We haven’t seen Wathnan’s Silawi yet over here this year, but he made all in the Weatherbys-sponsored Group 3 Winter Hill Stakes on the same Windsor card 12 months ago, beating Godolphin’s one-time Derby hope Military Order, and he went on to repeat the tactics in the Grade 1 Canadian International at Woodbine, albeit by a fast-diminishing nose. Similar tactics asked too much of him at the Breeders’ Cup, but his Meydan second to Opera Ballo reads very well in this context.

He’s taking a big drop in class and this could be a golden opportunity for him, but equally it’s easier pickings for some of his key rivals compared to the company they usually keep and they face a clutch of in-form younger runners, some of whom still have untapped potential.

Foremost among them perhaps is the Crisfords’ Sea Scout, who was making a belated reappearance when chasing home the vastly improved Sallaal in Haydock’s Group 3 Rose Of Lancaster Stakes. Then there is Warrant Holder, who races for the King and Queen and was an excellent Royal Ascot second to Opportunity in the Duke of Edinburgh before finishing in mid-field when a red-hot favourite for the John Smith’s Handicap at York.

Respond is another to consider. He was also in mid-division in the York race, but he had earlier been an impressive winner at Chester’s May meeting and his trainer Andrew Balding could hardly be in better form. Tenability is interesting too, as William Haggas had three possibles to choose from and the four-year-old followed his Listed win at Goodwood with a Group 3 third at Deauville, where connections felt he was a bit better than the bare form. And finally there’s the mare Muddy Mooy, who has some fair form at this level, including a second at Chantilly last summer.

It’s all to play for.

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