Sport Question

The late Anthony Ciulla, who died, as Anthony Capra, in Revere, Massachusetts, on June 6, 2003, having spent the last 25 years of his life in the United States Federal Witness Protection Program, was arguably the most notorious race-fixer of all time. Standing 6’3″ tall and weighing in at a conservative 350lb, hence his nicknames ‘Big Tony’ and ‘Fat Tony’, employed bribery and, if that failed, physical intimidation to fix, by his own admission, several hundred races, mainly at smaller tracks on the East Coast, between 1972 and 1975. Indeed, he once boasted that he had fixed races in every state except California.

On July 4, 1975, jockey Peter Fantini attracted the attention of the stewards by making a meal of restraining his mount in the ninth and final race at Atlantic City and subsequently revealed that Ciulla, and others, had paid him to do so. Fantini and his agent, Louis Menna, who was under investigation for check fraud, did a deal with police and Fantini wore a wire to a meeting with Ciulla at the Flamingo Motel in Atlantic City two weeks later, which led to Ciulla being indicted.

With Ciulla facing conspiracy charges in New Jersey, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania and elsewhere, the FBI made him an offer that he really could not refuse. Reflecting on his time behind bars, Cuilla to ‘Sports Illustrated’, ‘I knew before I got out of jail I’d be as dead as Man o’War [who died in 1947].’ In return for his grand jury testimony against jockeys and trainers who had fixed races on his behalf, in six different states – which resulted in the conviction of 40 people – Ciulla served only minimal jail time, received immunity from further prosecution and, on his release, was granted entry to the Federal Witness Protection Program.

A nursery handicap is a Flat handicap, just like any other insofar as participants carry weights corresponding to their official handicap ratings, as allotted by a team of handicappers at the British Horserating Authority (BHA), but limited to two-year-olds. Of course, races limited to two-year-olds take place right from the start of the Flat season on turf but, until July, any ‘handicapping’ basically revolves around penalties or, in other words, set amounts of extra weight, imposed on account of previous wins, according to race conditions.

To qualify for a nursery handicap, a two-year-old must typically have run three times on the Flat, including twice in Great Britain or Ireland, although juveniles with fewer starts, who have won at least once, may also be eligible. However, it would be fair to say that the BHA handicappers are less inclined to take chances with horses running in a nursery handicap on their second or third starts, a fact that is reflected by their winning percentage. Either way, the handicappers need sufficient form in the book, on which to base their calculations, so nursery handicaps do not become part of the Flat racing calendar until mid-summer. In any sport or gambling endevour, concepts such as handicap, which can some down to perceived likelhood of winning, factors in. Even in slots games available at www.jokaroom.io , odds to chance play a role in deciding an outcome!

All told, approximately 150 nursery handicaps are run during the Flat season on turf and, while the handicappers’ job becomes a little easier as the season progresses, it is, at best, difficult and, at worst, nigh on impossible. The handicappers produce ‘performance figures’ for every horse in every race, which form the basis of an initial handicap rating. Such performance figures may be achieved in a variety of maiden, novice or other non-handicap conditions races, by horses that are, by definition, both immature and unexposed. Thus, while the handicappers do their best, the results of nursery handicaps are often unpredictable, making them a happy hunting ground for long-odds punters.

Comparing racehorses from different generations is often a divisive and, some say, futile exercise. However, Constitution Hill is clearly exceptional and, if he stays sound, has the potential to become of the greats of the modern era so, like it or not, comparisons are almost inevitable. The same applies in many areas of life, you may have a favourite slots game at kingjohnnie real money online pokies for instance!

Still only a six-year-old, Constitution Hill has carried all before him over hurdles, winning all seven starts, the last six of which have been at Grade 1 level, without being seriously challenged. In 2022, on just his third start under Rules, the son of Blue Bresil annihilated hitherto unbeaten stable companion Jonbon by 22 lengths in the Supreme Novices’ Hurdle and, although eased down in the closing stages, still beat the previous track record, set by Annie Power in the 2016 Champion Hurdle.

In 2023, Constitution Hill became just the second horse in history to win the so-called ‘Triple Crown of Hurdling’, that is, the Fighting Fifth Hurdle at Newcastle, the Christmas Hurdle at Kempton Park and the Champion Hurdle at Cheltenham, but did so by an aggregrate of 38 lengths. Prior to his impressive, 9-length victory over State Man – who, in a ‘normal’ year, would have started a warm favourite – in the Champion Hurdle, trainer Nicky Henderson said, ‘Constitution Hill is doing freakish things, but…you have to remember it is very early days in his career.’

Early days it may be but, according to Timeform, Constitution Hill is already the joint seventh highest rated hurdler since the first National Hunt issue of ‘The Black Book’ was published in 1962. As far as previous winners of the Champion Hurdle are concerned, his Timeform Annual Rating of 177 is equivalent to that achieved by the 1974 winner, Lanzarote, and inferior, by 5lb or less, to that achieved by five horses, who won the two-mile hurdling championship nine times between them. Those horses were, in order of preference, Night Nurse (182), Istabraq and Monksfield (180), Persian War (179) and Comedy Of Errors (178).