Nicky Henderson to explore Flat options for Constitution Hill
Nicky Henderson has described the decision to end Constitution Hill’s career over jumps and concentrate solely on the Flat as “one of the hardest” of his 48-year training career, but one that has “lifted some of the weight off our shoulders”.
The 2023 Champion Hurdle winner was clear favourite with most bookmakers on Wednesday morning for the feature race on day one of the Cheltenham Festival, despite falling in three of his last four starts over hurdles, including when attempting to regain his title last season. But after lengthy discussions with owner Michael Buckley, Henderson announced Constitution Hill would not feature over hurdles again, despite plenty of schooling with jumping guru Yogi Breisner.
Henderson told the Racing Post: “His work has been brilliant, and he’s technically the best jumper I’ve seen over hurdles in my life, but I just can’t risk it. Michael was here, and we said the same thing. We both just agreed we couldn’t face any more of him over them.
“I get what a lot of people are saying, and I don’t say we get swayed by it because we’ve got to make our own decisions. It was one of the hardest decisions I’ve had to make and it’s lifted some of the weight off our shoulders, but we’ve made it now and we can get on with thinking of proper things; and I’ll sleep better tonight if nothing else.”
Constitution Hill was brilliant in both the 2022 Supreme Novices’ Hurdle and 2023 Champion Hurdle and Henderson said: “In the Supreme and Champion Hurdle, he was unbeatable, and he would have been this year too, but we just can’t do it.
“The sad thing is that I also have Sir Gino sat in my pocket, and I can’t do anything with him. You have the two best hurdlers in the country not able to run.”
The six-time champion trainer has mentioned the Group 3 John Porter Stakes [Newbury, April 17] as one of several options for Constitution Hill, but he will first enlist the advice of five-time champion Flat jockey Oisin Murphy, who rode the nine-year-old when he made a sensational start to his Flat career at Southwell on Friday.
He said: “We’ve got to get our programme book out, but at least we know what we’re doing. There was no point in making a plan if we were thinking of going to Cheltenham because we knew the time schedule, but it’s all changed and we’ll have to get the turf season into action.
“The good thing with him being an older horse is that it’s not like he’s come into a novice and needs more experience; he’s got all the experience in the world. We haven’t got to teach him anything.”
Speaking to Unibet, Henderson added: “I want to have a chat with Oisin, now we know what we’re doing, and see what he thinks we should be looking at next. We could run in another novice, but it’s not as if he needs the education, and at his age, we might as well get on with it.
“He’ll have a little break, but is very fit and may have that edge on his side if we’re looking at Flat races in the spring. Many have suggested the John Porter, which I seem to remember has always been a good race, so perhaps we could start there, but others have mentioned Chester, Doncaster, Goodwood and Epsom. We do appear to have lots of options and I’m sure we’ll all have plenty of fun along the way.”
Sandown’s Henry II Stakes was also mentioned by Henderson, while owner Buckley expressed a desire last weekend to end up in the Melbourne Cup.
Posting on X, Henderson said: “He leaves the jumping world sound, happy and ready for the next chapter. It has been a staggering journey so far, and Michael has had to endure some dark days, but of course enjoyed the enormous highs and thrills of an extraordinary horse.”
Constitution Hill will still be present at Cheltenham on Champion Hurdle day to parade in front of the crowd. Henderson said: “Cheltenham has kindly invited him to parade on Champion Hurdle day to allow all his National Hunt supporters to say goodbye before he goes on the Flat.”
Courtesy of Racing Post
