Willie Mullins has revealed he plans to disrupt the Constitution Hill party with his own runner at Southwell on Friday week.
It was revealed a couple of weeks ago that the troubled hurdler's trainer Nicky Henderson will have the services of champion jockey Oisin Murphy for Constitution Hill's belated Flat debut on February 20, ahead of a possible return to jumping in the Unibet Champion Hurdle at the Cheltenham Festival next month.
The 12-furlong Southwell race, sponsored by SBK and for novices aged four and upwards, will form part of Friday Night Live, a five-fixture evening programme running between January and March designed to attract and engage younger racegoers and create a different racecourse experience.
Asked if he had any intention of saddling something in opposition to the brilliant 2023 Champion Hurdle winner, Mullins, who is champion trainer in both Britain and Ireland, said at a pre-Cheltenham press event organised by the The Jockey Club on Wednesday: "Of course I am (interested).
"A £40,000 maiden on a dirt track, of course I am. I think every trainer in the country will want to have a runner in that race. Someone has pumped in the money and it’s going to create a lot of positive publicity for racing isn’t it?"
Constitution Hill, who has fallen in three of his last four starts over timber, is a best-priced 9/2 to regain his Champion Hurdle crown on March 10, an antepost market currently headed by the Dan Skelton-trained The New Lion, who is owned by JP McManus and won last year's Turners Novices' Hurdle at the same meeting.
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