Constitution Hill heading straight to Cheltenham

Nicky Henderson's brilliant star is two from two this term having impressed with wins in both the Betfair Fighting Fifth and Ladbrokes Christmas Hurdle but won't take a race in between now and the Festival.

The trainer has ruled out going to Ireland for their Champion Hurdle plus the trial at Haydock, and a bid to have a potential race switched to Cheltenham at the end of the month has been thwarted.

Speaking on the Nick Luck Daily Podcast he said: "I did have what I thought was quite a bright idea but it hasn’t quite come off and I can understand why. I did enquire as to whether we could have the International Hurdle, which was abandoned in December, rescheduled on Trials Day at Cheltenham.

“If that had been possible I would have gone there with him and I really don’t like the idea of Haydock so I think almost certainly Constitution Hill won’t run again before March."

Sporting Life Arkle favourite Jonbon will have one more outing before the Festival as the trainer is keen to get more chasing experience into his charge.

“Jonbon will go to the Kingmaker at Warwick which is the only race he can run in really but I think Warwick is good. He’s been around there once and it’s a good jumping test. I think that will do him good," he added.

Epatante won the Champion Hurdle in 2020 and finished third and second to Honeysuckle in subsequent renewals, but having been comprehensively beaten twice by Constitution Hill, her future plans have yet to be decided – with similar comments applied to Relkeel Hurdle third First Street.

Henderson added: “We haven’t discussed (Cheltenham) with Epatante yet, we will see what she does. First Street is a difficult one – I mean where does he go? He’s on the verge of it, but he didn’t stay two and a half on that ground on the weekend. You would enter him anyway. He’s a very decent horse.”

Seven Barrows houses the Relkeel victor Marie’s Rock, who is on course to defend her Mares’ Hurdle title at the Festival before a potential step up to three miles in the Liverpool Hurdle at Aintree.

Henderson said: “What I would really like to do with her is go to Cheltenham, I would love her to defend her title, and then I would seriously think about going to Aintree and trying her over three.

“We’ve always talked about it and everything did go swimmingly well, you find Constitution Hill coming into the the two-and-a-half-mile at Aintree.

“Are we tempted to put her in the Stayers’ (at Cheltenham)? The answer is probably no, we would stick to the Mares’ and then (look at Aintree) not just because of Constitution Hill, but because we’ve genuinely always discussed whether she would stay three.”

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