Nico de Boinville riding Constitution Hill

Constitution Hill ruled out of Unibet Champion Hurdle at 2026 Cheltenham Festival by trainer Nicky Henderson

By Sporting Life

Horse Racing

Wed February 25, 2026 · 14 min ago

Nicky Henderson has stated that Constitution Hill will not run in next month’s Unibet Champion Hurdle at Cheltenham ahead of an intended Flat campaign later in the year.

Connections of the brilliant 2023 Champion Hurdle hero, who also won at the 2022 Festival when slamming stablemate Jonbon by 22 lengths in the Sky Bet Supreme, had been left with a difficult decision following three falls in his last four starts over jumps before an impressive win under champion Flat jockey Oisin Murphy in a novice race on the level at Southwell last Friday.

Henderson, champion trainer in Britain six times and winner of the top hurdling title nine times during his long and illustrious career, was full of emotion after seeing his stable star back in the winner’s enclosure in the 12-furlong SBK Road To Cheltenham Novice Stakes, after which owner Michael Buckley expressed a desire to aim the nine-year-old towards top races on the Flat, including the Sky Bet Ebor, Irish St Leger and even the Melbourne Cup in Australia.

READ: Ed Chamberlin relieved that Constitution Hill doesn't run at Cheltenham and looking ahead to exciting Flat campaign

The door was also left ajar for Constitution Hill to return to hurdling for another shot at this year’s Champion on March 10, with a piece of schooling on Wednesday morning expected to help the Seven Barrows team make the call on whether to go back over timber for the first time since the horse’s early exit at the second flight in Newcastle’s Fighting Fifth Hurdle in late-November.

'This is a sad day for a lot of us'

That decision has now been made and Henderson said in a statement posted to X: "Michael Buckley and I have not surprisingly spent a lot of time soul searching and thinking over Constitution Hill's future and have sadly concluded that he will not be running in the Unibet Champion Hurdle the week after next.

"Last Friday night was for us all a magical occasion and we so appreciated his popularity and the love and admiration everybody showed to Conrad, as he is fondly called here. It was a terrific night for both him, us, and I believe British Horse Racing and we are very aware of the public perception and the possible consequences of running over hurdles and feel it is not fair to ask him and Nico to do it again.

"He showed on Friday night that he has another career in front of him that could possibly take us all to new playing fields.

"I would like to thank the thousands of Constitution Hill's supporters and admirers that have shared their sentiments with us and advice on how we should proceed, and I would have to say the poll was as near 50/50 as you could get.

Constitution Hill is out on his own at Southwell

"This is a sad day for a lot of us, particularly the National Hunt fraternity that would have liked to have seen Constitution Hill try to regain his crown and sad for all here especially Nico who has spent so much time trying to iron out our jumping issues.

"However, he leaves the jumping world sound and 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.

"Cheltenham have kindly invited Constitution Hill to parade on Champion Hurdle day to give all his National Hunt supporters the opportunity to say goodbye."

Who is favourite for the Champion Hurdle?

The New Lion, trained by Dan Skelton whose full and comprehensive Cheltenham Festival Stable Tour you can read here, is now 15/8 favourite for the Champion Hurdle with Paddy Power, Gordon Elliott's Brighterdaysahead has been clipped to 11/4 and the Willie Mullins-trained Lossiemouth is 3/1 ahead of last year's surprise winner Golden Ace (Jeremy Scott) at 9/2.

Paddy Power: 15/8 The New Lion, 11/4 Brighterdaysahead, 3/1 Lossiemouth, 9/2 Golden Ace, 10/1 Poniros, 12 Alexei, 14 Anzadam, 16 Ballyburn, 20 Tutti Quanti, 50 Casheldale Lad, Lucky Place, Wilful, Workahead.