Henderson on Champion Hurdle countdown with Constitution Hill geegeez.co.uk

Nicky Henderson is well aware he is “the curator of something a bit special” as he counts down the days until Constitution Hill’s bid to regain his Unibet Champion Hurdle crown.

The Seven Barrows star was nothing short of sensational when dominating his rivals at the Cheltenham Festival two years ago and while there have been a few bumps in the road since, the eight-year-old has returned from 12 months off the track seemingly as good as ever.

A comeback victory in the Christmas Hurdle raised the roof at Kempton on Boxing Day and he blew away a handful of inferior rivals in the Unibet Hurdle on Cheltenham Trials day last month, albeit his supporters will have had their hearts in their mouths when he fluffed his lines at the final obstacle.

It was around this time last year that things began to go wrong for National Hunt racing’s pre-eminent star, with a lifeless Kempton gallop followed by a bad scope and later a bout of colic that left Constitution Hill in hospital before he could eventually enjoy his summer break.

Constitution Hill @sevenbarrows this morning. Three weeks to go until he bids to regain his Champion Hurdle crown @CheltenhamRaces 🏆 pic.twitter.com/pJ29c6SkYz

— Ashley Iveson (@AshIveson) February 17, 2025

However, three weeks out from his return to the Cotswolds, the tone was altogether more upbeat as Henderson welcomed the racing media to his yard at a Jockey Club-organised press event on Monday.

“Everything has been good, I hope he’s going to be absolutely spot on in March and we’ve got three weeks,” he said.

“I suspect Nico (de Boinville) will have a sit on him this week, just to see where he is and how he feels, and I suppose he better jump a hurdle at some stage as you’d hardly want to go in with the last hurdle he jumped being the one at Cheltenham the other day.

“If you remember in the Champion Hurdle two years ago he took off so far away at the last, you thought he wasn’t going to get there and lifted himself in the air. Basically he had to be an aeroplane to do that and you can only do that if you’re a fresh horse.

“A tired horse would probably have fallen the other day, but he just shook his head, found a leg and galloped off, because he’s still a fresh horse. That is the only reason you get away with it, but I’d rather he didn’t do it again!

“We look after him, we’re the curator of something that is a bit special, and it’s just great if people do like them. That is why we ran him again – I felt we rather owed it to everybody after last year, so we slotted another one in, just to grab myself the odd brownie point!”

Constitution Hill looks in rude health at Seven Barrows (Adam Davy/PA)

Constitution Hill is odds-on to provide his trainer with a 10th Champion Hurdle success, but as ever Henderson is respectful of the opposition.

Willie Mullins looks set to saddle the reigning champion State Man and top-class mare Lossiemouth, who were engaged in a thrilling tussle in the Irish Champion Hurdle in early February when the latter crashed out four flights from home.

Add to that pair the possible participation of Gordon Elliott’s Brighterdaysahead, who slammed State Man at Leopardstown over Christmas, and it is little wonder Henderson is taking nothing for granted.

“They’re still very good horses. We’re two years on from the last time Constitution Hill won it and a lot of things have happened in the meantime,” he went on.

“The Willie Mullins Racing Festival (Dublin Racing Festival) didn’t tell us everything! They were going very hard that day, those two, and it would have been fascinating to know what the end product would have been. But it’s left more questions than answers actually, because one of them was going to get beaten and where would that have left the market and what would everybody be thinking?

“Unless they dead-heated, one of them was no longer going to be Willie’s number one whatever happened, but now it’s inconclusive. We don’t know what sort of Lossiemouth was going to come up at Leopardstown compared to Kempton, that’s anybody’s guess, so they’re both still there in the wings and it’s up to us to see if we can keep them at bay.

“I need to speak to Mr (Michael) O’Leary about running his mare (Brighterdaysahead) in the Mares’ Hurdle! It’ll be fun if she shows up as well and there’d be a gallop on, one would imagine.

“The one good thing is Constitution Hill can travel off any pace. That pace that Lossiemouth found difficult at Kempton was of no worry to him.

“I’m not saying they can go as fast as they like as that’s sounding pretentious, but they will go hard and I think his weapon is he can hold that as he has got bags of speed.”