Constitution Hill is reported to be in “terrific form” and with the winter’s main jumping action on the horizon, Nicky Henderson aims to have his string of stars “ready to rock and roll” sooner rather than later.

His unbeaten hurdler has long been National Hunt racing’s flagship name but an interrupted 2023-24 campaign saw him hit the track only once, when defending his Christmas Hurdle crown at Kempton on Boxing Day.

A respiratory problem discovered during a racecourse gallop at the same track scuppered a Champion Hurdle defence at Cheltenham and Constitution Hill then had a spell in a veterinary hospital due to a suspected colic at the end of March.

Having undergone a wind operation during the summer break, the Seven Barrows superstar is building up towards a return in Newcastle’s Fighting Fifth Hurdle on November 30, with his handler pleased by what he is seeing at present.

“Constitution Hill is in great form, we’re ticking along and all is in good shape,” said Henderson.

“Newcastle is the objective and so far so good, we couldn’t be happier, he’s in terrific form.”

Henderson is unlikely to have a runner at Chepstow’s traditional jumps curtain raiser this weekend, but is hoping to have plenty of representation by the time Cheltenham hosts its first two-day fixture of the new campaign later this month.

“They all look well and we’re where we want to be,” continued Henderson.

“We’re probably not going to have anything this weekend, but we’ll be ready for the weekend after and then that first Cheltenham meeting, we’ll be ready to rock and roll.”

A new recruit Henderson can look forward to over the coming months is German Derby winner Palladium, who has joined the Seven Barrows cast having been bought for €1.4million at the Arc sales in France on Saturday.

🏆IDEE 155. Deutsches Derby (G1)2.400 m – 650.000 EUR – for 3yo mares and colts🇩🇪 Hamburg

Palladium (GER)(3C Gleneagles-Path Wind , by Anabaa)J :Thore Hammer-Hansen T :Henk GreweO :Liberty RacingB:Stiftung Gestüt Fährhof pic.twitter.com/BCeURrKvDN

— 𝙒𝙤𝙧𝙡𝙙𝙍𝙖𝙘𝙞𝙣𝙜 (@WorldRacing1) July 7, 2024

Purchased to run in the colours of Lady Bamford, he is expected to embark on a hurdles campaign with William Hill introducing him into their Triumph Hurdle market at 25-1.

Spokesperson for William Hill, Lee Phelps, said: “As the winning-most trainer in the history of the Triumph, you have to take note when Nicky Henderson picks up an expensive juvenile hurdling prospect.

“And that’s what the master of Seven Barrows seems to have done with Palladium, bought at the weekend for a whopping €1.4 million in France, reportedly making the son of Gleneagles the most expensive jumps recruit ever.

“The German Derby winner is surely going to be one of the classiest Flat horses to go hurdling this season, so we’ve entered him into the Triumph Hurdle market at 25-1. There’s clearly a long way to go until Cheltenham, but who knows, Henderson might just have another superstar on his hands.”

Constitution Hill continues to thrive in his recuperation after his nightmare season last term.

National Hunt racing’s poster boy was restricted to just one outing, a comfortable victory in the Christmas Hurdle.

He was forced to miss the defence of his Champion Hurdle title due to a respiratory problem, which emerged following a disappointing racecourse gallop at Kempton, and then a potential trip to Punchestown was abandoned when he was hospitalised with suspected colic.

The seven-year-old is now back at Seven Barrows and Nicky Henderson is thrilled with his condition – but stresses he has not been asked to do anything too strenuous as yet.

He is being aimed at Newcastle’s Fighting Fifth Hurdle on November 30.

“He looks absolutely magnificent, a few days of sun have done him the world of good and he looks like he has been sat on a beach in Barbados!” Henderson told the PA news agency.

“He’s not doing much, just getting back into the swing of things, but he really does look well.

“There’s still a long way to go before we do anything serious with him, but thankfully Newcastle is also a long way off as yet and hopefully that is where he will start off.”

Constitution Hill is back at Nicky Henderson’s yard after a colic scare, with any thoughts of a trip to the Punchestown Festival now firmly ruled out.

The Seven Barrows handler announced on Sunday that his superstar hurdler had been taken to a veterinary hospital due a suspected colic on Wednesday night, describing it as a “few traumatic days” with the unbeaten gelding.

Henderson issued an upbeat bulletin on Monday with Constitution Hill returning to the Lambourn yard to continue his recovery, although the 2023 Champion Hurdle hero is in need of an extended period of rest.

That means a potential clash with last month’s Cheltenham victor State Man is now off the agenda until next term.

In a statement posted on X, Henderson said: “Constitution Hill returned to Seven Barrows this morning and it is wonderful to have him home after what he has endured.

“He resumed normal feed yesterday with no further ill effects and had a nice pick of grass in the welcome sunshine.

“Hopefully this is all behind him now but I am afraid it is easy to see he had a difficult week and the reality is he is going to take some time to recover and put some weight back on again.

“Therefore our much anticipated match with State Man will have to wait until next season.”

Constitution Hill has run just once this season after cold weather scuppered his initial planned return in the Fighting Fifth at Newcastle, with deep ground seeing him bypass the rescheduled event at Sandown.

He won the Christmas Hurdle at Kempton on Boxing Day in a canter, but an unsatisfactory scope saw him miss an intended Trials day run at Cheltenham before a respiratory infection ended his hopes of a Champion Hurdle defence last month.

The Fighting Fifth is pencilled in as a starting point for next season, though Henderson’s main priority remains Constitution Hill’s health.

He added: “As long as he is OK that is all that matters, but it has been a horrible few months since his great performance in the Christmas Hurdle. It is time for him to have a summer holiday now look forward to his return, hopefully in the Fighting Fifth.”

Nicky Henderson has raised the faint possibility of Constitution Hill returning to action at the Punchestown Festival.

Last season’s brilliant Champion Hurdle winner had been a short price to defend his crown at Cheltenham last week, but a fortnight before the Festival a poor workout at Kempton led to the discovery of mucus in his scope.

There was a brief glimmer of hope he would come right in time for Cheltenham, but he was ultimately the first in a host of Henderson big guns to be ruled out of the showpiece meeting.

Henderson ran six horses on the first day of Cheltenham, five of which were pulled up. The only bright spot was Luccia finishing third in the Champion Hurdle, just three and a half lengths behind State Man, arguably making Constitution Hill’s absence even harder to bear.

One by one Henderson’s main chances were withdrawn, with Shishkin not even declared for Friday’s Gold Cup. Jonbon was taken out of the Champion Chase while Sir Gino also missed the Triumph Hurdle.

Henderson was keen to point out that a very trying week was made a fraction more bearable due to the understanding shown by the racing industry as a whole.

“My owners were brilliant, very understanding, as were the media and everyone else in racing and for that I’ll be forever grateful,” he told the PA news agency.

While in hindsight Constitution Hill’s absence might have been a blessing given how Henderson’s week went, there may be green shoots of recovery. He also saddled a winner at Kempton on Saturday through Persian Time.

“He had his blood done yesterday, as he has done every Monday since what happened at Kempton,” said Henderson.

“It has kept on improving to the point where it is as near normal as it could possibly get without being 100 per cent. It is 99 per cent, which is a long way from where it started.

“He is back in routine exercise and has joined in at the back of the team this week.

“What he had and what the others had are two completely different things. He was pretty unwell, whereas all the others are very well but have a problem. I think it’s been well documented we have a problem.

“His blood tests told us he was unwell and given he’s so laid-back at home it was a good job we took him to Kempton.

“Now he’s better and his bloods are almost back to normality he can resume exercise, but he hasn’t galloped yet.

“We’ll tick along, you can take it he won’t be going to Aintree but if he continues and his work progresses with it, there is the possibility he could go to Punchestown which both Michael (Buckley, owner) and I would love to do if possible.

“If you were to ask me his primary objective I would most likely say it’s the Fighting Fifth next autumn, but if we can get to Punchestown then we will.”

He added: “Where we are mystified is that we thought they were well, their work was great but 10 days before Cheltenham they weren’t running well and everyone picked up on that, but we put it down to the ground and not being the ‘A team’.

“All appeared to be fine and all the tests were fine, but then we discovered the horses we were running were running dreadful.

“Every trainer in the country dreads this sort of thing, and for it to happen last week couldn’t have been worse, the timing was horrendous.

“Everybody has been through the mill, but as a team and family we at Seven Barrows would just like to thank everyone for how understanding everyone has been and for that we will be forever grateful. I wasn’t looking for sympathy, just a bit of understanding.

“We’ve been having massive meetings about how we get through this and we’ll take it easy this week and regroup next week and see where we are.

“We’ll see if we can get the main protagonists to Aintree. Sir Gino, Shishkin and Jonbon, they’ve all missed their dance. The next dance is Aintree and the one after that is Punchestown but they’ll only run in one, they would have done anyway.

“I love Punchestown and I love Aintree, they don’t quite have the pressure of Cheltenham but they are still Grade Ones so let’s try to get there.”