The wide open nature of this year’s Unibet Champion Hurdle may tease Nicky Henderson, but for now the focus remains on Southwell for Constitution Hill after a busy week of jumping sessions under the watchful eye of renowned expert Yogi Breisner.
The 2023 champion hurdler, who was undefeated until his jumping problems began in the 2025 edition of the showpiece on the opening day of the Cheltenham Festival, will return to the level later this month after failing to complete in three of his last four starts and bitterly disappointing in the other at Punchestown.
The topsy-turvy nature of the Champion Hurdle picture, however, is that Constitution Hill falls just 7-2 short of regaining the crown at Prestbury Park on March 10 – despite the fact that his next outing over 12 furlongs at the Tapeta will take place under the floodlights of the Nottinghamshire circuit.
Henderson said: “The Champion Hurdle is so wide open it’s crazy. You’re on two horses like Constitution Hill and Sir Gino and technically you’re not riding either one at the moment.
“The difficulty with all this is that if he gets through, he’s probably the one they have to beat. We’ll just keep working and let’s see how the Flat race goes first.”
Henderson revealed earlier this week that Oisin Murphy had been to Seven Barrows to meet the horse he would be working with during his much-anticipated outing on February 20.
However, the champion jockey isn’t the only equestrian king visiting Constitution Hill this week. Show jumping guru Breisner – once performance director of the British Eventing Team – was also in attendance and tried to shed some light on the nine-year-old’s current Achilles heel.
Henderson added: “He’s had a confusing week, he had lessons with Yogi on Monday, on Wednesday he started stables and galloping with Oisin and Yogi will be back before the end of the week – so it’s jump, flat, jump for him this week.
“The jumping is going great and we’re doing a lot of jumping, jumping, jumping. Yogi is there because he’s the well-known guru who can do these things, so we’re playing with him, but we’re also focusing on Southwell and only Southwell at the moment.”
Murphy rode in Dubai on Friday and piloted Ed Walker’s Noble Champion to success.
Speaking about Constitution Hill, he said: “Unfortunately he has fallen over fences on his last few starts. I have been on him this week, he is a quality animal and it will be fun to see what he can do on the Flat.
“He was a bit slow at first (coming out of the starting boxes), but he got the hang of it – he learns quickly and is an intelligent horse.
“I then put him through a bit of work and he felt great. I think he probably gave me a good idea of what he could be like. When I was a kid I rode some top show jumpers, (including) a Gold Cup winner in Lord Windermere, and he’s maybe like him, but a bit faster.”
“It was fun to put him to the test and hopefully we can see what he does on February 20.”
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