Champion Hurdle hero Constitution Hill prepares to defend Cheltenham crown

With just under three weeks to go before the Festival in the Cotswolds that has become ever more consuming in recent years, Henderson has had far from a straightforward season with the unbeaten seven-year-old.

He was supposed to begin his campaign in the Fighting Fifth at Newcastle but that meeting was abandoned due to frost and while the race was rescheduled for the following week at Sandown, very testing ground persuaded Henderson to opt against running him.

That meant he went to Kempton on Boxing Day for his first – and so far only – run of the season, where he won effortlessly, but any thoughts of going to Cheltenham on Trials day were scuppered by a dirty scope.

Speaking at a Jockey Club-organised press morning which took place in pouring rain, Henderson’s annoyance at the wet winter was referenced.

He said: “This weather is frustrating. What we would normally do, and would like to do, is being dictated to by the weather, which is rather boring. We like to do a lot of our work on grass and that is not so easy at the moment, there’s no pleasure in all this racing in heavy ground.

“The only horse that has got any major work left to do is Constitution Hill because he hasn’t run since Christmas, which is exactly the same as last year, but we had a couple of weeks off in the middle when he wasn’t quite right.

“Consequently, I’d like an away day, but nothing else needs one as they’ve been running. I’d say we’re exactly where we were this time last year, his weight is good, his mind is good – his mind is always good.

“I thought he worked exceptional last Saturday, admittedly it was very foggy, but I thought he moved beautifully. The ground was beautiful, and that is what we want – it was last week, but it won’t be tomorrow.

“When he was wrong, we had to leave him alone for three weeks. You could obviously do without it but he was very fit going into it.

“He had a course of antibiotics and a couple of quiet weeks. He had three different scopes. It’s the sort of thing that happens to all horses all the way through the season. It was probably only a two out of 10, but you can’t ignore it.”

Henderson has often referenced Constitution Hill’s rock-solid temperament and it is for that reason the fact he has only run once this season is of no concern to a trainer who is chasing a record-extending 10th Champion Hurdle.

The Seven Barrows maestro added: “Nothing worries him, he’d run on Friday the 13th if he had to. We’re in good shape, I’d be pretty happy that we are where we were this time last year, or coming into Christmas. He’s in good form.

“At Christmas, he was very ready, as he should have gone to Newcastle, so he was very well prepped for the Christmas Hurdle, but he is again here because straight after Christmas he was back in work because we were trying to get him ready for Trials day, but he hasn’t really missed anything.

“I would still like one good away day, though.”

Last year, Constitution Hill was nine lengths too good for State Man and while Willie Mullins’ chestnut has been mopping up more Grade Ones in Ireland this season, Henderson is content in the knowledge that he has a lot of ground to make up.

He said: “Willie and I have plenty of fun, we’re all good mates. I don’t know what they’ll do (differently), the main thing is we know what we are trying to do. So, we can concentrate on what we’re doing, there’s no point concentrating on what everyone else is up to. They’ve got their plans to make and we’ll concentrate on ours.

“State Man looked the same horse to me; he’s a very good horse, there’s no doubt about it, he gets his job done every time. But we’ve beaten him once, so let’s hope we beat him again. He only beat First Street a length in the County Hurdle, and we were giving him weight – we know where he is!”

Henderson had mooted running three in the Champion Hurdle but it now appears First Street will step up in trip for the Coral Cup. Luccia will join her stablemate on the first day, however,

“It sounds like Luccia is going to run. Paul Stanley is a real enthusiast, he’s been in the game for years and he’s very keen to run her. Ratings tell you it’s not a great idea but there’s a lot of prize-money,” said Henderson.

“Poor old First Street got put up 4lb for his run behind Lossiemouth, as if he wasn’t high enough in the first place. We’ve just been chasing prize-money with him but he keeps going up in the weights, he wants another half a mile (Coral Cup).”

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