Constitution Hill's attempt to retain his title in the Unibet Champion Hurdle is in doubt after a poor piece of work, according to trainer Nicky Henderson.
The Seven Barrows trainer voiced his concerns at a gallops morning at Kempton Park on Tuesday but has not given up hope on getting Michael Buckley's horse to the Festival.
Constitution Hill trailed home in third behind two stablemates including Sir Gino following a racecourse gallop over around a circuit and a half of the all-weather track. On crossing the line he was swiftly pulled up and dismounted by Nico de Boinville before being walked back into the unsaddling enclosure.
Betting was suspended on the Champion Hurdle following the news.
Henderson said: “We just scoped him and Jamie Knapp (vet) has had a good look at him and he is fine stood there. I’ve got a sample here which I’m now going to take to our vets lab to have analysed. There is evidence of mucus in there, nothing else. It is meant to be gin clear, but it is not.
"We had a period in January where he had much the same sort of thing and that is why he couldn’t run in the Unibet Hurdle and it seems as though it might have come back to haunt us. We need to see what the figures are as they will tell us straight away what is up and we should have an answer later this afternoon.
"If it is just mucus you can clear it up. The work has been done. The fact he didn’t gallop all over them doesn’t mean he hasn’t done any work as he has still had a gallop. He worked on Friday at home, and he was scoped last week and he was perfectly alright. You know what it is like you can go to bed feeling perfectly alright one night then you wake up in the morning feeling full of flu.
"Of course you are worried and you would be crazy not to be as something has gone wrong and it seems as if the whole world knows already. He stopped like a horse that might have bled, but he hasn’t, which is a good thing, but Jamie said there is significant mucus. Jamie said we can knock this on the head in a week, if you are lucky. If you are unlucky you can’t.
"We scope most of ours on a Monday morning. We did 10 yesterday and the figures were all fantastic and we didn’t have one that was wrong, which was encouraging, then you find out the next day you have got one wrong and it is him.
“Nico said he couldn’t keep tabs on them, but don’t forget the other horses were quite good, but that was not right at all, so we must sort it out. We have not ruled him out at this stage. If it is not clean by a week’s time we ain’t going to get there in another week.
“There is no point saying it is all over because it is not a d you have got to try, we don’t give up lightly. It is very significant as it stands. What it will tell us if he is a sick horse or there is mucus in there we can treat with a standard antibiotic we use. You have these things going around all the time. At this time of year when the weather is moving and everything is moving these things are around us. It is always typical that it is the good ones that get it. It is a bit of a shock to us as we have to cope with it and what goes with it.
“Sir Gino worked beautifully, and all the others were great, unfortunately the star of the show was missing. It looks as if he should have the character to go well in the Triumph Hurdle. He has had one school, and he will have another school on Thursday I suspect. All their work is done now as they more or less tick over now they have done this.”
Giving an update later on his X (formerly Twitter) account, Henderson said: “Following up on this morning’s situation with Constitution Hill, the sample from his tracheal wash has shown a small increase in the number of neutrophils which indicates a respiratory infection, which is significant but far from drastic.
“He will start a course of antibiotics immediately and we plan to rescope him on Friday in order to monitor which way this is going. He would only be having light exercise this week following this morning’s racecourse gallop.
“Both our own vet and the racecourse veterinary surgeon who scoped him feel we definitely have a chance of correcting this in time and we will be doing everything possible to do so. We have a fortnight to work him and it is possible, so we will keep everybody notified accordingly.
“He is absolutely fine within himself and we have simply got to get on top of this issue as quickly as possible.”
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