Constitution Hill’s Flat debut fate has been decided after Nicky Henderson faced a nervous wait about the former Champion Hurdle star making the final field
The will he-won’t he farce about Constitution Hill making his Flat debut at Southwell is over.
Nicky Henderson’s star hurdler is set to make his Flat debut in the SBK Road To Cheltenham Novice Stakes despite initially being drawn on the wrong side of the ballot on Sunday to determine which of the 32 horses entered would make the final field.
Constitution Hill was originally set to miss out but made the final field after the declaration window closed on Wednesday, with four runners above him in the priority list not declaring. The 2023 Champion Hurdle winner has fallen in three of his past four starts, including the Fighting Fifth Hurdle at Newcastle earlier this season.
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Ahead of the Cheltenham Festival next month, which Henderson has admitted he is still yet to make a final decision about running the Michael Buckley-owned horse in, the nine-year-old has been lined up for a run on the Flat under five-time champion jockey Oisin Murphy.
The race has essentially been put on for Constitution Hill with a £40,000 prize money on offer, that has also attracted the interest of Willie Mullins.
Mullins has put his cards firmly on the table to set up a huge showdown in the 1m4f race by booking Ryan Moore to ride his Joe and Marie Donnelly-owned former Irish Champion Hurdle runner-up Daddy Long Legs. Dan Skelton has also entered Gambino under jockey Hollie Doyle and Paul Nicholls has entrusted Cieren Fallon to ride his shot Nardaran. Billy Loughnane will ride Fergal O’Brien’s Grade Two-winning hurdler Tripoli Flyer.
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Eyebrows have been raised over Henderson’s decision to run his star hurdler on the Flat just a month shy of Cheltenham. But the six-time British Jump Racing Champion Trainer insisted the run will be good for his preparation.
Speaking to talkSPORT, Henderson said: “It’ll just do him good and it will do us all good if it goes right. You can see why we are doing it, he’s got to have a race.
“We don’t know if he’ll run in the Champion Hurdle, we really don’t. We’ve been doing loads of jumping with him and it is perfectly possible that he’ll go.
“There’s a lot of water to go under the bridge between now and then. I’m not going to rule it in or out. Let’s get over next Friday first and then think about where we go next.
“I’ve no doubt he’s still as good as he was two years ago. His work is as good as it has ever been, which is why we can do this on the Flat. A mile and a half will be ideal for him.”
Constitution Hill is the odds-on favourite to win on his Flat debut ahead of David Egan on Square Necker.