Nicky Henderson has announced that Constitution Hill won’t be competing in the Champion Hurdle at next month’s Cheltenham Festival. The iconic horse was a doubt for the prestigious race, having dramatically drifted for his Cheltenham target earlier this week. It was made clear that his participation would depend on the outcome of a crucial schooling session in Lambourn.
Henderson has since announced that he won’t be entering his prized horse for the Champion Hurdle. Taking to X (formerly Twitter) on Wednesday afternoon, the legendary trainer explained that it wouldn’t be fair to ask him to jump again. He described it as a sad day for all involved, but revealed that Constitution Hill would be paraded at Cheltenham to give his fans the opportunity to say goodbye.
It comes after an impressive victory under champion flat jockey Oisin Murphy in a novice race on the level at Southwell last Friday, with Henderson hinting that a future career in flat racing could be on the cards.
In a lengthy and emotional statement, he wrote: « Michael Buckley and I have not surprisingly spent a lot of time soul searching and thinking over Constitution Hill’s future and have sadly concluded that he will not be running in the Unibet Champion Hurdle the week after next.
« Last Friday night was for us all a magical occasion and we so appreciated his popularity and the love and admiration everybody showed to Conrad, as he is fondly called here.
« It was a terrific night for both him, us, and I believe British Horse Racing and we are very aware of the public perception and the possible consequences of running over hurdles and feel it is not fair to ask him and Nico [de Boinville] to do it again.
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« He showed on Friday night that he has another career in front of him that could possibly take us all to new playing fields.
« I would like to thank the thousands of Constitution Hill supporters and admirers that have shared their sentiments with us and advice on how we should proceed, and I would have to say the poll was as near 50/50 as you could get.
« This is a sad day for a lot of us, particularly the National Hunt fraternity that would have liked to have seen Constitution Hill try to regain his crown and sad for all here especially Nico who has spent so much time trying to iron out our jumping issues.
« However, he leaves the jumping world sound and happy and ready for the next chapter. It has been a staggering journey so far and Michael has had to endure some dark days but of course enjoyed the enormous highs and thrills of an extraordinary horse.
« Cheltenham have kindly invited Constitution Hill to parade on Champion Hurdle day to give all his National Hunt supporters the opportunity to say goodbye. »
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