Constitution Hill set for Punchestown redemption opportunity

Nicky Henderson remains keen on the idea of the Punchestown Festival with Constitution Hill, despite the superstar eight-year-old suffering a second successive fall, this time in the William Hill Aintree Hurdle.

The Michael Buckley-owned gelding has had to endure his fair share of bumps in the road over the past couple of seasons, but all appeared to be back on track following his successful defence of Kempton’s Christmas Hurdle after a year off the track.

However, a heart-stopping final flight error on Cheltenham Trials day in January proved an ominous warning that was ultimately not heeded by Henderson’s pride and joy, as for the first time in his career, his exuberance got the better of him when bidding to regain the Champion Hurdle last month, as he crashed out four flights from home.

Having reportedly undergone intensive schooling since, hopes were high he would confine that blip to the history books on Merseyside – but while his jumping was assured for much of the two-and-a-half-mile contest, he took off too far from the second-last obstacle and both he and Nico de Boinville once again ended up on the turf.

Constitution Hill and his regular rider returned unscathed, but for the second time in little over three weeks his trainer was left with more questions than answers.

“It is hard to take, of course it is – I feel desperate for Michael and everybody really,” said Henderson.

“You could look at it another way, no horse has beaten him still! Somebody one day might do that, at the moment nobody can, except for a hurdle.”

From appearing well positioned in the back straight, Constitution Hill found himself caught in a pocket rounding the home turn as Paul Townend, riding his biggest rival and the ultimate winner Lossiemouth, made a telling move on his outside to seize the advantage.

When asked what he made of De Boinville’s ride, Henderson said: “I’m not going to be critical, I wouldn’t be, and I don’t think there was anything wrong with it. Nico said the horse was travelling, everything was right and he was quite happy to have Lossiemouth in front of him – he thought he’d beat her from there.

“He just stepped at the hurdle and that’s what he’s done before – it’s a repetition. Why he has suddenly got this into his vocabulary I do not know, and how you get it out of his vocabulary I do not know – I might take him to Specsavers in the morning!

“If his confidence was gone, he wouldn’t do it. To do that, it’s enthusiasm, he’s brilliant and he still is brilliant at it, but unfortunately he gets too complacent about it.”

Since Constitution Hill’s Champion Hurdle tumble, Henderson has boldly stated his intention to take in both Aintree and a first trip to Ireland for the Punchestown Champion Hurdle on May 2. And he is keen to stick to the plan despite another deflating afternoon.

“I couldn’t see much of the race today from where we were standing and I’ll watch it again obviously and we’ll take it to bits, but I don’t know what we’re going to learn from it. It’s brutal, but the only thing that’s important is they’re both in one piece – that’s all that matters,” he added.

“Now we’ve got to go forward and think what we do. If he’s OK tomorrow, I personally would think, in every way, we’ll go to Punchestown. He’s got to be 100 per cent and Michael has got to be with us.”