Henderson delighted to get Constitution Hill back home safe and sound

Nicky Henderson declared himself “very happy” with Constitution Hill following his winning reappearance in the Christmas Hurdle on Boxing Day.

The seven-year-old won the Kempton Park showpiece in 2022 and 2023, but had questions to answer on his first start in exactly a year, with a respiratory infection having scuppered a Champion Hurdle defence in the spring before a subsequent suspected colic precipitated a veterinary hospital stay and curtailed his campaign in late March.

Constitution Hill then missed his intended comeback run in Newcastle’s Fighting Fifth Hurdle due to lameness following a gallop at Newbury, but showed all his ability remains firmly intact when giving 7lb and a two-and-a-half-length beating to Lossiemouth.

Henderson said: “Everybody is very happy. He trotted up (this morning) and he was sound. He’s probably the most moderate trotter you will ever see, but that’s the way he is.

“He was very underwhelmed by the whole occasion, I think he enjoyed yesterday though. He was walking around here afterwards and stood up and pricked his ears and said ‘oh, hello’.

“I think he just had something about him yesterday, whereas this morning he was back to being Constitution Hill – (thinking) ‘so what’.”

Constitution Hill was not the only Seven Barrows horse to miss this year’s Cheltenham Festival, with Henderson forced to rule out other leading contenders such as Jonbon, Sir Gino and Shishkin due to health concerns about his runners.

While Jonbon and Sir Gino both returned to win at Aintree’s Grand National meeting, Shishkin could finish only fourth and subsequently suffered a fatal leg fracture in a tragic accident in his box at the end of April.

With his stars firing on all cylinders again this term and Sir Gino demonstrating superstar potential on his chasing bow on the second day of Kempton’s Christmas meeting, Henderson was eager to make the most of the highs after enduring such lows last season.

He added on Racing TV: “We’re very lucky, we’ve got some fantastic horses and also a fantastic team at home that help put these things together. It’s not one person, it’s hundreds of people that matter and we’re just very lucky.

“When it’s right and the horses are well, you have got to make the most of it because those dull, dark days, like we had in March, they’ll come again.

“That was a tough time when Sir Gino couldn’t go to Cheltenham, Constitution couldn’t go to Cheltenham and dear Shishkin wasn’t even there. Those tough days make you appreciate the good ones.”