Henderson firmly set on Irish raid with Constitution Hill

Nicky Henderson remains keen to head to the Punchestown Festival with Constitution Hill after reporting his stable star to be none the worse following his dramatic fall in Tuesday’s Unibet Champion Hurdle.

The eight-year-old was a red-hot favourite to regain his title in the Cheltenham Festival’s opening day feature, but crashed out at the fifth obstacle in the hands of Nico de Boinville.

Constitution Hill galloped on riderless and was described as “bright and breezy” in the immediate aftermath by his trainer, who provided a further update on Wednesday.

Henderson said: “He was fine this morning and ate up fine. There was a close-up of him galloping up the hill and jumping the last yesterday and he was heading for Lambourn!

“The idea would be to go to Punchestown, it has to be – it’s the obvious race to go for.”

If Constitution Hill does line up in the Punchestown Champion Hurdle on May 2, he could well renew rivalry with the Willie Mullins-trained State Man.

The chestnut has landed the Grade One in each of the past two seasons and following Constitution Hill’s shock exit, he looked set to successfully defend his Champion Hurdle crown until he too took a tumble at the final obstacle.

Despite being “sore”, State Man was deemed fit enough to return to Ireland on Tuesday night and Mullins does not expect him to be out of action for too long.

He said: “State Man is fine. He’s got a sore shoulder, but he’s been out in the paddock all day at home. He’s a little bit sore and he’ll be like that for a few days, but hopefully that’s all that’s wrong – a bit of bruising. He appears fine from all accounts.

“That is what we think (he can run again this spring). You’d think he’ll be all right in a week, but you never know, in a week’s time he could still be sore.

“He’s been checked by three vets here and our own vet at home and they’re all happy that it’s just bruising, so we’ll see.”

The big disappointment of those that completed the Champion Hurdle was Gordon Elliott’s mare Brighterdaysahead, who finished a weary fourth.

Elliott said on Wednesday: “She’s a bit stiff and sore behind, but basically she is OK.”