Surprise Aintree Hurdle run looks to be on the cards for Constitution Hill

Nicky Henderson has raised the William Hill Aintree Hurdle as a serious consideration for Constitution Hill.

It had been thought the superstar hurdler, who lost his unbeaten record when falling in an incident-packed Champion Hurdle at Cheltenham, would be seen next at the Punchestown Festival.

However, Henderson said in an update on his Unibet blog on Saturday: “After a long chat with Michael Buckley (owner) and Nico (de Boinville), we have come to the conclusion that it is likely that we will consider running Constitution Hill in the Aintree Hurdle in two weeks’ time.

“He has come out of the Champion Hurdle in very good form so it is something we are certainly looking at.

“We haven’t schooled him yet, but that will happen next week, and we’ll keep everyone updated as and when we need to.”

The eight-year-old is a former winner of the two-and-a-half-mile Aintree Hurdle, picking up the Grade One prize in 2023.

Expanding on his thoughts on Sky Sports Racing, Henderson said: “We seriously think we should have a look at it and he hasn’t had a race (at Cheltenham), he was just tanking away when he fell and he cantered home on his own. I don’t think we can let a race like this go slip-sliding away.

“Now we know what the gap is between there (April 3) and Punchestown (May 2) and at the moment we would have every intention of going (to Ireland as well). I have to say it’s not a plan, it’s an idea, it’s not cast in stone and I can’t say it is because if anything changes our mind we must have the right to change. But at the moment I would very optimistically be looking at both.

“Originally after the Christmas Hurdle we were going to go straight to Cheltenham and then we surprised everyone a little bit by coming into the Unibet Hurdle on Trials day which was grand, he had a lovely easy time there. He didn’t have a hard race in the Champion Hurdle for obvious reasons and there is no reason he shouldn’t come again.

“He’s just taking everything so much better these days than he used to and he’s older, but sadly he might not be getting any wiser as he’s started slipping in these mistakes. I just hope everyone just doesn’t start branding him a bad jumper just because he’s made one mistake and then had a fall.

“He’s got some schooling to come in the meantime and he will then need to have one gallop at the end of next week. That would be the tell-all and Nico would be riding him and if he’s happy – and he knows him so well – then he could go to Aintree.”