{"id":316870,"date":"2026-02-25T18:10:08","date_gmt":"2026-02-25T18:10:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/316870\/"},"modified":"2026-02-25T18:10:08","modified_gmt":"2026-02-25T18:10:08","slug":"constitution-hill-out-of-champion-hurdle-and-ready-for-next-chapter-on-the-flat-constitution-hill","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/316870\/","title":{"rendered":"Constitution Hill out of Champion Hurdle and ready for next chapter on the Flat | Constitution Hill"},"content":{"rendered":"

Constitution Hill, the brilliant Champion Hurdle winner in 2023, has been ruled out of this year\u2019s race on 10 March and any further races over jumps after a schooling session at Nicky Henderson\u2019s yard on Wednesday, with the trainer saying in a statement that \u201cit is not fair to ask him and Nico [de Boinville, his jockey] to do it again\u201d following three falls in the nine-year-old\u2019s last four races.<\/p>\n

Confirmation that Constitution Hill will pursue new opportunities on the Flat follows his astonishing debut on the level at Southwell four days ago<\/a>. While some jumps fans will regret the fact that one of the best hurdlers in racing history will not get a final chance to reclaim his former crown, others will feel relief that the risks attached to another fall have weighed heavier in the balance than the lure of a final run at the festival.<\/p>\n

\u201cMichael Buckley [Constitution Hill\u2019s owner] and I have not surprisingly spent a lot of time soul searching and thinking over Constitution Hill\u2019s future,\u201d Henderson said in a statement on X<\/a> on Wednesday afternoon, \u201cand have sadly concluded that he will not be running in the Unibet Champion Hurdle the week after next.<\/p>\n

\u201cLast 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 [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 to do it again.\u201d<\/p>\n

Henderson continued: \u201cHe 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\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis 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.<\/p>\n

\u201cHowever, 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.\u201d<\/p>\n

Quick GuideGreg Wood’s Thursday racing tipsShow<\/p>\n

Ludlow 1.32 Tales Of Bravery 2.07 Ballycamus 2.42\u00a0Magical Maggie 3.17 Kit\u2019s Coty 3.52 Jukebox Joker 4.27 Aim Straight<\/p>\n

Taunton 1.41 Calvino 2.16 Cooler Than Me 2.51\u00a0Fat\u00a0Faced\u00a0Columbo 3.26 Inferno Sacree 4.01\u00a0Fortune\u00a0Dancer 4.36\u00a0Par Avion<\/p>\n

Wetherby 1.50 The Procrastinator 2.25 Pierrot Jaguen 3.00 Master Dunraven 3.35 Ceolwulf 4.10 Woodland Park 4.45 Devon Skies 5.15 Mythe Bridge<\/p>\n

Chelmsford 5.00 Felix Gem 5.30 Zoffandia 6.00\u00a0Arklow\u00a0Lad 6.30 Damzon 7.00 Flicka\u2019s Girl 7.30\u00a0Signcastle City (nap) 8.00 Silkies Sib (nb)<\/p>\n

Thank you for your feedback.<\/p>\n

Constitution Hill has been invited to parade at Cheltenham on Champion Hurdle<\/a> day, one year from having set off as the odds-on favourite before the fall which marked the start of his jumping issues.<\/p>\n

Henderson and Buckley, meanwhile, will now plan a schedule for their gelding which could take in major Flat racing festivals both in Britain and around the world.<\/p>\n

Trainer Nicky Henderson with Constitution Hill. Photograph: Adam Davy\/PA<\/p>\n

Buckley suggested the Melbourne Cup in November \u2013 the \u201crace that stops a nation\u201d \u2013 as a potential target in the aftermath of Constitution Hill\u2019s win at Southwell last week, although the nine-year-old would need to satisfy strict veterinary and qualifying requirements to line up at Flemington later this year.<\/p>\n

The Ebor Handicap, at York in August \u2013 which is a \u201cwin-and-you\u2019re-in\u201d for the Melbourne Cup subject to veterinary checks, has also been suggested as a possible target, alongside the Irish St Leger in early September, which, unlike other major \u201cClassic\u201d events, is not restricted to three-year-olds.<\/p>\n

With Constitution Hill now confirmed as an absentee, Dan Skelton\u2019s The New Lion is the narrow favourite for the Champion Hurdle at 5-2. Brighterdaysahead, the Irish Champion Hurdle winner, is a 3-1 shot and Lossiemouth, the Mares\u2019 Hurdle winner at the festival for the past two seasons, is 7-2.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Constitution Hill, the brilliant Champion Hurdle winner in 2023, has been ruled out of this year\u2019s race on…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":316871,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[61,60,112],"class_list":["post-316870","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/316870","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=316870"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/316870\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/316871"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=316870"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=316870"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=316870"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}