Henderson only concentrating on Southwell for Constitution Hill

The wide-open nature of this year’s Unibet Champion Hurdle may be teasing Nicky Henderson, but for now focus remains on Southwell for Constitution Hill after a busy week that has involved jumping sessions under the watchful gaze of renowned expert Yogi Breisner.

The 2023 Champion Hurdler, who was unbeaten until his jumping woes began in the 2025 edition of the Cheltenham Festival’s opening day showpiece, is set to revert to the level later this month after failing to complete in three of his last four starts and bitterly disappointing at Punchestown in the other.

However, such is the topsy-turvy nature of the Champion Hurdle picture that Constitution Hill is as short as 7-2 to regain the crown at Prestbury Park on March 10 – despite the fact his next outing is set to be over 12 furlongs on the Tapeta under the Nottinghamshire track’s floodlights.

Henderson said: “The Champion Hurdle is so wide open it’s crazy. You are sitting on two horses like Constitution Hill and Sir Gino and technically, at the moment not running either of them.

“The difficulty of it all is if he gets round then he’d probably be the one they have to beat. We’re just working away and let’s see how the Flat race goes first.”

Henderson revealed earlier this week that Oisin Murphy had been to Seven Barrows to get acquainted with the horse he is set to partner in his eagerly-awaited outing on February 20.

However, the champion jockey is not the only equestrian royalty to pay Constitution Hill a visit this week, with jumping “guru” Breisner – once the  performance director of the British Eventing Team – also in attendance trying to help shed some light on the nine-year-old’s current Achilles heel.

Henderson added: “He’s had a confusing week, he had schooling with Yogi on Monday, starting stalls and a gallop with Oisin on Wednesday and Yogi is back again before the end of the week – so it’s jump, flat, jump for him this week.

“The jumping is going great and we’re doing a lot of jump, jump, jump. Yogi is there as he is the well-known guru who can do these things, so we’re playing with him, but we’re also concentrating on Southwell at the moment and only Southwell.”

Murphy was riding in Dubai on Friday, steering Ed Walker’s Noble Champion to success.

Of Constitution Hill, he said: “Unfortunately he’s fallen on his last few starts over hurdles, I sat on him this week, he’s a quality animal and it will be nice to see what he can do on the Flat.

“He was a little bit slow (coming out of the starting stalls) to begin with, but he got the hang of it – he’s a fast learner and an intelligent horse.

“I then rode him in a little bit of work and he felt great. I think he probably gave me a fair representation of what he might be like. When I was a child I rode some top jump horses, (including) a Gold Cup winner in Lord Windermere, and he’s similar to him maybe, (but) a bit faster.

“It was nice to get the leg up on him and hopefully we can see what he does on February 20.”