Nicky Henderson has confirmed that Constitution Hill will not run in the Champion Hurdle at the Cheltenham Festival on March 10.
A Flat career is now on the cards for the star of the jumping ranks, but his trainer said that racegoers will still have the chance to see him at Cheltenham as Constitution Hill will parade at the course to give his National Hunt fans “the opportunity to say goodbye”.
Henderson and the nine-year-old's owner Michael Buckley have been mulling over options for the horse since his highly impressive debut on the Flat at Southwell on Friday evening, for which he was awarded a mark of 109P by Timeform.
In a statement, Henderson said, “Michael Buckley and I have not surprisingly spent a lot of time soul searching and thinking over Constitution Hill's future and have sadly concluded that he will not be running in the Unibet Champion Hurdle the week after next.
“Last 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 horse 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 [de Boinville] to do it again.”
Bred by Sally Noott, Constitution Hill, a gelded son of Blue Bresil, broke the track record when winning the G1 Supreme Novices' Hurdle by 22 lengths from the high-class Jonbon at the 2022 Cheltenham Festival. He went on to win the following year's Champion Hurdle but fell in the race last year. That tumble was followed by two more in 2025, in the G1 Aintree Hurdle and the G1 Fighting Fifth Hurdle.
Over the last weekend, Buckley had mused of a Flat campaign for the horse in 2026 which could take in the Ebor, Irish St Leger and Melbourne Cup.
Henderson added, “[Constitution Hill] 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 Hills 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.
This 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.
“However, 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.
“Cheltenham have kindly invited Constitution Hill to parade on Champion Hurdle day to give all his National Hunt supporters the opportunity to say goodbye.”
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