09 August 2023 , 13:35
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Superstar of the jumps Constitution Hill may stay over hurdles, according to the champion’s owner.
The Nicky Henderson-trained horse has produced some spectacular performances in winning all seven of his races over obstacles. He crowned his second season over jumps by capturing the Champion Hurdle at the Cheltenham Festival in March at odds of 4-11.
On his last appearance at the Grand National meeting in April, he claimed the Aintree Hurdle over 2m4f, this time as the 2-15 favourite. Plans to examine six-year-old Constitution Hill’s potential to jump fences in a home schooling session soon after the end of the campaign were scrapped because of the dry ground.
His owner Michael Buckley had entertained ambitions of Constitution Hill emulating the great Dawn Run by winning the Champion Hurdle and Cheltenham Gold Cup.
But Buckley now says he will have to be confident Constitution Hill, who is 4-5 favourite for next year’s Champion Hurdle and 7-2 for the Arkle Trophy, would stay 3m to make such a switch worthwhile.
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“We need to feel sure that the horse will stay three miles to make the switch common sense because I don’t see much point in going from hurdles to two mile chasing for him because he is exceptional at what he does, and inevitably chasing is a tiny bit more dangerous,” he said in an interview with Sky Sports Racing.
“A dream of trying to win the Cheltenham Gold Cup is fantastic but on the other hand if he could the Champion Hurdle again at seven, eight and nine, I guess he’d be the greatest hurdlers there’s even been, at least in the record books because no one’s ever won it four times.”