Nicky Henderson mapped out a comeback for Constitution Hill in Cheltenham’s Unibet International Hurdle a fortnight on Saturday – followed by a possible trip to Ireland over Christmas.
Drying ground saw the 5-4 Champion Hurdle favourite ruled out of a planned seasonal reappearance at Ascot on Saturday.
Now Henderson and Constitution Hill’s owner Michael Buckley are favouring a return to Cheltenham – the scene of the five-year-old’s 22-length Supreme Novices’ Hurdle triumph last March – over a clash with stablemate Epatante in the Grade 1 Fighting Fifth Hurdle at Newcastle on Saturday.
“It’s only a Grade 2 instead of a Grade 1, but so what?” said Henderson yesterday. “It’s worth £130,000 and he only gets a 3lb penalty, so why not go to Cheltenham?
“Michael wasn’t mad about going to Newcastle and the International would be a lovely race for him.”
With 2020 Champion Hurdle heroine Epatante set to seek a third success in the top-level Christmas Hurdle at Kempton Park on Boxing Day, Henderson is considering a tilt at Leopardstown’s Matheson Hurdle – Willie Mullins’ Sharjah has captured the last four runnings of the Grade 1 two-miler – three days later.
“The International is on December 10, so that would give us 19 days,” he added.
“It’s a possibility, otherwise you wait until Haydock on January 21 for the Champion Hurdle Trial.”
Mullins’ State Man justified odds of 4-9 in Punchestown’s Grade 1 Morgiana Hurdle to earn a 4-1 (from 8-1) Champion Hurdle quote with Ladbrokes.
“He’s probably not Champion Hurdle class, jumping-wise, yet but he has improvement in him,” said Ireland’s champion trainer.
Meanwhile, Henry de Bromhead can find “nothing obvious” as he seeks to find the root cause of A Plus Tard’s no-show in Saturday’s Betfair Chase.
Rachael Blackmore’s mount, the 4-6 favourite to repeat his Haydock Park triumph of 2021, was pulled up with three fences to run as victory went to the Dan Skelton-trained Protektorat.
And yesterday de Bromhead said of the reigning Cheltenham Gold Cup winner: “He got home in the early hours of the morning and he seemed to trot up all right.
“Something might come to light but there was nothing obvious this morning.”
The Co Waterford trainer, whose eight-year-old was pushed out to 8-1 to defend his crown at Cheltenham next March, added: “We’re going to have to run some tests and see if we can find what was amiss.
“For me, it was too bad to be true and we’ve just got to try and find out why.”
