The former Champion Hurdle winner is set to have his first start on the Flat at Southwell in February after a spate of falls over jumps
Nicky Henderson has named the top jockey who it is ‘quite possible’ will ride Constitution Hill when he makes his Flat debut at the end of February.
The former champion hurdler has fallen in three of his last four outings and Henderson and owner Michael Buckley are keen to see if he has a future on the Flat before deciding whether to run him over jumps again, possibly in the Champion Hurdle at the Cheltenham Festival. He is set to contest a mile and a half race at Southwell on February 20 following the creation of a 1m4f novices race worth £40,000 for horses aged four and above.
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Henderson told Unibet: “I’m sure many of you have seen the video of Constitution Hill having his stalls practice this week and everything seems to be going well in that department. He’s also going to do some schooling with Yogi Breisner next week so we’re definitely keeping him busy!
“I think the objective to running him at Southwell is so I can hopefully see what potential he has for racing on the Flat and if we can go further down that route.
“He is in great form and if it continues that way he will definitely run on February 20 and that will then tell us what future he has, or if we have to start thinking again.
“There has been much speculation as to who will ride him at Southwell and I can tell you that no decision has been made, except to say that Michael Buckley has been in discussions with Oisin Murphy and, obviously we’ll have to see where he is at the time, but if he’s available it’s quite possible he could ride.
“If that wasn’t to be the case we have Rob Hornby who rides out for us on occasions and rode at the Newbury gallops morning in November. He’s a very good jockey, although I don’t think we’ll be short of applicants!”