Nicky Henderson has revealed that things are shaping up well for Constitution Hill to appear at Aintree for the Grand National festival next week.
The 2023 Champion Hurdle winner was last seen at the Cheltenham Festival earlier this month when he fell trying to back up his victory from two years ago in the same race.
He is a favourite with punters and his defeat at Cheltenham was his first loss over hurdles during his career. That race was tightly contested and a slight positional error meant he clipped the top of the hurdle and went down.
Since then there have been doubts over whether he would be fit and ready in time for Aintree but Henderson has confirmed that Constitution Hill is primed to race on Thursday 4 April, the opening day of the festival in Liverpool.
“We had a very good morning today as far as Constitution Hill is concerned, Michael Buckley was with us to see him gallop and Nico [de Boinville] rode him before going onto Wetherby,” said the British trainer on X.
He added: “All three of us were thrilled with what we saw and he seemed to be telling us that we have the green light for Aintree on Thursday.
“He has done a huge amount of schooling in the last week, some of it loose with Marcus Foley who has always helped us in the jumping department when it needs action and Nico was particularly pleased when he jumped 10 hurdles yesterday. As we have said his work this morning was excellent and we look forward to Thursday.”
Henderson also provided some insight into his other prospects including Jango Baie, who surprisingly won at the Cheltenham Festival two weeks ago.
He wrote: “Lulamba appears to have come out of his heroic Cheltenham effort in really good order and he too did everything we could have asked for this morning and he is set for the 2m Juvenile Hurdle on Thursday.
“Jango Baie will be working tomorrow, along with Jonbon, ahead of their Aintree objectives and at the moment we are favoring the 2m 3f Novice Chase on Thursday. Jonbon runs in the Melling Chase on Friday.”
Constitution Hill could be on course for a blockbuster class with Mares Hurdle winner Lossiemouth who looks set to take to the field in the William Hill Aintree Hurdle next week.
