NICKY Henderson was the subject of much criticism last season, as many bemoaned what they saw as tender handling of Constitution Hill, but no one could fault Henderson’s positive update, nor the stable’s return to form this term.

Constitution Hill ran just once last season, impressing in the Christmas Hurdle, and the Michael Buckley-owned bay returned to win Kempton’s Grade 1 for the third year in a row last month. Henderson recently revealed plans of what was an unexpected reappearance in today’s Grade 2 Unibet Hurdle at Cheltenham, and a collective sigh of relief followed declarations, despite the absence of Lossiemouth.

“After the Christmas Hurdle, I was rather hoping I wouldn’t have to get him out again,” Henderson admitted when speaking to the race sponsor, for whom he is also an ambassador. “But to be fair, we said we’d monitor him for a fortnight, and actually was perfectly obvious, after a week or 10 days anyway, that he’d come out of that really well.

“He looked great, he was bouncing himself, the boys are all happy with him, and Michael was keen. I took everybody by surprise; I think they thought ‘Bloody Henderson, you won’t run him again.’ Of course we will! If the horse is there and ready to run, we’ll run them – it’s what we want to do.

Cautiously confident

“It’s a Grade 2, so he’s got a penalty to give away, but as I said, he’s in very good form, the race is there and it’s very good prize money, and it probably saves us galloping him from now until March.”

The master of Seven Barrows offered a humble outlook in his more recent Unibet blog, saying: “He is well ahead on ratings, but as we all know, there is no such thing as a racing certainty, but he arrives here in fantastic shape and is raring to go.”

Nico de Boinville offered a similar view in his blog, commenting: “Obviously, our task has been made easier with Lossiemouth not being confirmed for this race, but we can only control what we do, and if anyone takes any race lightly then they are asking for trouble.

“So there is no complacency here. Constitution Hill did what we hoped he would do in the Christmas Hurdle, after his high-profile lead-up into the race, and we think he will be sharper and better for the run. But, like I said, we are taking nothing for granted.”