THE news last week that outstanding champion hurdler Constitution Hill would stay over hurdles this season seemed to scupper desires that he might go on and attempt the near impossible in winning a Gold Cup.

Another Champion Hurdle win in March would surely see him going for the hat-trick and, if three are won, would a historic fourth not be the prime focus and the Gold Cup off the agenda completely?

There appears little to stop him this year. The days of a classy Alderbrook appearing from the flat are gone. The 2023 Triumph didn’t produce a Champion Hurdle leading contender as it might have with Our Conor. Is Impaire Et Passe, six and a half-length winner of the Ballymore last year, the main opposition?

If Constitution Hill emulated Hatton’s Grace, Sir Ken, Persian War, See You Then and Istabraq in winning three Champions in a row, the temptation would be to try and stand alone, in winning four.

But....Constitution Hill won his first Champion Hurdle as a six-year-old so if, as expected, he wins the next two, he will be nine going for that four-timer.

Best Mate was nine winning his third Gold Cup as was Kauto Star winning his second. Desert Orchid was 10 when he won his Gold Cup. Kauto Star is a notable case in that he won the Betfair Chase and King George rising 12, so for a truly outstanding horse, being competitive at 10 and 11 is still possible.

And if stamina is the concern now as a six-year-old, there is every likelihood that Constitution Hill might get slower as he gets older and in three years’ time, three miles+ could be within his compass.

The two oppostite examples in the hurdling division are champions Night Nurse (182 Timeform) and Istabraq (180 Timeform). Both were flat-bred, one by a sprinter, one a half-brother to a Derby winner. They are the two highest rated hurdlers to date with Constitution Hill currently on 177.

One went chasing when his dominance over hurdles in that golden late 1970s period came to an end, while the other continued to reign supreme over hurdles and was only robbed of a record four in a row by foot and mouth cancelling the 2001 Festival.

A dual champion hurdler, Night Nurse went chasing when he lost his Champion Hurdle crown and he came the closest to adding the Gold Cup to the Champion Hurdle when second to Silver Buck in 1982.

Before him Bula had also gone chasing when his hurdling prowess came to an end and in a successful career, finished third in a Gold Cup in 1975. In those days, top hurdlers did move on to chasing when they had lost the edge over hurdles.

And in recent seasons we have seen a good novice can win a Gold Cup. Dawn Run won the Champion Hurdle at the Cheltenham Festival in 1984 as a six-year-old and the Cheltenham Gold Cup over fences in 1986 as an eight-year-old and, in reality, she was a novice. After winning her first novice, she was out of action for the rest of the season, and returned to win the Durkan Brothers Chase at Punchestown and beat the subsequent two-mile champion chaser Buck House over two and a half miles at Leopardstown later that same month. She unseated her rider on her fourth run over fences at Cheltenham in January.

Coneygree won the Gold Cup on his fourth chase start. Constitution Hill has the look of a chaser. It can be done if connections were brave and bold – go for a Gold Cup off one novice season, when all hurdling options are accomplished and there is nothing left to win.

Do we think that could happen? More importantly, would we think current connections would be as bold as those of the 1980s? What if he were trained by Paul Nicholls or Willie Mullins? Time will tell!

QUOTE OF THE WEEK 1: “I had her in the fillies’ auction maiden at Down Royal on Monday, just in case.”

Deadpan Paddy Twomey on his impressive Goffs Million winner One Look on Luck on Sunday

QUOTE OF THE WEEK 2: “The Arc to Japan is like the Road Runner to Wile E. Coyote.”

Jamie Lynch on ATR