Paul Nicholls has played down the significance of Constitution Hill's eagerly anticipated Flat debut, describing the build-up as 'a lot of hype about nothing'. The former Champion Hurdle winner is set to make his first appearance on the all-weather track at Southwell in a £40,000 novice event over one mile four furlongs on Friday.
The race, to be broadcast on ITV's Friday Night Live, has attracted intense public and media interest after Constitution Hill's jumping career stalled following three falls in his last four races. Trainer Nicky Henderson has opted for the Flat as a confidence-boosting exercise, with champion jockey Oisin Murphy booked to ride. A run in next month's Champion Hurdle at Cheltenham remains possible if connections are prepared to take the risk.
Nicholls, the 14-time champion jumps trainer, used his Betfair blog to question the logic behind the move. 'I'm different to Nicky Henderson, who is obviously a fantastic trainer,' he wrote. 'If Constitution Hill were my horse, I would have run him in the Kingwell Hurdle at Wincanton last weekend. What will be achieved by running him on the Flat, I don't know. Nicky is in a no-win situation – if Constitution Hill wins, great; if he doesn't win, they will all be crabbing him.'
The Ditcheat handler added that he would never send one of his top hurdlers to the Flat so close to Cheltenham, referencing his former star Big Buck's. 'Would I have ever sent one of my hurdling stars on the Flat ahead of the Cheltenham Festival? Definitely not,' he said. 'You are not going to learn anything about him by running him on the Flat.'
Nicholls has his own runner in the race, the 50-1 Nardaran, who has won three times over hurdles and finished third on his only previous Flat start. He joked that Henderson had asked him to provide a pacemaker in exchange for champagne. 'Nardaran has been working away; he can't run on soft ground, so we have been waiting for better ground,' Nicholls said. 'We thought we would let him have a day out and enjoy himself.'
Constitution Hill has continued specialist schooling with jumps guru Yogi Breisner, and Nicholls does not rule out a return to the Champion Hurdle. 'It would not surprise me if he ran in the Champion Hurdle, but whether he will win I don't know,' he said. 'He has got to get over two or three falls, but he is still a class horse. There is a lot of pressure on Nicky and racing for him to run.'
