‘I’m just reading where my horse goes!’ – Nicky Henderson plays down Honeysuckle clash for his Constitution Hill

Callum Jamieson

Published: 20:00, 22 Mar 2022

NICKY HENDERSON has poured cold water on an end of season dust-up between Constitution Hill and Honeysuckle.

Owner Michael Buckley had said he was keen to take on the Champion Hurdle winner at the Punchestown Festival.

Constitution Hill broke the course record when winning the Supreme at the Cheltenham FestivalCredit: Getty

But Henderson has laughed off the potential clash between his brilliant Supreme winner and Henry De Bromhead’s super mare.

He said: “Mr Buckley seems to be in charge these days so I’m just reading where my horse will be going!

“I’m going to give him a quiet week and then try and get him ready again, but I’d say we’ll be keeping him to novice company this season. He’s still only had three runs, people forget that.

“What he did in the Supreme was quite remarkable. We know how good Jonbon is and I didn’t think he’d go and do what he did. It was a bit breathtaking but an almighty relief, too.”

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Henderson had two winners thanks to Marie’s Rock’s victory in the Mares’ Hurdle but stable star Shishkin showed nothing in the Champion Chase.

The master of Seven Barrows hopes to have his star back for a run at Sandown next month.

Henderson said: “We had a brilliant week overall, I would have certainly taken it going in. We had lots of seconds too and just kept being beaten by a good thing in the handicaps.

“Shishkin was the obvious low point, it was a shame that rain came. He’s a bit sore but it doesn’t appear to be anything other than that.

Jockey Nico De Boinville pulled Shishkin up early in the Champion ChaseCredit: PA

“We’ll aim for the Celebration Chase at Sandown, that’s the best race for him now.”

Henderson is over £200,000 behind Paul Nicholls in the trainers’ championship and has more or less ruled himself out of challenging the 12-time champ.

But he’ll have a sizeable team to send to Aintree that will include the likes of Jonbon and Epatante.

He said: “Jonbon ran really well too at Cheltenham, he’ll have another go at Aintree. Then you have Walking On Air to come back too, he’s a very interesting one.

“Epatante might try two and half miles and I’d love to run Champ on a flat track, maybe he just doesn’t like the hill these days at Cheltenham. And then you’ve got the likes of Fusil Raffles and Mister Fisher who we pulled out.

“Paul is a good way ahead still, so I’m not even thinking about that just yet!”