Michael Buckley has Melbourne Cup dream for Constitution Hill

While the burning question over whether Constitution Hill will bid to regain his Unibet Champion Hurdle crown remains unanswered, owner Michael Buckley has identified the Melbourne Cup as a potential dream target for his pride and joy later this year.

Following three falls in his last four starts over obstacles, National Hunt racing’s pre-eminent star switched to the Flat at Southwell on Friday night and brought the house down with a sensational display under the floodlights in the hands of Oisin Murphy.

Trainer Nicky Henderson said on Saturday that Constitution Hill would be schooled again the coming days under the guidance of jumping guru Yogi Breisner before a final call is made over his Cheltenham Festival participation in little over a fortnight’s time – and speaking on Racing TV’s Luck on Sunday programme the following morning, his proud owner admitted it is a difficult decision to make.

“I’m due to go to Cheltenham on the Tuesday and if he runs it will be very, very hard on my heart, and if he doesn’t run and something else wins I’m going to think we could have won that race,” said Buckley.

“I really don’t want to sound disrespectful, but whatever those (other Champion Hurdle) horses do none of them have been winning by 20 lengths or breaking track records, so I’m going to think we could have won it.

“The question is do I want to watch a race that’s hard on my head or hard on my heart, because it’s going to be hard on one of them which ever way we go.

“The horse is going to do this schooling this week. I said to Nicky on Saturday, and it’s the third weekend in a row that I’ve done so, if you could make a decision now, by yourself, what would you do – and you go round and round in circles and you never get an answer to anything, bless him.

“I know how he feels. We are both decent people I think and we certainly care like hell about our horses. We don’t want to see the horse fall or do something that threatens his very existence and we certainly want to do something that hurts Nico (de Boinville).

“We don’t want to do something that disappoints everybody, most of all ourselves, but on the other hand you can see how much the horse is loved and people would like to see him run.”

Buckley believes “over-confidence” has been the main reason for Constitution Hill’s recent travails over jumps, but he has been encouraged by what he has seen in the videos he has been sent of his recent schooling sessions.

He added: “I think when he fell (in last year’s Champion Hurdle) it was such a shock it’s blown his mind in some ways and Nicky’s now been telling everybody that Yogi Breisner has been with him and gone right back to basics with the horse, with Nico riding him all the time.

“I’ve got to say, on the videos I’ve seen, they look like a unit in a way that latterly they haven’t. I think if you look at his (jumps) races lately, the horse has decided to take over regardless of circumstance or common sense or what jockeys try to tell a horse to do – the horse has just decided to take off whenever he feels like it.

“I think he’s the best hurdler around and has been for some years. I never say that because it’s a bit diminishing for other people, but everyone tells me he is, so I might as well say he is!

“He is an extraordinary horse – he’s super talented, not just talented.

“I think he became over-confident and I think he has a right to feel over-confident – look at what he did on Friday.”

Whether Constitution Hill heads to the Cotswolds on March 10 or not, it appears increasingly likely he will target some major Flat prizes later in the year, with a trip to Australia in November uppermost in Buckley’s mind.

He said: “I did say to Nicky ‘can we agree on one thing, whatever we decide about Cheltenham, let’s for the rest of this year concentrate on a Flat campaign’.

“For me, if he doesn’t run (in the Champion Hurdle), I don’t see him running over hurdles again this year – that’s 2026.

“But if he ran and let’s say he fell – and God forbid he does that – he would never run over hurdles again ever. If he ran and won it would be a hell of a swansong (over obstacles) and it would put a few demons to bed for me, I’ve got to say.

“I think the horse should be running around about the end of August or beginning of September, either in the Ebor (at York), or there’s a race at Goodwood, or in the Irish St Leger, with a view to going to Melbourne.

“If you were asking me what I’d like to do, that is what I’d like to aim at.”