‘He eats, sleeps, works and goes back to bed’: meet the ‘laid-back’ racehorse set to light up Cheltenham

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Cheltenham preview evenings
Constitution Hill ridden by Nico de Boinville goes on to win the Sky Bet Supreme Novices’ Hurdle during day one of the Cheltenham Festival in 2022.
(Image credit: Alamy Stock Photo)

One of the most hotly anticipated runners at next week’s Cheltenham Festival is Constitution Hill. The six-year-old gelding, who is trained by Nicky Henderson and owned by Michael Buckley, is unbeaten in all of his five starts over hurdles to-date. He will start as odds-on favourite to take the prestigious Champion Hurdle title next Tuesday (14 March).

“We have been lucky enough to train a lot of nice horses and when they come along, you find yourself being the minder of a piece of public property,” says Nicky. “Sprinter Sacre almost certainly was, Altior almost certainly was – when they come along and are like that, they are no longer just yours. We just look after them and we really want everybody to enjoy them.”

Gemma Redrup
Gemma Redrup
Former web features editor, point-to-point editor and digital racing editor

Gemma is an experienced journalist, who was a member of H&H staff from 2014 to September 2025. She is passionate about all equestrian sports, including racing and point-to-pointing. She has enjoyed riding out for top trainers Nicky Henderson and Charlie Appleby and took part in a charity Flat race at Epsom in August 2018. Gemma’s has reported from numerous five-star events around Britain and Europe, as well as European championships.