Henderson pours cold water on Constitution Hill Melbourne Cup bid

 Champion National Hunt trainer Nicky Henderson has labelled a Melbourne Cup adventure for Constitution Hill as a “wild shot” as the elite jumper readies for a flat return in the next couple of weeks.

Henderson, who was speaking on video for Unibet where he is an ambassador, had planned to go to Windsor first-up this weekend but with the dry spell in England, the nine-year-old is likely to go to the September Stakes at Kempton on the synthetic track on September 5 for a more forgiving surface.

However, the trainer cast doubt on coming to Melbourne, being well aware of the requirements to get into the race that stops a Nation.

“We’re well ready to travel. We’ll go abroad if we have to, and there’s lots of options,” Henderson said. “There’s lots of nice places we can go, which will be fun.

“He’s got he’d have to do something pretty remarkable to get himself into Australia.

“To be fair, if he ran at Windsor, you would have to win to qualify.

“If he runs in a group race, he has to be in the first three to be eligible. Then you got to consider his handicap mark.

“And off 101, he needs to go up seven.

“So I think [owner] Michael [Buckley] and I thought well we still think Australia is a wild shot really but you never know.

“There are races all over [in] Ireland, there are plenty [of races in] France and Germany. There’s a lot of places we can go.”

Henderson is looking to 2400m to be the preferred trip on the flat and thinks that the 3200m of the Melbourne Cup might stretch Constitution Hill’s ability.

“Talking to both Ryan [Moore] and Oisin [Murphy] that rode him in the first two flat races, they thought he’s fine over a mile and a half,” Henderson said.

 “So a mile and three plus 90 so many yards at Windsor. It’s is a mile-and-a-half by or but few yards. So it’s the same thing to be honest with you.

“I don’t think he’s crying out for two miles on the flat.”

The September Stakes comes after the Melbourne Cup entries close next Tuesday, and he would to run in the first three there to qualify for the first Tuesday in November at Flemington.

Henderson could wait until September 15 and put a late nomination for Constitution Hill, once it was clear if he had passed the ballot conditions at Kempton.

“It is his first run back, and this sets us up for where we’re going to go. It will tell us what to do next more than anything in that primarily it’s his third run that he has to have to get into those proper handicaps,” he said.

“So, you know, it’ll determine whether his rating goes up or down to be honest with you, and it’ll help us decide what’s the next step.”