CONSTITUTION HILL WILL not run in the Champion Hurdle at Cheltenham on 10 March.

Trainer Nicky Henderson and owner Michael Buckley came to the decision, having agonised over it for days since the nine-year-old impressed greatly in his first ever run on the Flat at Southwell.

Having fallen in three of his last four outings over hurdles, the choice came down to asking the former champion to return to jumping or potentially spending the rest of his career on the level.

Henderson had announced on Tuesday that Constitution Hill would have a schooling session on Wednesday, and following that, connections came to their conclusion.

In a statement, Henderson said: “Michael Buckley and I have not surprisingly spent a lot of time soul searching and thinking over Constitution Hill’s future and have sadly concluded that he will not be running in the Unibet Champion Hurdle the week after next.”

He went on: “Last Friday night was for us all a magical occasion, and we so appreciated his popularity and the love and admiration everybody showed to Conrad, as he is fondly called here.

“It was a terrific night for him, us, and I believe British horse racing, and we are very aware of the public perception and the possible consequences of running over hurdles and feel it is not fair to ask him and Nico (de Boinville) to do it again.

“He showed on Friday night that he has another career in front of him that could take us all to new playing fields.

“I would like to thank the thousands of Constitution Hills supporters and admirers who have shared their sentiments with us and advice on how we should proceed, and I would have to say the poll was as near 50-50 as you could get.

“This is a sad day for a lot of us, particularly the National Hunt fraternity that would have liked to have seen Constitution Hill try to regain his crown and sad for all here, especially Nico, who has spent so much time trying to iron out our jumping issues.

“However, he leaves the jumping world sound and happy and ready for the next chapter. It has been a staggering journey so far, and Michael has had to endure some dark days, but of course, enjoyed the enormous highs and thrills of an extraordinary horse.

“Cheltenham have kindly invited Constitution Hill to parade on Champion Hurdle day to give all his National Hunt supporters the opportunity to say goodbye.”