I was encouraged to hear Nicky Henderson saying things like “we want to run him” after Constitution Hill strolled home in the Christmas Hurdle at Kempton, and the Master of Seven Barrows indicated that the best hurdler many racegoers have ever seen would probably return to Cheltenham to contest the International Hurdle on the track’s putative Trials Day later this month.

Hoorah, I thought, Nicky knows how important this horse is to the public and he’s going to campaign him accordingly. How naive I am.

It now appears that Henderson, who is as fretful as he is successful, is having second thoughts. He can’t see what’s to be gained by running Constitution Hill in the International, as he explained to local paper Newbury Today.

Speaking to the paper’s sports reporter, Robbie Stelling, Henderson said of Constitution Hill: “His reputation is such that, unless he produces something absolutely spectacular, people will say it’s a flop - luckily for us, he doesn’t seem to do flops.

“He was brilliant,” added the trainer of the gelding’s Christmas Hurdle win. “I’ve hardly ever seen anything like it. He was going as fast to the second last as a sprinter, not a horse at the end of two miles. Nico said he’s never, ever been at a hurdle so fast. He was extraordinary, you can’t fault him.

Predictable turn

So far so good, it seems, but when Stelling asked about running in the International, which had been strongly mooted in the Christmas Hurdle aftermath, things took a predictable turn.

“I’ve certainly reservations about it,” responded a less than enthusiastic Henderson. “He’s gone from the Christmas Hurdle to the Champion Hurdle without a race, and he did the same the year before with the Supreme.

“I’m not desperate really. I know I’ll be accused of being a wimp, but there are reasons behind my thinking. I’m doing it for the best; I’m not doing it for my own amusement. I’d like to run him if it makes perfect sense but I’m not convinced it does.”

Journalist and broadcaster Lydia Hislop responded to the news by tweeting: “Aaaaaaaaagggggggghhhhhhhhhhhhhhh” (sic).

As always, she’s hit the nail on the head. I don’t intend to rehash the whole argument about Henderson’s campaigning of his best horses other than to reiterate that when you start asking “what is there to be gained by running” as opposed to “why shouldn’t we run” then the die is cast.

That noise you can hear is Monksfield spinning in his grave.

ON a very quiet week, there were no significant eyecatchers on the track, which meant that I spent a bit more time looking at the entries for the Cheltenham Festival, with the entries for the Champion Chase, Ryanair and Gold Cup released last week, and those for the championship races over hurdles hitting inboxes on Tuesday.

There are rarely any great surprises in such entries, which tend to be more notable for those not given an entry, and I was disappointed to discover that Haddex Des Obeaux was out for the season through his non-appearance in the Champion Chase entries.

The seven-year-old was transferred to Nicky Henderson after finishing third to Jonbon in the Tingle Creek, and news of him has been scarce since, but he now won’t be seen for his new yard this term, and that is a shame given how well he ran at Sandown.

Constitution Hill and State Man dominate the Champion Hurdle entries but one interesting entrant against them is Bob Olinger, who would be defending an unbeaten Cheltenham record if he turns up in March and I have backed him each-way on the basis that this race is much more suitable for him than the Stayers’ Hurdle.

Olinger angle

It was pleasing, therefore, to see him entered only for the shorter race, and while connections are focusing on the Aintree Hurdle as his main aim, it is unlikely to do him any harm to have a race in March in which the final field may lack depth behind an outstanding favourite. If State Man is ridden more aggressively than 12 months ago, then Bob Olinger can be expected to be doing good late work, and he was – to my eyes at least – better than ever when winning the Grade 2 Relkeel Hurdle on New Year’s Day, showing that he retains all his old speed.

Robbie Power had done good work with the former Ballymore winner before he returned to training with Henry de Bromhead, and he looked much happier in the Relkeel than he has for some time. He is a decent bet to pick up the pieces in the Champion, for all his price has contracted in recent days.

Banbridge is one of 32 entries in the Ryanair and another I added to my small portfolio of bets last week, figuring that his 25/1 odds a week ago reflected his absence from the track since April. Entered (and now declared) for this weekend at Kempton, he was always likely to attract support – out of sight is out of mind, after all – so immediate action was needed.

O’Brien ace

To be honest, I’m not expecting Joseph O’Brien’s chaser to make a winning reappearance in the Silviniaco Conti Chase, and he would enhance his claims by getting close to likely favourite Pic D’Orhy on the day given he’s conceding fitness to that rival, who is ideally suited by the test offered up at Kempton.

That said, if Banbridge did show enough improvement to beat Pic D’Orhy and Edwardstone at Kempton, we can expect his price to tumble for the Ryanair. I’d be happy to step in again if he ran well in defeat and was pushed back out in the betting but am happy to have got involved when I did.

Not one I’ve an interest in, but it was also intriguing to see that Paul Nicholls has given Stay Away Fay an entry in the Gold Cup and it’s certainly not his modus operandi to tilt at windmills. A proper test of stamina will suit last year’s Albert Bartlett winner, so the track and trip of the Gold Cup will suit better than the shorter distance of the Brown Advisory, while I’m sure there must be some connection between the entry and the fact that the Topofthegame, in whom Chris Giles owned a half share, never had a shot at the Gold Cup having won the 3m novice event at Cheltenham in 2019 before injury intervened.

As Coneygree showed when winning the Gold Cup as a novice in 2015, sometimes you only get one chance, and I can’t help feeling that Giles wants to keep such lofty ambitions open in his desire to land National Hunt racing’s blue riband.