Champion Hurdle

Many Cheltenham Festival ante-post bettors would have found themselves on edge Tuesday morning as a significant shift occurred in the Champion Hurdle betting landscape.

Long-term Champion Hurdle favourite, Constitution Hill, saw his price drift dramatically on the sportsbooks and exchanges following a poor piece of work on Tuesday.

Trainer Nicky Henderson said in a statement following the Kempton gallop that “he will start a course of antibiotics immediately and plan to re-scope him Friday”.

If Constitution Hill were to miss the Festival, which kicks off in less than two weeks’ time, a huge number of ante-post bet slips will be declared losers.

At his odds of 1/4 for the Champion Hurdle before Tuesday morning (now 4/6 on William Hill), Constitution Hill was unsurprisingly the most popular selection in Cheltenham Festival accumulators.

Constitution Hill missing the Festival would mean that 13% of all accumulators placed on the Cheltenham Festival through oddschecker would become losers.

Looking at the Champion Hurdle market, over half of all ante-post bets placed on oddschecker (51.7%) since March 2023 would be settled as losers if the unbeaten hurdler pulled out.

Willie Mullins’ star hurdler State Man has been the horse who has benefited from Constitution Hill’s demise, shortening from 5/2 to 1/2 with bookmakers offering NRNB (best price 8/11 on Betfred).

Leon Blackman from oddschecker said: “The news on Tuesday regarding Constitution Hill’s health would have left lots of Cheltenham ante-post punters with their heads in hands. Unsurprisingly as a 1/4 favourite for the Champion Hurdle, Constitution Hill has been the most popular selection for Cheltenham Festival accumulators.

“If Constitution Hill were to miss next month’s Festival, a staggering 13% of all ante-post Cheltenham Festival accumulators placed through oddschecker would be settled as losers before the racing began!

"Looking at the Champion Hurdle market, over half of all ante-post bets (51.7%) on oddschecker have backed Constitution Hill to win the race.”