Nicky Henderson on Constitution Hill and the yips: ‘The best jumper you’ll ever see and he lost it’

The venerated trainer could not find a guru in the world to cure one of the greatest hurdlers in history but a surprise switch to the Flat promises a career swansong

Nicky Henderson is 75 years old and, after almost half a century of training horses, he has seen everything in the strange and compelling world of racing. But the extraordinary and still evolving story of his great old horse Constitution Hill makes even Henderson pause in his study. It’s a sunlit afternoon in Lambourn and we’ve just left the mighty but complex horse in his stable.

Standing next to Henderson for a photoshoot, Constitution Hill had been typically calm. He then took a slow walk outside before, having waited patiently for lunch, the horse ambled inside for a good feed. It was all so different to the drama and glory, the disappointment and yearning, that defines the horse’s saga.