Nicky Henderson, the trainer of Constitution Hill, said on Friday that he is focusing “on Southwell at the moment and only on Southwell” before the former Champion Hurdler’s Flat racing debut on 20 February, despite having booked the legendary jumping specialist, Yogi Breisner, to work with the nine-year-old earlier this week.

Constitution Hill had already secured a place among the hurdling greats when he set off for last year’s Champion Hurdle as the 1-2 favourite, but a crashing fall four out seemed to shatter his confidence and he has fallen twice in three starts since.

After Constitution Hill’s most recent fall, at the second flight in the Fighting Fifth Hurdle at Newcastle, Henderson suggested that his hurdling career would be put on hold, and a race at Southwell’s evening meeting later this month was inked in to be his first start on the Flat.

“He’s had a confusing week,” Henderson said on Friday. “He had schooling with Yogi on Monday, starting stalls and a gallop with Oisin [Murphy, who is booked to ride at Southwell] on Wednesday and Yogi is back again before the end of the week, so it’s jump, Flat, jump for him this week.

“The jumping is going great and we’re doing a lot of jump, jump, jump. Yogi is there as he is the well-known guru who can do these things, so we’re playing with him, but we’re also concentrating on Southwell at the moment and only Southwell.”

Henderson’s six-year-old Sir Gino, the Christmas Hurdle winner at Kempton in December, had emerged as a likely favourite for the Champion Hurdle before suffering a season-ending pelvic injury in the International Hurdle at Cheltenham last month.

In his enforced absence, the ante-post market is wide-open, with five horses, including Constitution Hill, on offer at single-figure odds.

“The Champion Hurdle is so wide open, it’s crazy,” Henderson said. “You are sitting on two horses like Constitution Hill and Sir Gino and technically, at the moment, not running either of them.

“The difficulty of it all is if he gets round [at Cheltenham] then he’d probably be the one they have to beat. We’re just working away and let’s see how the Flat race goes first.”

Lanesborough to make light of heavy going at Newbury

Heavy going is the only certainty at Newbury on Saturday on Britain’s last major weekend of trials ahead of next month’s Cheltenham festival, and it is also the sole question mark over the chance of the ironically named Let It Rain, the warm favourite to give Dan Skelton a first win in the William Hill Handicap Hurdle, Britain’s most valuable event of its type.

Skelton has won the two-mile County Handicap Hurdle at Cheltenham no fewer than four times in the last nine seasons so it is a slight surprise that he has yet to register a win in Saturday’s feature even. All bar one of his runners have set off at double-figure odds, however, and Let It Rain, top-priced at 11-4 overnight, is his best chance by far of a debut success.

She arrives at Newbury with just three runs over hurdles to her name, including a close third in a similar race at Ascot before Christmas, and obvious scope for significant improvement. The ground at Ascot, though, was good-to-soft, and while Let It Rain won a bumper on heavy, a fiercely-competitive handicap hurdle on near-bottomless ground is a very different assignment.

Let It Rain could yet turn Saturday’s race into a procession, but there is just 6lb between the entire field on Timeform’s ratings and at such cramped odds, an each-way bet on Ben Pauling’s Lanesborough (3.20) at around 8-1 makes more appeal.

Lanesborough is proven on heavy ground and should appreciate the return to around two miles on Saturday, having brushed aside Williethebuilder, a subsequent dual winner, at Saturday’s trip on his seasonal debut in December.

Newbury 1.00 Sober Glory made an emphatic return to winning form last time and his performance was backed by a strong timefigure.

Warwick 1.15 The race conditions are very much in Jubilee Alpha’s favour as she goes in search of a first win this season.

Newbury 1.35 The lightly raced Below The Radar is unexposed at three miles and Freddie Keighley’s claim is a big bonus.

Warwick 1.50 Mambonumberfive has been faultless over fences so far and can extend his unbeaten record to four.

Lingfield 12.35 Al Najashi 1.10 Filly Foden 1.45 Tadreeb 2.20 King Of Chaos 2.55 Serenity Dream 3.30 Ziggy’s Condor 4.05 Silkies Sib 4.40 Knight Of Magic

Warwick 12.40 Just Golden 1.15 Jubilee Alpha 1.50 Mambonumberfive 2.25 Knappers Hill 3.00 White Noise 3.35 Almuhit 4.10 Phantomofthepoints 4.45 Vrheligonne

Newbury 1.00 Sober Glory 1.35 Below The Radar (nb) 2.10 Haiti Couleurs 2.45 Lulamba 3.20 Lanesborough (nap) 3.55 Silver Thorn 4.30 Risky Obsession

Southwell 5.30 Yurinov 6.00 Mereside Diva 6.30 Charles Darnay 7.00 Noss Mayo 7.30 Chancellor 8.00 He Bangs The Drums 8.30 Street Life

Newbury 2.10 The Welsh Grand National winner, Haiti Couleurs, will be strongly fancied to punch his ticket for the Cheltenham Gold Cup.

Warwick 2.25 Knappers Hill has the most convincing profile as he lines up in veteran company for the first time.

Newbury 2.45 The toughest test yet for the hugely exciting Lulamba but his Grade One-winning form at Sandown in December suggests he will come through with something to spare.