Constitution Hill left big-race jockey Nico de Boinville satisfied following a workout at Newbury on Tuesday, although he was eased in the betting for his scheduled return in the BetMGM Fighting Fifth Hurdle at Newcastle, live on Sky Sports Racing.
The last time Nicky Henderson’s superstar hurdler was seen in public was a dramatic appearance at Kempton Park in February, when it transpired he was suffering from an infection which ruled him out of a Champion Hurdle defence.
Constitution Hill only ran once last season, in the Christmas Hurdle at Kempton, after Henderson decided against running him in the rearranged Fighting Fifth at Sandown on testing ground.
De Boinville was aboard for the Newbury workout, in which Constitution Hill finished behind Sir Gino, and told Sky Sports Racing: “He felt great until about the two [furlong marker] and then he’s had a really good blow.
“He’s come off looking like he’s had a really good piece of work. It’s soft ground out there and he just needed it a bit, but that will bring him on.
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Jockey Nico de Boinville was delighted with Constitution Hill’s Newbury gallop, but says the star just needs to get up to full fitness
“Turning into the straight, he really locked on and I was just having to say ‘whoa, we’ve got four furlongs to run’ so all the ability is there, it’s getting him up to full fitness.
“Today will bring him on an awful lot, we’ve got one more piece of work to go, he’ll probably school this week and then we’re ready.”
When he was asked if he felt a different horse to the Kempton gallop, De Boinville said: “Too right. At Kempton I was struggling going into the back straight, I could have pulled him up there and then and probably should have done, but today was great – Sir Gino is a very good horse himself.”
Fighting Fifth sponsors BetMGM pushed him out to 5/6 from 4/6 with their UK director Sam Behar saying: “The last time we saw Constitution Hill gallop it set alarm bells ringing and today’s outing at Newbury perhaps wasn’t quite as promising as many would have hoped.
“Stablemate Sir Gino seemed to work better than the 2023 Champion Hurdler and as a result we’ve pushed Constitution Hill out to 5-6 from 4-6 for next Saturday’s Fighting Fifth Hurdle at Newcastle.”
