Beaming Nicky Henderson says special horse Constitution Hill is bang on Champion Hurdle course after a frightening workout at Kempton.
The jumping superstar heads to the Cheltenham Festival in a fortnight looking to regain his crown. In stark contrast to a year ago when he was ruled out of the big Festival showdown after a weak workout, Constitution Hill dazzled on the Polytrack surface.
The Michael Buckley-owned eight-year-old is unbeaten in 10 starts under Rules and will be bidding to regain his title having been forced to bypass the contest in 2024. Regular rider Nico de Boinville worked Constitution Hill with stable companions Aston Martini and That’s Nice.
Henderson smiled: “From Nico’s face, my face and Michael’s face I think you can tell it’s a different day. That’s him and he was good to watch really. Frightening to watch actually.
“We have been so happy with him. You just have to blank out last year. We knew before we came here last year that the horses weren’t flying and it was going to be harder to get through. Whereas today everything has gone perfectly.
“It was great watching him today and I am glad you [the media] are all here. You can make your own minds up. If the media hadn’t been here on this day last year nobody would have believed me what happened!
“There won’t be much more now until The Festival. Nico sat on him on Friday and that was to decide whether to come here. I was in two minds but Nico said I think he will enjoy it and it will be fun.
“That really will do him now. It’s two weeks to go and we won’t to do much more with him this week. He’ll jump some hurdles on Monday or Tuesday of next week and I’d say he’ll have one more gallop on our grass.
“The other two gallopers today just did their own thing. It was a two-horse gallop and a one-horse gallop effectively. We had to do that as the two others couldn’t remotely go with him. He didn’t have to do much today. I was just raw natural pace. It’s frightening when it goes. One minute he is up besides and the next minute he is gone.
“It had to go right today. He’s had a great season so far and today was great. We have a fortnight to finish it off and then our job is done and it’s over to Nico. Nico said he was fantastic today and 100 per cent where we want to be. You could never tire of watching this horse. He really is very, very special.”
De Boinville added: “It was as it looked really. I was confident today because I knew where he was at home and I think today proved that. These days are beneficial to the training regime and a test. After he worked on Friday we thought it would benefit him just to open him up.
“He didn’t have much of a race at Cheltenham last time and I think he’s in really good order. With two weeks to go I couldn’t be happier.”
Sponsor Unibet make Constitution Hill a 4-7 chance for the Champion Hurdle and he is aiming to become the third horse to regain Champion Hurdle crown after Comedy Of Errors (1973/1975) and Hurricane Fly (2011/2013).
Follow all your horse racing news at dailyrecord.co.uk
Follow Record Sport on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram for all of the up-to-the minute breaking news, video and audio on the SPFL, the Scotland national team and beyond.
You can also sign up to our dedicated Rangers and Celtic newsletters and follow the Rangers and Celtic podcast pages to make sure you never miss a beat throughout the season.