'It will do him good to get his blood up a bit' - Nico de Boinville confident Kempton awayday will be beneficial for Constitution Hill

Nico de Boinville believes an awayday at Kempton on Tuesday will be beneficial to Champion Hurdle favourite Constitution Hill, a year on from a morning he described as “pretty gut-wrenching” at the Sunbury track.

A poor piece of work by Michael Buckley’s star on Kempton’s all-weather track led to the discovery of a respiratory infection which ruled him out of the Champion Hurdle last season.

Constitution Hill has been back on song this campaign, beating Lossiemouth in the Christmas Hurdle on his return before winning the Unibet Hurdle on Cheltenham’s Trials day with ease.

Nicky Henderson indicated last month that he was not inclined to give Constitution Hill a public gallop before the festival but has reversed the decision, with the 4-7 Champion Hurdle favourite set to be among a number of gallopers from Seven Barrows that will also include Lulamba, Palladium and Lucky Place.

De Boinville said on Racing TV’s Luck On Sunday: "Given how his work has evolved, it makes sense to take him to Kempton. I don't think it's necessarily going to be a piece of work – it's going to be more of an awayday rather than anything blistering.

"There was a mutual agreement between me and Nicky to go to Kempton and it will do him good to get him on a racecourse and get his blood up a bit. We'll see what happens."

De Boinville reflected on a forgettable awayday trip to Kempton with Constitution Hill last year and knew turning into the straight that all was not right.

He said: "Last year it told us what not to do, and although to the eye it might not look spectacular, these awaydays have tended to show us something and we've learned a lot from them.

"As soon as I turned in on the gallop last year and went to push the button, the button was broken. It was a case of stopping him, getting the vets in and seeing what was going on. It was pretty gut-wrenching. All the press and cameras were around you and you just wanted to get out of there."

Constitution Hill: bids to regain his Champion Hurdle crown next monthCredit: Edward Whitaker

Constitution Hill justified 1-12 favouritism when last in action in the Unibet Hurdle, with a dramatic final-flight mistake the only blemish on a dominant performance.

“We were on a hiding to nothing on Trials day,” said De Boinville. “No one would take us anywhere in the race and it turned into a hack round. He wouldn’t have blown a candle out afterwards.

“You always want perfection and I didn’t have the revs up going into the last. He wasn’t alive enough under me and I should have got in close and popped it.”

Unibet Champion Hurdle (Cheltenham, March 11)
Sponsors: 4-7 Constitution Hill, 9-4 Brighterdaysahead, 4 Lossiemouth, 6 State Man, 25 Golden Ace, 33 Burdett Road, 50 bar.

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Constitution Hill set for public gallop at Kempton as Nicky Henderson makes significant U-turn 

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