Nicky Henderson has confirmed
will run at the Punchestown Festival “barring any hiccups” in a planned schooling session in the coming days.
The Seven Barrows handler floated the idea of running in Ireland after Constitution Hill fell in the Champion Hurdle at Cheltenham, but then opted to send him to the Aintree Hurdle earlier this month, where he again came to grief at the penultimate obstacle.
With regular partner Nico de Boinville currently sidelined, James Bowen rode Constitution Hill in a gallop on Friday morning and the eight-year-old is on course for the Boodles Champion Hurdle on May 2, pending a satisfactory schooling spin.
“The news is good, and I’m delighted to say that we will give the green light for Constitution Hill to run at Punchestown next Friday,” Henderson said in his Unibet blog.
“James Bowen rode him, which is ironic because the last time he sat on him was a few years ago when we finally discovered that he had an engine! He was the first person to discover that he was actually any good!
“They worked on the Jockey Club Estates All-Weather gallop, which we refer to as ‘the back of the hill’ and everything went exactly as I’d wanted; it was super and he is in great form and I couldn’t have asked for more.
“He will school either tomorrow or Sunday and barring any hiccups he’ll be heading off to the Emerald Isle.”